final8

October 20, 2018

Abstract

Over the years, businesses have come across some challenges that might have been of profit or loss to them thanks to trends, fashion, technology or political takes. This has also been the case in the fast food industry with new inceptions and new ideas springing up around the world and client’s preferences shifting after some time. However, this trends can be dated back to a time where currency was not in existence to make a better case of the significant modern-day forces. Back in the prehistoric times, people were driven towards food due to hunger as it is the nature of the human body. And through this factor, people were able to eat good buy hunting and gathering which comprised of nothing but fresh meals that offered all the needed nutrients. However, the 20th century brought along with it factors such as technology, industrialization, civilization and economies of scale, which caused the human eating habit to have a drastic shift. Thanks to the busy schedules, demanding markets, constant advertisements of fast foods and demand, many people found themselves walking into many of the advertised fast food restaurants. This became the case since the need for such products was being motivated by the inceptions brought along by the 20th century. This factors first came to be in the year 1922 when the first ever fast food restaurant was brought to life, and ever since then, this market has experienced significant factors that have streamlined and shaped the operations management of many fast food industries around the world. Despite the conception of these factors being conceived in prehistoric times, I will major this study into the modern times and look at some of the critical elements that have coordinated the operations and management of the fast-food industry in line with my company's new business plan and strategy.

Introduction

The food industry especially the fast food industry is believed to be more one of the essential businesses around the world but also has the most shifts when it comes to consumer preferences. This means that the market has more power to insight changes in the operations management strategy to make sure it satisfies the consumer least of which, they might move on to ones' competition. Therefore, since operations management deals with how a business does what it does, I shall look at some of the key factors that have made great changes in the food industry over time and how they can impact my company's new business idea. Since Walmart has decided to introduce a new product into the market, this study will be mainly focusing at how these significant forces would have had and will have an impact on Walmart as well as its new product. Therefore, in this study, we shall be looking at each factor individually and conceptualizing how these factors might have and might have had an impact on the rise of the business plan made by Walmart's new business plan of joining the fast food industry (Belasco, 2014).

Therefore, this study shall approach developing an understanding of this changes through the past 50 years. Whereby, they shall be grouped into decades of five where we shall review just how the operation management evolution has had an impact on planning and control, concepts that are used to plan, how systems have been introduced and are being used in the industry and lastly the improvement focus that is being put into place. In all this, we shall be able to see how this changes will affect Walmart's new venture despite it not yet being in play.

History and Trends of Operation Management

The history of product management is as old as time itself as it can be dated back to 5000B.C. to the Sumerians who were qualified tax collectors, inventory organizers and oversaw successful transactions. It can also be traced in the Roman and Egyptian empires as operations management was a technique used to supervise big projects such as constructions. This is to say that operations management is one of the most developed systems around the world as it has incorporated, human, scientific and technological aspects which makes it what it is in today's time. Therefore, in this section, we shall travel back in time to point out the main historical trends that have seen operations management come into existence.

Industrial Revolution Era

This is the era that saw the invention of the system which later owns came to be known as operation management. However, in this era, it was merely known as the organizing system of production. It was brought to light after the industrial revolution took place in the United Kingdom in the 18th century causing its impacts to spread across the world. This saw an invention of eight historic developments that impact today and plans and designs. These machines that were invented required a large number of human power to man, and thus the British power saw the need of developing a single unit of organizing the man and machine power in one accord of production of goods. Thus, the conception of operation management. This was the first ever significant and historical factor that opened doors to more trends in operation management.

20th Century

As time went by, the 20th century can be denoted as the most significant era as it brought about the most effective trends that can be seen in today’s times. Some of the trends that took place are as follows:

· Application of Division of labor and scientific management

This meant that the line of products would use different numbers of workers who were well trained in specific regions of production and they would be tasked in step by step sequence to oversee that production turned out successful. This trend was developed by Henry Ford and is still in use to date.

· Application of Quantitative models and Statistics

As human relations and production came to maximize on outputs, Walter Stewart realized that as much as production was going on well, management needed to be done to ensure that the quality of the production was of high standards. This theory brought a new trend known as process control which is very much in use as this is a strategic model that ensures a product's qualities are of high standards. Statistics was used when a product had to be presented to consumers for sampling, and the statistical data made it possible for a company to know what level of quality consumers preferred.

Late 20th Century

The late 20th century oversaw some of the most critical developments in operations management as most if not all the development s are still being used in today modern companies. Below are some of the historical trends and developments:

· Market Focus

Operations management shifted its focus from production to the markets as the markets had and still have the ability to determine production levels leaving the product to the producer and consumer. Therefore, a trend in marketing developed with the aim of diversifying production to meet the vast markets.

· Globalization

This is a trend that saw many companies expand their territories into international levels. This meant that the level of operation management too had to experience and upgrade which was known as global sourcing which meant organizations had to develop global management operations structures.

