A REPORT ON

OPERATIONS STRATEGY

MASTERS OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT DEGREE COURSE OF

MANIPAL UNIVERSITY

BY

SUSHMITA A ARAKERI

MANIPAL INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT

MANIPAL – 576 104

OPERATIONS STRATEGY

Companies and organizations making products and delivering, be it for profit or not

for profit rely on a handful of processes to get their products manufactured properly and

delivered on time. Each of the process acts as an operation for the company. To the company

this is essential. That is why managers find operations management more appealing.

Understanding Operations

Have you ever imagined a car without a gear or the steering wheel? Whilst, what

remains of an utmost importance to you is to drive the locomotive from one location to

another for whatever purpose you wish, but can only be made possible with each and every

part of the car working together and attached.

Organizations behave in the same manner. The company has an ultimate goal of

delivering goods to a client, but the processes of designing, manufacturing, analyzing and

then finally being delivered are the driving forces for the company's success. All these chunks

of works processes that collectively define a bigger purpose, the operations for that particular

organization. The more effective these processes or operations would be. The more

productive and profitable the business would be.

“Goods, the ultimate by-product of a company, can be a product or a service. Take for

instance, a car manufacturing company. For it, all operations would lead to the development

and enhancement of a car, a product, something physical. But, to a therapist, the service

he/she provides to their clients is the much needed result or required output.”

A Formal Definition

According to Slack and Lewis, operations strategy holds the following definition:

“Operations strategy is the total pattern of decisions which shape the long-term

capabilities of any type of operations and their contribution to the overall strategy,

through the reconciliation of market requirements with operations resources.”

To look at what operations strategy is, we would break the word into the two separate

forming words: operations and strategy. Both these words act as antitheses to the other.

Where operations deals with the functions and procedures involved in the day-to-day

processes of manufacturing goods and products, strategy deals with the direction and scope

of an organization over a long period of time on how they deliver to their clients. It turns out

that the name itself holds information about the broad subject that tends to bind together

routine process management, i.e., operations managements with a foresight of things

forming up way ahead in the future.

Operations strategy (how your business operates, day-to-day and end-to-end) is the

HOW in your corporate and market strategy.  It is this strategy which enables (or not) the

profitable delivery of your product/service propositions to your market, but it is not a ‘mere’

support function. Corporate, Market and Operations strategy are integrally linked, supported

and informed by one another.  New operations models can enable radically different market

propositions; they can provide the opportunity for new market and corporate strategy.

All operations strategies need to be designed to deliver the corporate and market strategy.  Of

course its execution is principally through people and organisations.  Although the iterative

nature must not be overlooked, there is a clear ‘form follows function’ principal flowing from

operations strategy through to organisational structure and operations.

The Role of Operations Strategy

The role of operations strategy is to provide a plan for the operations function so that

it can make the best use of its resources. Operations strategy specifies the policies and plans

for using the organization’s resources to support its long-term competitive strategy. Figure1

shows this relationship.

Figure1: Relationship between the business strategy and the functional strategies

The operations function is responsible for managing the resources needed to produce

the company’s goods and services. Operations strategy is the plan that specifies the design

and use of resources to support the business strategy. This includes the location, size, and

type of facilities available; worker skills and talents required; use of technology, special

processes needed, special equipment; and quality control methods. The operations strategy

must be aligned with the company’s business strategy and enable the company to achieve its

long-term plan.

For example, the business strategy of FedEx, the world’s largest provider of expedited

delivery services, is to compete on time and dependability of deliveries. The operations

strategy of FedEx developed a plan for resources to support its business strategy. To provide

speed of delivery, FedEx acquired its own fleet of airplanes. To provide dependability of

deliveries, FedEx invested in a sophisticated bar code technology to track all packages.

The Importance of Operations Strategy

Operations strategy did not come to the forefront until the 1970s. Up to that time U.S.

companies emphasized mass production of standard product designs. There were no serious

international competitors, and U.S. companies could pretty much sell anything they

produced. However, that changed in the 1970s and 1980s. Japanese companies began

offering products of superior quality at lower cost, and U.S. companies lost market share to

their Japanese counterparts. In an attempt to survive, many U.S. companies copied Japanese

approaches. Unfortunately, merely copying these approaches often proved unsuccessful; it

took time to really understand Japanese approaches. It became clear that Japanese companies

were more competitive because of their operations strategy; that is, all their resources were

specifically designed to directly support the company’s overall strategic plan.

Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter says that companies often do not

understand the differences between operational efficiency and strategy. Operational

efficiency is performing operations tasks well, even better than competitors. Strategy, on the

other hand, is a plan for competing in the marketplace. An analogy might be that of running a

race efficiently, but it may be the wrong race. Strategy is defining in what race you will win.

Operational efficiency and strategy must be aligned; otherwise you may be very efficiently

performing the wrong task. The role of operations strategy is to make sure that all the tasks

performed by the operations function are the right tasks. Consider a software company that

recently invested millions of dollars in developing software with features not provided by

competitors, only to discover that these were features customers did not particularly want.

Strategy can be considered to exist at three levels in an organization (see Table 1) and

Criteria for evaluating an operations strategy (see Table 2):

Corporate level strategy: Corporate level strategy is the highest level of strategy. It sets

the long- term direction and scope for the whole organization. If the organization comprises

more than one business unit, corporate level strategy will be concerned with what those

businesses should be, how resources (e.g. cash) will be allocated between them, and how

relationships between the various business units and between the corporate centre and the

business units should be managed. Organizations often express their strategy in the form of a

corporate mission or vision statement.

Table 1: Levels of strategy

Table 2: Criteria for evaluating an operations strategy

Business level strategy: Business level strategy is primarily concerned with how a

particular business unit should compete within its industry, and what its strategic aims and

objectives should be. Depending upon the organization’s corporate strategy and the

relationship between the corporate centre and its business units, a business unit’s strategy

may be constrained by a lack of resources or strategic limitations placed upon it by the centre.

In single business organizations, business level strategy is synonymous with corporate level

strategy.

Functional level strategy: The bottom level of strategy is that of the individual function

(operations, marketing, finance, etc.) These strategies are concerned with how each function

contributes to the business strategy, what their strategic objectives should be and how they

should manage their resources in pursuit of those objectives.

Developing a Business Strategy

A company’s business strategy is developed after its managers have considered many

factors and have made some strategic decisions. These include developing an understanding

of what business the company is in (the company’s mission), analyzing and developing an

understanding of the market (environmental scanning), and identifying the company’s

strengths (core competencies). These three factors are critical to the development of the

company’s long-range plan, or business strategy. In this section, we describe each of these

elements in detail and show how they are combined to formulate the business strategy.

A. Mission

“A statement defining what business an organization is in, who its customers are, and how its

core beliefs shape its business.”

Every organization, from IBM to the Boy Scouts, has a mission. The mission is a statement

that answers three overriding questions:

• What business will the company be in (“selling personal computers,” “operating an Italian

restaurant”)?

• Who will the customers be, and what are the expected customer attributes (“homeowners,”

“college graduates”)?

• How will the company’s basic beliefs define the business (“gives the highest customer

service,” “stresses family values”)?

Following is a list of some well-known companies and parts of their mission statements:

Dell Computer Corporation: “to be the most successful computer company in the world”

Delta Air Lines: “worldwide airlines choice”

IBM: “translate advanced technologies into values for our customers as the world’s largest

information service company”

Lowe’s: “helping customers build, improve and enjoy their homes”

Ryder: “offers a wide array of logistics services, such as distribution management,

domestically and globally”

The mission defines the company. In order to develop a long-term plan for a business,

you must first know exactly what business you are in, what customers you are serving, and

what your company’s values are. If a company does not have a well defined mission it may

pursue business opportunities about which it has no real knowledge or that are in conflict

with its current pursuits, or it may miss opportunities altogether.

For example, Dell Computer Corporation has become a leader in the computer

industry in part by following its mission. If it did not follow its mission Dell might decide to

pursue other opportunities, such as producing mobile telephones similar to those

manufactured by Motorola and Nokia. Although there is a huge market for mobile

telephones, it is not consistent with Dell’s mission of focusing on computers.

B. Environmental Scanning

“Monitoring the external environment for changes and trends to determine business

opportunities and threats.”

