B7532 Advanced Operations Management Week 7

Required Assignment 1—Literature Review

Christopher Walters

Argosy University

Required Assignment 1 – Literature Review

Introduction

Operation management strategies translate to the approaches firms use to reach their goals. By developing operational strategies, a firm can evaluate and implement operative and efficient systems for utilizing resources, personnel and work procedure (Bettley & Burnley, 2015). The articles cover the best practices for incorporating new and established technologies into business operations using BPR (Business process reengineering).

Peer reviewed articles

Bettley, A., & Burnley, S. (2015.). Towards Sustainable Operations Management Integrating Sustainability Management into Operations Management Strategies and Practices. Handbook of Performability Engineering, 875-904.

Briffaut, J. (2015). E-Enabled Operations Management.

Goncalves, M., & Porter, B. (2014). Operations — The Strategies. Global Management Strategies: Sales, Design, Manufacturing & Operations (The Technical Manager's Survival Guides), 87-95.

Grabner, T. (2012). Einführung in das Operations Management. Operations Management, 1-14. doi:10.1007/978-3-658-00183-4_1

Kasiri, N., & Movassaghi, H. (2015). An analysis of firms' sustainable operations strategies: a game theory approach. International Journal of Modelling in Operations Management, 5(1), 1.

Multinational Enterprise Management Strategies in Developing Countries. (2016). Advances in Logistics, Operations, and Management Science.

Selladurai, R. (2011). Network Marketing and Supply Chain Management for Effective Operations Management. Managing Global Supply Chain Relationships, 322-335.

Introduction of the context of the articles

These articles exclusively cover the operation management strategies that should be incorporated in a business. Also, the approaches cover the best practices for incorporating new and established technologies into business operations using BPR (Business process reengineering). The strategies include the following.

The goods and services approach

This includes new methodologies to implement consistency in cost, quality and resources all business divisions. The second strategy in the articles is the quality management. This approach refers to being clear on customer demands and then counters those expectations. Also, utilize the market research to determine customers’ requirements as well as set quality assurances testing on products and services in production. Again, the articles articulate on the process and capacity design. This translates to the strategies that are supportive to all means of production goals that includes technology and resources. Incorporation of value stream map can aid in support and deliberation of the processes that are vital and help keep them running efficiently. Another method that has been profoundly covered by the articles is the location (Briffaut, 2015). In location strategy, supply chain and how the location will receive supplies matters. Better still, it aids in movement of goods and services, customers, responsibility of marketing as well as relations in the location of choice. Additionally, layout design and strategy is covered in the peer-reviewed journals. It states that operations managements should consider placement of desks, workstation as well as the method to which materials are delivered. The human resource and job design is intensely addressed by this article. It translates to the implementation and continuous improvement programs with continuous reviews, giving regular training for employees as well as satisfaction programs to achieve success in the area. The last concept addressed by these articles is the supply chain management. This includes deliberating the paramount strategies to streamline, be cost operative and develop trusted partners (Goncalves & Porter, 2014).

Key themes that emerge from the selected articles

There are numerous themes that emerge from the selected articles. They include understanding markets, mission and strategy, and competitive advantage. For understanding the markets, one of the side effects of contributing in international business is the responsibility to interrelate with foreign clients. This can give a profound insight into the existing and current markets, trends, and customer demands. It can be utilized by the organization to plot a course for the future. This helps the company in diversification of product lines, add production flexibility as well as smoothening the business cycle (Grabner, 2012).

Another key theme that is evident in these articles is the mission and strategy. Mission translates to the purpose and the rationale for the organizational existence. This is answers the questions like what the organization contribute to society. Mission of the organization act as the direction tool which all the decisions are made. If the mission is satisfying the customer’s needs and wants, a good mission statement provides the boundaries and emphasis around which the organization can rally. As a result, developing a strategy is difficult, however, a good mission statement gives a platform of developing a well-defined strategy. Strategy is a plan of action to achieve the mission. Every functional sector has its own strategy to develop and aid in achieving the organizational mission. These strategies consider strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities taken as a whole, the contributions of the operative area strategies back the mission and the achievement of the business (Kasiri & Movassaghi, 2015).