· Quality, Technology and Environmental issues

These are the final trends and developments that have always had an impact on how operations management appears and conducts its objects. Thanks to the 1970s era where quality engineering was crucial, the 90s borrowed this basis and aided it into how outputs were viewed. The quality of a product had to be environmentally friendly as well as the mode of production which seemed to be very demanding for many operations managers due to the amounts of data that needed processing. However, the 90s also came along with the gift of computers and the internet which hosted some software's and tools that made operations management what it is today.

Impact of Significant Forces

Since my company of choice did not exist in any of the mentioned above eras, I will instead conceptualize how they would have dealt with the situation at the time. In the 60s to the 70's Walmart fast food industry could have had a very tough time selling itself or identifying with the market using the operations management present at the time. This is so since tools such as MTM could not be applied in business in its startup stage. However, the 80's brought along a new sense of development that tackled a company's image and associations'. Thus, this could have been the breakthrough for Walmart as it could have been associated with leading brands from its other sales business and this could have spearheaded the fast food business plan.

However, my company project could have thrived by using the Just-in-time productions system which was a trend developed by Toyota as a means of reducing wastage and increasing the levels of production quality. Walmart's new project is based on the food industry; it would be imperative for them to minimize the amount of waste they have but improve on their quality, as this will be of vital importance when it comes to becoming a cost leader. In the business plan, we do see the company's strategy of offering a product at the best affordable price but at the highest quality is a bit over ambitious. None the less, this can be easily achieved by applying the quality management systems.

Technology is another significant factor that can have a positive drive on Walmart's new business endeavor as it can open doors of mass advertisement, quality regulation, and inception of a new information system that can interact with users and employees as well as reduce on the expenses used in human resource management.

Critical Obstacles during the Evolution to the Modern Era

None the less, when the time to move into the modern era which comes about in the 90's and the 2000's, I believe many companies own could have faced the challenge of adopting new forms of technology into the olden ways of operation. Not only could this have disrupted business operations, but it was also far too expensive. This transition might have also faced the obstacle of monopoly powers that many companies had. This is to say that the companies could easily push off their competition since there existed nor business laws that protected local businesses in the free markets. This era was also responsible for the free market inception which aimed at making rich companies trade with no taxes which could only be profitable to them and thereby company management would easily draw out of competition as a result of unfair competition rates (Yatin, Hamid, 2018).

Globalization is an obstacle to confronted company management during the evolution of operations management into the modern era since this meant a company could move out of its location to another to conduct the same business but face new challenges. Some of the difficulties could be like cultural preference, political stability, currency difference, rates of inflation among other aspects. The management had to invest more in how it operated its new branches which can cause many companies to reach their financial elastic limits.

On the other hand, Walmart could have faced the similar challenge too but thanks to its mission, vision and active branches across the globe, my company could have made a slow but steady transition into the modern era as it is the grandmaster when it comes to market focus and quality management.

Changes to Operations Management and Organizational Structures

When it comes to operations management, many factors have changed since the 60's due to influence from competition, technology, economic growth, new markets, developed skills and diverse demands from consumers but this does not mean that they have lost function. I believe that operations management and organizational structures have changed due to the factors mentioned above, as this is the main determinant of a company's wellbeing. Reasons, why these elements have led to changes in operations management and organizational structures, are as follows:

· Competition: competition is one or more rivals that a company has in a similar market or industry (line of business). How operations management and organizational structures were built before the evolution had to change to make a company stay afloat since new competition walked into a market they once thought was only theirs. Operations and structures had to adjust to fit into the modern ways to keep a firm grip on the markets they dominated.

· Systems and Departments: operations management and organizational structures had to open doors for expansion which meant adoption of new systems and departments. Just as a division of simplified labor tasks by portioning those into small quotients that can be quickly done so did company structures and their operations management teams. This is why a successful company tends to have many specialized divisions which means that the structure of the company might have to change. During the shift to a more modern era, many companies also ended up switching to public companies which also brought about changes.

· Diversification and Uniqueness: for a company to win over new consumers, changes in they managed their operations and how the company was structured had to be changed. This was made possible by the existence of newly developed skill sets as education and technology merged. Thus, a company had to offer room for these new set of skills which offered a company diversification as well as an option of centralized or decentralized operations management (Hugos, 2018).

Walmart Business Operations

Walmart strives by using essential processes that we have come to see in the historical evolution of trends and operations management into attaining its goals. Therefore, in this section, we shall have a closer look at these processes that Walmart employees it having operations in 27 countries around the world (Jacobs, Chase & Lummus, 2014).

· Design of Goods and Services

Walmart used the characterization of products and services which allows them to have a scope at what consumers usually want. Thanks to this, Walmart has taken the opportunity to offer its form of retails service by developing goods that the consumers generally require but in their branding system. This process involves the application of two variables, efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Therefore, the company maximizes its efficiency through it personnel. This process makes it possible for Walmart to stand by its mission and vision of offering its consumers low-cost products.

· Quality Management

This system was first introduced into the operations system in 1990 after being derived from the quality engineering works in the 70s. Thus, Walmart ensures that it processes and operations are of high quality by using three tiers that dictate the standards are maintained.

