OPS 571 Week 4
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OPS571Week4AssignmentOperationsConsultingBarnesandNoble.pptx
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OVERVIEW
Evaluate
Operations Consulting Tool Kit
Determine
Resources and data
Develop
Business case
Engagement Proposal
Operations Consulting
A business in the media having difficulties with its operating model or one which is struggling in the community will be chosen. How all or some of the items from the Operations Consulting Tool Kit in Operations and Supply Chain Management that could help this business get back on track will be evaluated. Resources and data needed to deploy an operations consulting engagement with this business will be determined. Develop A business case including financial benefits on how operations consulting can have a positive impact on the business will be developed.
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Operations Consulting
Problem Definition
Data Gathering
Data Analysis and
Solution Development
Cost Impact and
Payoff Analysis
Implementation
Introduction
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When organizations leverage to the full potential of being transparent in their process as well as ensure the free flow of information, most of the organization efficiencies can be eliminated or reduced. Operations Consulting a research work that leverages data and analysis to provide organization operations produce the optimal capabilities. Most of the business is tied down to complex business processes, and Operation consulting can reduce such inefficiencies by looking through the data and identifying issues and creating strategies to resolve them effectively. Operations of aiding clienteles in emerging activities stratagems and advancing production methods. In strategy advancement, attention is on exploring the proficiencies of services considering the organization's tactics (Jacobs, 2013).
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Benefits of Operations Consulting
Strategic Flexibility
Faster responsiveness
Continuous cost reductions
Shorter times to market
Leadership practices to sustain gains
Alignment between improvement priorities and business strategy
http://www.schneidermanconsulting.com/index_htm_files/[email protected]
Experienced and effective operations consultants will help your organization meet its operational goals much faster and more thoroughly than it would without support. Once a consultant of operations determines the way procedures are accomplished, together with the reasoning of the organizational configurations and processes, the consultant will then offer advice regarding improving different operational functions. Operational functions mean accenting current strategies and methods which benefit the organization, and at the same time indicating areas in need of improvement (Joost, 2016).
Organizations recognize substantial savings via program and vendor management, vendor agreements, self-service resolutions, and decreased technology customizations. Rewards service distribution models are constant change. Organizations and regulatory changes drive the need for administrative changes, and program design must respond to current needs and anticipate new ones. In today's continually changing regulatory environment, it's crucial to create controls as well as operation metrics to evaluate compliance risk, detect opportunities for enhancement and act on them (Joost, 2016).
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Business Identification
https://tribecacitizen.com/2018/07/27/seen-heard-is-barnes-noble-closing-at-year-end
Drop in in-store traffic
Drop in on-line sales
Store closings
Employee lay-offs
Meyersohn (2018), "Barnes & Noble (B&N), already reeling from the messy departure of its chief executive, said on Thursday that same-store sales fell 6.1% last quarter compared with a year ago. The company attributed the decline to a drop in in-store traffic. Online sales also dropped 14.3% because of fewer promotions, including in Barnes & Noble's Nook tablet business. Barnes & Noble's overall losses widened to $17 million. The combination led to a sell-off in Barnes & Noble (BKS) stock. The weak quarter came as other retailers were capitalizing on a healthy consumer economy, and it was another sign of a company in serious trouble. Barnes & Noble which has more than 600 stores in the United States and 23,000 employees, has been trying to trim expenses and grow revenue. But it may not be able to turn the business around" (para. 1).
Digital online marketplace has taken over every single retail store by storm. Digital stores provide the convivence of purchasing goods at the best price from different vendors. Local bookstores which were a marvel in the past is now vastly impacted by online book retailers like Amazon and Apple. Barnes & Noble, once a leading bookstore, has been severely affected by online retailers, causing their sales to go down every year for the last four years. The stock price has been dipping as well as several stores are getting closed, causing layoffs of employees (Wahba, 2017). According to Wahba (2017), "It has closed about 20 a year in recent years" (para. 4).
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barnes-noble-is-entertaining-the-possibility-of-selling-itself
http://fortune.com/2017/11/30/barnes-nhttp://fortune.com/2017/11/30/barnes-noble-sales/oble-sales/
Decline of Barnes & Noble
According to Ilwareed (2018), "As a bookseller, B&N has struggled on the one hand to keep up with the speed and ubiquity of Amazon, and on the other, to attract people to stores the way small, local indies have. It's also suffered from the decline of US shopping malls. In the last earnings call, Riggio, the B&N founder, and the chair said the company still needs to figure out new store sizes and layouts, and that its recent venture into restaurants was not successful" (para. 2).
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Barnes & Noble Operations Efficiencies
Plant
Processes
Planning & Control systems
https://s3.amazonaws.com/vetter-prod-vetter-public-files/photos/165/Efficiency_Defined.png
Some of the core inefficiencies can be co-related to the Operations Consulting 5P's. Plant, People, Parts, Processes, and Planning, each of which contribute to the operational efficiencies. Some of the Barnes and Nobel operational inefficiencies are with the plant, process, and planning. Plant efficiencies relate to the Nook tablet brand, which as the worst failure when compared to larger brands. Also, Barnes and Nobel were late in the game going digital and let the competition take over the marketplace. According to Lutz (2014), "The company blamed its poor sales on competition from Apple's iPad and its failure to release a new tablet." (Para, 2).