A second factor to consider is the external environment of the business. This includes

trends in the market, in the economic and political environment, and in society. These trends

must be analyzed to determine business opportunities and threats. Environmental scanning is

the process of monitoring the external environment. To remain competitive, companies have

to continuously monitor their environment and be prepared to change their business strategy,

or long-range plan, in light of environmental changes.

What Does Environmental Scanning Tell Us?

Environmental scanning allows a company to identify opportunities and threats. For

example, through environmental scanning we could see gaps in what customers need and

what competitors are doing to meet those needs. A study of these gaps could reveal an

opportunity for our company, and we could design a plan to take advantage of it. On the other

hand, our company may currently be a leader in its industry, but environmental scanning

could reveal competitors that are meeting customer needs better—for example, by offering a

wider array of services. In this case, environmental scanning would reveal a threat and we

would have to change our strategy so as not to be left behind. Just because a company is an

industry leader today does not mean it will continue to be a leader in the future. In the 1970s

Sears, Roebuck and Company was a retail leader, but fell behind the pack in the 1990s.

What Are Trends in the Environment?

The external business environment is always changing. To stay ahead of the

competition, a company must constantly look out for trends or changing patterns in the

environment, such as marketplace trends. These might include changes in customer wants

and expectations, and ways in which competitors are meeting those expectations.

For example, in the computer industry customers are demanding speed of delivery,

high quality, and low price. Dell Computer Corporation has become a leader in the industry

because of its speed of delivery and low price. Other computer giants, such as Compaq, have

had to redesign their business and operations strategies to compete with Dell. Otherwise, they

would be left behind. It is through environmental scanning that companies like Compaq can

see trends in the market, analyze the competition, and recognize what they need to do to

remain competitive.

In addition to market trends, environmental scanning looks at economic, political, and

social trends that can affect the business. Economic trends include recession, inflation,

interest rates, and general economic conditions. Suppose that a company is considering

obtaining a loan in order to purchase a new facility. Environmental scanning could show that

interest rates are particularly favorable and that this may be a good time to go ahead with the

purchase.

Political trends include changes in the political climate—local, national, and

international—that could affect a company. For example, the creation of the European Union

has had a significant impact on strategic planning for global companies such as IBM,

Hewlett-Packard, and PepsiCo. Similarly, changes in trade relations with China have opened

up opportunities that were not available earlier. There has been a change in how companies

view their environment, a shift from a national to a global perspective. Companies seek

customers and suppliers all over the globe. Many have changed their strategies in order to

take advantage of global opportunities, such as forming partnerships with international firms,

called strategic alliances.

Pepsi seeks customers and suppliers all over the globe.

For example, companies like Motorola and Xerox want to take advantage of

opportunities in China and are developing strategic alliances to help them break into that

market.

Finally, Social trends are changes in society that can have an impact on a business.

An example is the awareness of the dangers of smoking, which has made smoking less

socially acceptable. This trend has had a huge impact on companies in the tobacco industry.

In order to survive, many of these companies have changed their strategy to focus on

customers overseas where smoking is still socially acceptable, or have diversified into other

product lines.

C. Core Competencies

The unique strengths of a business.

The third factor that helps define a business strategy is an understanding of the

company’s strengths. These are called core competencies. In order to formulate a long-term

plan, the company’s managers must know the competencies of their organization. Core

competencies could include special skills of workers, such as expertise in providing

customized services or knowledge of information technology. Another example might be

flexible facilities that can handle the production of a wide array of products. To be successful,

a company must compete in markets where its core competencies will have value. Table 3

shows a list of some core competencies that companies may have.

Table 3: Organizational Core Competencies

Highly successful firms develop a business strategy that takes advantage of their core

competencies or strengths. To see why it is important to use core competencies, think of a

student developing plans for a successful professional career. Let’s say that this student is

particularly good at mathematics but not as good in verbal communication and persuasion.

Taking advantage of core competencies would mean developing a career strategy in which

the student’s strengths could provide an advantage, such as engineering or computer science.

On the other hand, pursuing a career in marketing would place the student at a disadvantage

because of a relative lack of skills in persuasion.

Increased global competition has driven many companies to clearly identify their core

competencies and outsource those activities considered noncore. Outsourcing is when a

company obtains goods or services from an outside provider. By outsourcing noncore

activities a company can focus on its core competencies.

