OP3001: Operations, Supply Chain, and Cross-Functional Decision Making – Illustrate supply chain and operations management concepts and practices in organizations
Written Response Submission Form
Your Name: First and last
Your E-Mail Address: Your email here
Instructions
Write your responses where it reads “Enter your response here.” Write as much, as needed, to satisfy the requirements indicated. Each item contains the Rubric, which will be used to evaluate your responses.
Item 1
Explain the decisions operations managers make and give three examples. Your response should be 150–225 words (2–3 paragraphs) in length. Be sure to reference at least one scholarly source to support your answer.
Your Response
In order to understand roles of the operations managers, it is important to first define operations and operations management. According to Vonderembse and White (2013), operations refers processes within organization through which inputs are acquired and transformed to the output. On the other hand, operations management is the decision-making processes which entails designing, planning and management of the factors which affects operations. Considering the definitions provided for operations and operations management, operation can make the following types of the decisions: first, they can make decision on type of the goods which should be produced subject to the availability of the inputs, demand or when production of the particular goods is aimed at providing competitive advantage to the company; second, decision on the number of employees that should be employed and also scheduling of the employees to facilitate smooth provision of goods and services and finally, determine the methods which can be used to improve quality of goods and also promote efficiency in the provision of the goods and services (Vonderembse & White, 2013). These operational decisions help to ensure more value is gained from the inputs which are deployed by the organization. .
Rubric
Module 1: Operational Management Approaches
0
Not Present
1
Needs Improvement
2
Meets Expectations
Explain the decisions operations managers make and give three examples.
LO1.1.1: Describe the role of operational management and its components within an organization
Response is not present.
Explanation of the decisions operations managers make as well as three examples are vague, inaccurate, and/or incomplete.
Response provides a clear, accurate, and complete explanation of the decisions operations managers make, as well as three specific examples.
Item 2
Describe what the transformation process is for one of the following business organizations: an advertising agency or a bank. Highlight the inputs, outputs, and value created during the transformation process. Your response should be 150–225 words (2–3 paragraphs) in length. Be sure to reference at least one scholarly source to support your answer.
Your Response
In the operations management, transformation refers to the process through which various types of the inputs are used to produce more valuable output. Essentially, businesses look for ways through which they can work and improve on their inputs to improve on the quality of the final product and increase customer experience on the product or service. Brown, Bessant and Lamming (2013) refers to transformation as the process of modification of input to output, deriving what is called input-output model. Taking classic example of a bank, transformation can take in place in various ways to offer different types of the services. Consider a scenario where an individual wants to withdrawal money using ATM, in such case, computer system and machine which customer will insert ATM card will be needed, ATM card will be needed in the possession of the customer which should be inserted in ATM machine and customer will be required to feed in some information such as personal identification number and amount of money that would like to withdrawal .
Module 1: Operational Management Approaches
0
Not Present
1
Needs Improvement
2
Meets Expectations
Describe what the transformation process is for one of the following organizations: an advertising agency or bank, and highlight the inputs, outputs, and value created during the transformation process.
LO1.1.2: Describe the role of operational management and its components within an organization
Response is not present.
Description of what the transformation process is for either an advertising agency or a bank, including the inputs, outputs, and value created during the transformation process, is vague, inaccurate, and/or incomplete.
Response provides a clear, accurate, and complete description of what the transformation process is for either an advertising agency or a bank, including the inputs, outputs, and value created during the transformation process.
Item 3
Identify and describe a company you have a working knowledge of. Review the company’s operations management functions and identify strengths and areas for improvement in the process. Your response should be 150–225 words (2–3 paragraphs) in length. Be sure to reference at least one scholarly source to support your answer.