Another theme in these articles is competitive advantage. There are different ways in which an organization can organize to meet mission. This includes differentiation, cost effective leadership and response. Operation managers turn these operations into completed tasks in order to deliver goods and services at cheaper, better and more responsively. The major concept when incorporating these factors is to gain competitive advantage. Also, this can be achieved by an organization answering the question what makes the services or goods more effective than anyone who offer the same goods. Competitive advantage includes the creation of a special advantage over the competitors ("Multinational Enterprise Management Strategies in Developing Countries," 2016).

Similarities and differences in how each author have presented each theme.

Bettley & Burnley, (2015) presents his arguments about the themes in typically the same way. All the three themes are presented with facts and details. Also, they give a vivid description of how to create understanding of markets, mission and strategy, and competitive advantage. Additionally, this has been able to create a picture in the mind of the reader. Briffaut, (2015) presents the theme of understanding the market in details and great analogy. He defines understanding of market as an imperative section in an organization. For mission and strategy, Briffaut describes this as the core leader in a business. He alludes that this shapes the direction of the firm. On the issue of competitive advantage, he has presented it in an analogy form where he first analyzes the factors that aid competitive advantage. Goncalves & Porter, (2014) describes the entire theme in the same method. They give details about the themes and provide insights on how to accomplish them in a vivid description. Grabner, (2012) have taken a different approach from others. This is because he describes the themes in details and specifics. For example in explaining mission and strategy he defines the concept in manner that a layman can understand. He also uses narration and facts. Kasiri & Movassaghi, (2015) describes the themes using examples. In the mission and strategy theme, they describe the meaning and provides an example. This is observed in every other theme that they describe. The example is in mission and strategy where he alludes on what your organization contribute to society. In the journal, Multinational Enterprise Management Strategies in Developing Countries, (2016) symbolism is utilized in the explanation of every theme. For example, in mission and strategy, they symbolize the heart of a living organism. It further stipulates that’s a company cannot hold if the mission and strategy are absent. Lastly, Selladurai, (2011) describes every theme using the tool of comparison. He compares the themes with vital aspects like car engine. He says that competitive advantages are like a car engine, which drives the car, the same case with competitive advantage.

Similarities of the authors are that all the authors have used details and particulars to convey their message. Also, they have shared the common themes in their works. Better still, they share the concept of vivid description that is able to create an image of this theme in the mind of the readers.

Evaluation of the implications of operations management strategies on the successful management and leadership of an enterprise

Operation management strategies are significant on the successful management and leadership of an enterprise. This is because it provides a platform for activities in the business. This enables the performance of these activities and performance of the entire organization. Also, ensure that the operations properly match the conditions of the market. It’s worth noting that markets are dynamic and changes overtime. This significantly affects the demand for products and services.

Conclusion

In closing, the author shows that having an operational strategy impacts the performance of an organization in more than one-way. Activities of the organizations leadership generally involve the examination of internal environment of a business as well as the external environment, which also impacts the direction, or strategy of the business. The ability of the manager to manage these concepts depends on his or her knowledge in the strategic management planning process ("Multinational Enterprise Management Strategies in Developing Countries," 2016).

References

Bettley, A., & Burnley, S. (2015.). Towards Sustainable Operations Management Integrating Sustainability Management into Operations Management Strategies and Practices. Handbook of Performability Engineering, 875-904. doi:10.1007/978-1-84800-131-2_53

Briffaut, J. (2015). E-Enabled Operations Management. doi:10.1002/9781119145219

Goncalves, M., & Porter, B. (2014). Operations — The Strategies. Global Management Strategies: Sales, Design, Manufacturing & Operations (The Technical Manager's Survival Guides), 87-95. doi:10.1115/1.802762.ch10

Grabner, T. (2012). Einführung in das Operations Management. Operations Management, 1-14. doi:10.1007/978-3-658-00183-4_1

Kasiri, N., & Movassaghi, H. (2015). An analysis of firms' sustainable operations strategies: a game theory approach. International Journal of Modelling in Operations Management, 5(1), 1. doi:10.1504/ijmom.2015.069220

Multinational Enterprise Management Strategies in Developing Countries. (2016). Advances in Logistics, Operations, and Management Science. doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-0276-0

Selladurai, R. (2011). Network Marketing and Supply Chain Management for Effective Operations Management. Managing Global Supply Chain Relationships, 322-335. doi:10.4018/978-1-61692-862-9.ch014