For example, Meijer, a grocery and general merchandise retailer, outsources the

transportation of all its merchandise to a company called Total Logistics Control (TLC). TLC

is responsible for all deliveries, route scheduling, and all activities involved in maintaining a

fleet of trucks, allowing Meijer to focus on its core competencies.

The degree of outsourcing has been rapidly increasing in recent years, as you can see in

Figure 2.

Figure 2: U.S. market for outsourcing services 1996–2000

Outsourcing has been touted as the enabling factor that helps companies achieve the

needed speed and flexibility to be competitive. In fact, management guru Tom Peters has

been quoted as saying, “Do what you do best and outsource the rest.”

Putting It Together

Figure 3 shows how the mission, environmental scanning, and core competencies help

in the formulation of the business strategy. This is an ongoing process that is constantly

allowed to change. As environmental scanning reveals changes in the external environment,

the company may need to change its business strategy to remain competitive while taking

advantage of its core competencies and staying within its mission.

Figure 3: Three inputs in developing a business strategy

Let’s look at how Dell Computer Corporation combined its mission, environmental

scanning, and core competencies to develop a highly successful business strategy. Dell’s

mission is to “be the most successful computer company in the world at delivering the best

customer experience in markets we serve.

Link: Dell Computer Corporation www.dell.com

In doing so, Dell will meet customer expectations of: highest quality, leading

technology, competitive pricing, individual and company accountability, best-in-class service

and support, flexible customization capability, superior corporate citizenship, and financial

stability.” The mission defined what business Dell is in: highest quality, leading technology,

Computer Company. It also defined Dell’s customers: focus on markets served. Finally, it

defined how Dell would do this: through competitive pricing, best in- class service and

support, and flexible customization capability. You can see how this mission defines Dell as a

company. An environmental scan revealed that competing computer manufacturers, such as

IBM and Compaq, used intermediate resellers to sell computers. This led to higher inventory,

higher costs, and slower responsiveness to customer wants. Michael Dell’s idea was to sell

directly to the customer and be able to put together exactly the system the customer wanted

within a short time. Dell defined its core competencies as flexible manufacturing and the

latest technological offering. Together, the mission, environmental scan, and core

competencies were used to develop a competitive business strategy that provides customized

computer solutions to customers within 36 hours at a highly competitive price. Dell’s

business strategy was to take advantage of an opportunity in the market. However, to

implement this strategy, the company needed to develop an operations strategy that arranged

all the resources in ways that would support the business strategy. Operations strategy

designs a plan for resources in order to take the business strategy from concept to reality. In

the next section we look at how an operations strategy is developed.

Developing an Operations Strategy

Once a business strategy has been developed, an operations strategy must be

formulated. This will provide a plan for the design and management of the operations

function in ways that support the business strategy. The operations strategy relates the

business strategy to the operations function. It focuses on specific capabilities of the

operation that give the company a competitive edge. These capabilities are called

competitive priorities. By excelling in one of these capabilities, a company can become a

winner in its market.

Competitive Priorities

Capabilities that the operations function can develop in order to give a company a

competitive advantage in its market. Operations managers must work closely with marketing

in order to understand the competitive situation in the company’s market before they can

determine which competitive priorities are important. There are five broad categories of

competitive priorities: These competitive priorities and their relationship to the design of the

operations function are shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4: Operations strategy and the design of the operations function

1. Cost

Competing based on cost means offering a product at a low price relative to the prices

of competing products. The need for this type of competition emerges from the business

strategy. The role of the operations strategy is to develop a plan for the use of resources to

support this type of competition. Note that a low-cost strategy can result in a higher profit

margin, even at a competitive price. Also, low cost does not imply low quality. Let’s look at

some specific characteristics of the operations function we might find in a company

competing on cost. To develop this competitive priority, the operations function must focus

primarily on cutting costs in the system, such as costs of labor, materials, and facilities.

Companies that compete based on cost study their operations system carefully to eliminate all

waste. They might offer extra training to employees to maximize their productivity and

minimize scrap. Also, they might invest in automation in order to increase productivity.

Generally, companies that compete based on cost offer a narrow range of products and

product features, allow for little customization, and have an operations process that is

designed to be as efficient as possible.