Your Response
Coca-Cola Company is leading beverage company in the world in the production and distribution of non-alcoholic drinks. The company has strong supply chain and distribution that enable the company to serve more than 1.9 billion people every day (The Coca-Cola Company, 2020). The company implement localized distribution channel which strengthen capability of the company to effectively meet demand of the customers from the different regions. Coca-Cola Company produces concentrate, beverage bases and syrups and sells them to over 250 bottling partners located in the different parts of the world. The bottling partner’s produces branded Coca-Coca products after adding ingredients such as water and sweeteners and many others to concentrates, beverages bases and syrups obtained from the Coca-Cola (The Coca-Cola Company, n.d). The bottling partners distributes branded coke products to wholesalers, vending partners, restaurants and retailers which sell products to the end consumers (The Coca-Cola Company, n.d). Operation management systems adopted by the Coca-Cola enable it to effectively serve customer demand, quickly respond to local needs of the customers and reach to all parts of the world from remote and urban areas. Finally, with emerging technologies, Coca-Cola needs to synchronize operations from different bottling partners and develop more innovative brands to counter growing competitions from other firms such as Pepsi. .
Rubric
Module 1: Operational Management Approaches
0
Not Present
1
Needs Improvement
2
Meets Expectations
Describe a company’s operations management functions and identify strengths and areas for improvement in the process.
LO1.1.3: Describe the role of operational management and its components within an organization
Response is not present.
Description of the company’s operations management functions, including identifying the strengths and areas for improvement in the process, is vague, inaccurate, and/or incomplete.
Response provides a clear, accurate, and complete description of the company’s operations management functions, including identifying the strengths and areas for improvement in the process.
Item 4
Describe strategic and tactical decisions and provide a real-world example of how each type of decision would be applied in a business context. Your response should be 75–150 words (1–2 paragraphs) in length. Be sure to reference at least one scholarly source to support your answer.
Your Response
Strategic decisions are type of the decisions which are made applying the collected data on a particular field while tactical decisions made in the application environment or implementation process (Inmon, Linstedt & Levins, 2019). For example, company may come up with strategic decision which purport to cost leader in the industry. However, to realize this strategic decision, company may employ tactical decision such inventory planning and use of the Just-In-Time inventory management system that ensure goods are produced when customer demand is placed. This eliminates inventory costs such a storage cost and other types of inventory costs which could help company keeps its cost down hence realizing its strategic decision of cost leader in the industry .
Rubric
Module 1: Operational Management Approaches
0
Not Present
1
Needs Improvement
2
Meets Expectations
Describe strategic and tactical decisions, including a real-world example of how each type of decision would be applied in a business context.
LO1.2: Apply strategic and tactical decisions in operational management
Response is not present.
Description of strategic and tactical decisions, including a real-world example of how each type of decision would be applied in a business context, is vague, inaccurate, and/or incomplete.
Response provides a clear, accurate, and complete description of strategic and tactical decisions, including a real-world example of how each type of decision would be applied in a business context.
Item 5
Which factors affect the decision-making process for a goods-based organization? Which factors affect the decision-making process for a service-based organization? Your response should be 150 words (2 paragraphs) in length. Be sure to reference at least one scholarly source to support your answer.
Your Response
When making decision for the good-based organization, numerous factors are given considered in making decision. One of the factors will be considered is whether to apply make to order (MTO) or Make to stock (MTS) to strategy. Good-based organization have advantage of the storing inventory which is not the case with service- based organization. Some of the good- based organizations prefer to use make to stock strategy so that they can have readily available stock to meet unexpected changes in the demand. In other cases, good based organizations prefer to use make to stock with aim of the eliminating some of the wastes which is equivalent of the implementation of the lean practice (Harrison, Van Hoek & Skipworth, 2014). On the contrary, service-based organization decisions are more influenced by the customers and always look for ways of the engaging, attracting and creating direct contact with customers. For example, a restaurant prepares food with expectation that customers will come and consume the prepared meal. If no customers will visit restaurant, it means that food prepared will turn to waste. Therefore, decisions for service based organization major mainly around customer management.
Rubric
Module 1: Operational Management Approaches
0
Not Present
1
Needs Improvement
2
Meets Expectations
Explain which factors affect the decision-making process for a goods-based organization.
LO1.3.1: Explain the distinct factors that impact goods and services
Response is not present.