I. The lower tier: this tier maintains the minimum quality a customer could go for. This level makes sure that Walmart does not lose quality while striving to offer low-cost products and services.

II. The average level: this level of quality is usually applied to the employees but mostly the sales personnel.

III. The upper stage: this is the most costly level of the process which Walmart only restricts to a minority of goods such as those under the Sam's Choice brand, medicine etc.

Thus, the above processes make sure that Walmart's efficiency is achieved at the low, medium and high levels. This process also abides by the values of Walmart of making sure that high levels of quality are offered at affordable princesses.

· Capacity Design

By far this is the most critical Walmart process since it is a determinant of the company's future endeavors and growth. The business uses behavioral analysis, supervisions and monitoring and forecasting as discussed in the business plan and strategy. These processes are aimed at understanding how employee customer relation affect the company's growth, through this, a well-structured customer care service is developed to aid the customers in case of any queries.

Factors affecting Productivity and Profitability

Dead Stock: in this modern times, many people tend to avoid involving themselves in household stocks, and this makes it difficult for the company to attain maximum and expected profits. The number of fast food and food restaurants has grown, and this has added the number of dead stock at this retail mogul. However, this is the reason why Walmart has opted to walk into the fast food market which will reduce the numbers of dead stock by using the raw material present to produce the new products (Gilling & Ulmer,2016).

Employee wages: as Walmart thrives on cost leadership; this can also prove challenging as many of the employees never have long-term contracts and they end up walking away. This forces the company to have constant recruitments which lead to high costs of training and supervision to maintain the retailer's quality.

Currency: since the company has branches over 27 countries around the world, the company can face challenges of achieving maximum levels of profits since they have to bend prices in favor to the country's economy and prices. This can mean that the company can end up selling a product at half the price they do (Gopalakrishna, Subramanian & Fleischmann, 2016).

Key Trends

In the business world, trends are like mapping tools that measure just how efficient, relatable, functional and viable a business is. Therefore, in this section, we shall be looking at various trends that are affecting the markets today in comparison to my business plan and objective. We shall also get to see just how these trends are affecting my business plan both negatively and positively as well as the impact they may have on the company's other products. The patterns that we shall be looking at are as follows:

· Trends in Production

· Trends in Quality.

· Trends in Resource

· Trends in Information Management.

Production

Just as we saw above in the evolution of operations management, technology had a powerful impact on how events turned out and how programs were developed continuously. This is still the same case as technology is always on the rise. Competition is also another trend that is affecting production whereby producers are aiming at modifying their products to a point it of outdoing their game such as my company's business plan of using cost leadership, however, in this case, production firms are using quality and efficiency (Werner, 2018).

Quality

Many forms are turning to class to taking out the competition as well as using detail into making the final product or service come second to none. This is more of an investment that might lead to high costs of production but with high levels of returns since many people in the society have an eye for quality as opposed to the olden days of quantity (Wheelen, Hunger…2017).

Resources

Going green is the new trend that can be seen and heard from every company around. Not only is this a marketing strategy but also a competition strategy which aims at attracting more clients by taking better care of our resources regarding the environment. The other trend in funds is that of benefiting stakeholders; this is a trend that encourages stakeholders to invest more into a company for they shall receive more compensation. This strategy makes sure that a company saves on its finances but becomes more liquid thanks to the regular investments.

Information Management

Information is power is a term that is used by many people especially scholars. None the less, in the business world it is also taken very seriously as a company’s information is its power and in the wrong hands can prove very hazardous. Some of the trends in this sector include:

· Cloud data services.

· Digital Workflow.

· User and business-friendly tools.

Impact on Walmart

When it comes to production, Walmart might have it a bit tough since purchasing of some items might turn out to be costly which is a cost that they need to share with the consumer at the risk of losing them. However, it is a valid risk which can be countered by adopting one of the trends on resources. Walmart can attract more clients and investors by starting an environmental project as a program to give back to society and the environment. This will attract a lot of attention which can be considered as free publication and can also see a rise in sales of the new fast food product, the chicken bite. Information management is crucial to any business, but in this case, trends might have little to no impact on Walmart as it has already upgraded to the cloud computing services alongside user-friendly tools around its stores that consumers can interact with in case of inquiries or complains.

Information System

After looking into the history and trends or organization management across five decades, then seeing the impacts these events could have had on the fast food business plan for Walmart, I saw the essence of employing some of the rising trends into choosing an information system which will assist in the smooth flow of the new project by Walmart. One of the methods that can be employed at Walmart's new plan can be Transaction Processing Systems (TPS) (Taft, Mansour…2014). This will be a computerized system that will be collecting massive amounts of raw data in the form of payments made and how they are made, and it processes the raw data into meaningful information that can be used in audits as well as be stored in the cloud service unit. The information system will have five stages, i.e.:

1. Data Entry.

2. Processing of the data.

3. Database maintenance.

4. Document and Report Generation

5. Inquiry Processing.

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