In order to compete on a price basis, the firm must be able to produce the product at a

lesser cost or be willing to accept a smaller profit margin. Firms with this competency are

generally in a position to mass produce the product or service, thereby giving the firm

economies of scale that drive the production cost per unit down considerably. Commodity

items are mass-produced at such volume that they utilize a continuous process, thus deriving

tremendous economies of scale and very low prices Consumers purchasing commodity-type

products are usually not greatly aware of brand difference, and will buy strictly on the basis

of price; e.g., as long as it is a major brand of gasoline and location is not a factor, consumers

will opt for the lowest price. Wal-Mart is able to offer low prices by accepting a lower profit

margin per unit sold. Their tremendous volume more than makes up for the lower profit

margin.

Link: Southwest Airlines Company www.southwest.com

A company that successfully competes on cost is Southwest Airlines. Southwest’s entire

operations function is designed to support this strategy. Facilities are streamlined: only one

type of aircraft is used, and flight routes are generally short. This serves to minimize costs of

scheduling crew changes, maintenance, inventories of parts, and many administrative costs.

Unnecessary costs are completely eliminated: there are no meals, printed boarding passes, or

seat assignments.

Figure 5: Activity Map showing How Southwest’s Strategy is Implemented

Employees are trained to perform many functions and use a team approach to

maximize customer service. Because of this strategy, Southwest has been a model for the

airline industry for a number of years.

Sowthwest, The Low Fare Airline

Limited Passenger Service

No Baggage Transfers

No connection With Other Airlines

Short-haul, Point- to- point routes between mid size

cities and Secondary Airports

Standardized Fleet of 737 Aircrafts

Very Low Ticket Price

High Aircraft Utilization

Automatic Ticketing Machine

Limited Use of Travel Agents

High Level of Employees Stock Ownership

Lean Highly Productive Ground and Gate Crews

15-Minute Gate Turnarounds

Flexible Union Contracts

High Compensation of Employees

Frequent Reliable Departures

No Seat Assignments

No Meals

2. Quality

Many companies claim that quality is their top priority, and many customers say that they

look for quality in the products they buy. Yet quality has a subjective meaning; it depends on

who is defining it. For example, to one person quality could mean that the product lasts a

long time, such as with a Volvo, a car known for its longevity. To another person quality

might mean high performance, such as a BMW.

When companies focus on quality as a competitive priority, they are focusing on the

dimensions of quality that are considered important by their customers. Quality as a

competitive priority has two dimensions. The first is high-performance design. This means

that the operations function will be designed to focus on aspects of quality such as superior

features, close tolerances, high durability, and excellent customer service. The second

dimension is goods and services consistency, which measures how often the goods or

services meet the exact design specifications. A strong example of product consistency is

McDonald’s, where we know we can get the same product every time at any location.

Companies that compete on quality must deliver not only high-performance design but goods

and services consistency as well. A company that competes on this dimension needs to

implement quality in every area of the organization. One of the first aspects that need to be

addressed is product design quality, which involves making sure the product meets the

requirements of the customer.

A second aspect is process quality, which deals with designing a process to produce error-

free products. This includes focusing on equipment, workers, materials, and every other

aspect of the operation to make sure it works the way it is supposed to. Companies that

compete based on quality have to address both of these issues: the product must be designed

to meet customer needs, and the process must produce the product exactly as it is designed.

To see why product and process quality are both important, let’s say that your favorite fast-

food restaurant has designed a new sandwich called the “Big Yuck.” The restaurant could

design a process that produces a perfect “Big Yuck” every single time. But if customers find

the “Big Yuck” unappealing, they will not buy it. The same would be true if the restaurant

designed a sandwich called the “Super Delicious” to meet the desires of its customers. Even

if the “Super Delicious” was exactly what the customers wanted, if the process did not

produce the sandwich the way it was designed, often making it soggy and cold instead,

customers would not buy it. Remember that the product needs to be designed to meet

customer wants and needs, and the process needs to be designed to produce the exact product

that was intended, consistently without error.

David Garvin lists eight dimensions of quality as follows:

1. Performance. Performance refers to a product's primary operating characteristics. For an

automobile this could mean fast acceleration, easy handling, a smooth ride or good gas

mileage. For a television it could mean bright color, clarity, sound quality or number of

channels it can receive. For a service this could merely mean attention to details or prompt

service.