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Problem Definition
Data Gathering
Data Analysis and
Solution Development
Cost Impact and
Payoff Analysis
Implementation
Operations Planning Toolkit
Responsibility Charts, Project Management Techniques
Decision Trees, Balanced Scorecard, Stakeholder Analysis
Problem Analysis, Bottleneck Analysis, Computer Simulation, Statistical Tools
Plant tours/Audits, Work Sampling, Flow Charts, Organizational Charts
Issue Trees, Customer Surveys, Gap Analysis, Employee Surveys, Five Forces Model
A toolkit is tools that can be used to define the problem, collect data, analyze the data, provide cost analysis as well as implementation strategies. The kit must be developed to assist Barnes & Noble in creating tactical and functioning plans. Tactical and operative preparation is at the foundation of Barnes & Noble activities. The calculated plan determines where Barnes & Noble is going and the reason it's moving there. An operative plan particularizes how Barnes & Noble will arrive there. The toolkit delivers a method along with tools to foster a tactical and functioning program. It will serve those engaged in Barnes & Noble to understand better the setting in which their organization operates, its assets and failings, along with any concerns the organization is endeavoring to address.
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Operations Planning Toolkit Assessment
Problem:
Data Gathering:
Data Analysis:
Cost Impact and Payoff Analysis:
Implementation:
Decrease in sales & Revenue
Market trends / Digital trends
Market Researches
Internal audits
Market Comparison
Analyze gaps
Balance scorecards
Cost impacts / market research
Strategies and solutions
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Barnes & Noble must identify the causes for failure in Nook Tablet as well as Sales from Book Stores by gathering data using market trends and collecting information about the usage of digital patterns on book reading and conducting research with Millennials and conducting market researches. Barnes & Noble must also utilize data analysis by conducting internal audits and comparing them with the market to analyze gaps and identifying the weakest link. Cost impact and payoff analysis can be done by creating balance scorecards and completing the cost impacts based on market research. Implementation is executing the strategies and solutions that were designed to improve market penetration to increase online and in-store sales.
Based on the Operations Planning toolkit, there are certain areas that Barnes and Nobel need to rectify to ensure the sales increase. Problem identified is that the failure of Nook tablets has led to decreased sales. After determining the problem, collect relevant data from market analysis and customers surveys to understand the organization's market perspective. Once data is collected, ensure that there is an internal audit that happens to provide the data matches or creates an off segment. Based on this analysis, create a gap analysis which will help identify the weakest link. Once completing the investigation, create a balanced scorecard which will help stakeholders identify the state of the operations. With the balance scorecards, start building strategies that are needed to execute on them, which is deeper penetration into Digital readers.
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Resources and Data to Deploy
Leverage partnerships
Upgrade tablets to competition levels
Online platform for publishers
Digitalized stores
Reduce local stores
Price aggressively
https://www.xenore.com/operations
Barnes and Noble should leverage partnerships with other online booksellers. Nook tablet should step-up the tablet game and not just focus on low-cost readers, but to upgrade to competition levels. When it comes to increasing book sales, Barnes & Noble should create online platforms for publishers to create and publish books. B&N stores should be digitalized enabling customers to read books in-store and then transfer to digital readers. They must also reduce the number of local stores and expand marketing presence online while pricing aggressively to compete with the competition.
Based on the operations toolkit, use the resources and data to implement the strategy. Barnes and Noble need to extend their partnership with 3rd party online resellers to increase their footprints on the digital world. Nook tablet lines need to be revamped entirely to strengthen the competition and also would need to eliminate low-cost devices, creating an ecosystem of apps and a reading device. Barnes and Nobel also need to create an online publishing platform to enable creators to produce and sell books on their online platform.
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Financial Benefits for Barnes & Noble
Cost savings
3rd party online sellers
Increase market exposure
Reduce cost
Improve efficiencies
http://healthyonwealth.com/2018/06/25/financial-technology-benefits/
Barnes and Noble will save costs by effectively reorganizing stores and reducing the number of local stores within a certain proximity of each other. They will gain a competitive advantage by opening up a platform for 3rd party online sellers which will increase their products and sales. Eliminating the inefficient Nook tablet lines and launching brand new products that can compete with new technologies will increase market exposure. Digital markets reduce cost and improve efficiencies, like lowering physical inventories which also limits storage.
Operational consulting can reduce costs and ensure organizational change when executing on strategies can improve on financials. Cost saving strategies like local store closure will initially help with the operational cost for the new platform setup. Eliminating inefficient Nook tablet and recreating something new will increase demand and sales of devices as well as increase the market penetration which in turn directly creates financial upturns.
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Conclusion
Focus on business outcomes
Incorporate comprehensive projects
Support a robust business case for change
https://www.data-solutions.ch/2017/06/scaling-agile-conclusion.html
Operations Consulting comes with a considerable cost and is usually expensive. But with the right management and strategies such consulting can bring a whole new change in the organization. Ensuring right industry experts back the consultants as every problem is unique, organizations should be not stuck with one person's view but rather include collective ideas and thought processes. Management must create short-term and long-term strategies to fit the organization's mission and also ensure that the appropriate implementation of operations consulting toolkit data and analysis. For organizations to realize the full benefits of activities consulting, the focus' direction is towards the outcomes that the business looks forward to achieving. Focusing on results includes the management as well as the employees, each group being well informed of the part they should play and following guidance on how to do it. The business should ensure that all projects necessary for the implementation of changes are implemented comprehensively, so as not to leave any loopholes for more failures. Also, every person involved in the business should be put on board to support a robust business case for change, which is crucial in realizing the desired results.
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