Explanation of which factors affect the decision-making process for a goods-based organization is vague, inaccurate, and/or incomplete.
Response provides a clear, accurate, and complete explanation of which factors affect the decision-making process for a goods-based organization.
Explain which factors affect the decision-making process for a service-based organization.
LO1.3.2: Explain the distinct factors that impact goods and services
Response is not present.
Explanation of which factors affect the decision-making process for a service-based organization is vague, inaccurate, and/or incomplete.
Response provides a clear, accurate, and complete explanation of which factors affect the decision-making process for a service-based organization.
.
Item 6
As organizations expand into global/foreign markets, they may encounter issues within their operations management. Describe the types of issues that may arise. Your response should be 75–150 words (1–2 paragraphs) in length. Be sure to reference at least one scholarly source to support your answer.
Your Response
Expansion of the business operations to global markets is taken because of many advantages associated with it such as reach to a wide market, spread of the risks and increased market share that would lead to increase in sales. However, global expansion create some operational issues that require to be addressed. First, company will be required to strengthen and make improvement in the supply chain management because global supply chain is complex compared to domestic supply chain. For example, company may require to outsource logistical operations to facilitate delivery of the products on time to customers (Vonderembse & White, 2013). Demand management is another issue which would require company to deploy integrated and modern information systems and also form strategic alliances to enable company have seamless flow of information from customers to facilitate production which reciprocate to seamless flow of material goods to customers (Vonderembse & White, 2013).
Rubric
Module 1: Operational Management Approaches
0
Not Present
1
Needs Improvement
2
Meets Expectations
Describe the types of issues with operations management that may arise when organizations expand into global/foreign markets.
LO1.4: Identify issues for consideration when expanding to a global/foreign market
Response is not present.
Description of the types of issues with operation management that may arise when organizations expand into global/foreign markets is vague, inaccurate, and/or incomplete.
Response provides a clear, accurate, and complete description of the types of issues with operation management that may arise when organizations expand into global/foreign markets.
Item 7
Identify and describe three current trends in operations management. How do you think they will change the future of OM? Your response should be 225 words (3 paragraphs) in length. Be sure to reference at least one scholarly source to support your answer.
Your Response
Notable trends are taking place in the operation management and reshaping dynamics of operation management. Integration and adoption of modern technology and information systems adopted of hybrid supply chain and sustainability are some of the current trends in the operation management. Modern technology and information systems are currently applied widely in the different segment of operation management such as inventory management, production process, logistics and transportation, delivery of the services, demand management, supply chain management and essentially in everything (Harrison, Van Hoek & Skipworth, 2014). Modern technology and information systems are believed to create resilient supply chains, facilities flow of the information which is crucial in guiding critical operational functions such as production capacity (Harrison, Van Hoek & Skipworth, 2014). Technologies are used to track and monitor inventories in the warehouses and also reduce variability in the forecasting and demand management hence promoting effectiveness and efficiency in the supply chain management. Second, businesses are adopting hybrid supply chain which is the combination of the agile and lean supply chain strategies. This is prompted by the fact that adoption of one type of supply chain such agile strategy fails to address all the strategic needs of the business entities. Therefore, to close gap that is created by the application of one supply chain strategy, businesses are optimizing by applying both agile and lean practices. Agile practices allow firms to quickly respond to the emerging needs while lean practices enable firm to deploy response strategies that eliminate waste, promotes cost efficiency and deliver customer value (Harrison, Van Hoek & Skipworth, 2014). Finally, sustainability is emerging trend in the operation management. Operation managers are deploying sustainable practices such us use clean sources of the energy such as solar panels in the production plants, consolidating inventory to reduce number of trips hence reducing greenhouse emission and also using recyclable packaging materials (Murphy & Knemeyer, 2018). Three identified current trends will continue in the future because more innovative technologies are being discovered, campaign for protection and conservation are on rise and companies concerned on how to minimize cost and respond quickly to customer needs. Therefore, operation managers need to prepare more on how to create competitive advantage in these three areas. .