2. Conformance. Conformance is the degree to which a product's design and operating

characteristics meet predetermined standards. When a manufacturer utilizing coils of steel

receives a shipment from the mill, it checks the width of the coil, the gauge (thickness) of the

steel, the weight of the coil, and puts a sample on a Rockwell hardness tester to check to

ensure that the specified hardness has been provided. Receiving inspection will also check to

see if specified characteristics are met (e.g., hot-rolled, pickled, and oiled). Services may

have conformance requirements when it comes to repair, processing, accuracy, timeliness,

and errors.

3. Features. Features are the bells and whistles of a product or service. In other words,

characteristics that supplement the basic function of the product or service. Desirable, but not

absolutely necessary, features on a VCR include four heads, slow-motion capability, stereo or

surround sound, split screens or inset screens, and 365-day programming ability. Service

examples include free drinks on an airline flight or free delivery of flowers.

4. Durability. Durability is defined as mean time until replacement. In other words, how long

does the product last before it is worn out or has to be replaced because repair is impossible?

For some items, such as light bulbs, repair is impossible and replacement is the only available

option. Durability may be had by use of longer life materials or improved technology

processes in manufacturing. One would expect home appliances such as refrigerators, washer

and dryers, and vacuum cleaners to last for many years. One would also hope that a product

that represents a significant investment, such as an automobile, would have durability as a

primary characteristic of quality.

5. Reliability. Reliability refers to a product's mean time until failure or between failures. In

other words, the time until a product breaks down and has to be repaired, but not replaced.

This is an important feature for products that have expensive downtime and maintenance.

Businesses depend on this characteristic for items such as delivery trucks and vans, farm

equipment and copy machines since their failure could conceivably shut down the business

altogether.

6. Serviceability. Serviceability is defined by speed, courtesy, competence and ease of repair.

This is can be an extremely important characteristic as witnessed by the proliferation of toll-

free hot lines for customer service. A number of years ago, a major television manufacturer

advertised that its product had its "works in a box." This meant that the television set was

assembled out of modular units. Whenever there were problems with the set, a repairman

making a house call simply had to replace the problem module, making the product easily

and quickly serviceable.

7. Aesthetics. A product's looks, feel, smell, sound, or taste are its aesthetic qualities. Since

these characteristics are strictly subjective and captive to preference, it is virtually impossible

to please everyone on this dimension.

8. Perceived Quality. Perceived quality is usually inferred from various tangible and

intangible aspects of the product. Many consumers assume products made in Japan are

inherently of high quality due to the reputation of Japanese manufacturers, whereas 50 years

ago, the perception was the complete opposite. Other characteristics such as high price or

pleasing aesthetics may imply quality.

Firms competing on this basis offer products or services that are superior to the

competition on one or more of the eight dimensions. Obviously, it would be undesirable if

not impossible for firms to compete on all eight dimensions of quality at once. This would be

prohibitively expensive, and there are some limitations imposed by trade-offs that must be

made due to the nature of the product. For example, a firm may sacrifice reliability in order to

achieve maximum speed.

3. Time / Speed

A competitive priority focusing on speed and on-time delivery.

Time or speed is one of the most important competitive priorities today. Companies

in all industries are competing to deliver high-quality products in as short a time as possible.

Companies like FedEx, LensCrafters, United Parcel Service (UPS), and Dell compete based

on time. Today’s customers don’t want to wait, and companies that can meet their need for

fast service are becoming leaders in their industries. Making time a competitive priority

means competing based on all time-related issues, such as rapid delivery and on-time

delivery. Rapid delivery refers to how quickly an order is received; on-time delivery refers to

the number of times deliveries are made on time. When time is a competitive priority, the job

of the operations function is to critically analyze the system and combine or eliminate

processes in order to save time. Often companies use technology to speed up processes, rely

on a flexible workforce to meet peak demand periods, and eliminate unnecessary steps in the

production process.

LINK: FedEx Corporation www.federalexpress.com

FedEx is an example of a company that competes based on time. The company’s

claim is to “absolutely, positively” deliver packages on time. To support this strategy, the

operation function had to be designed to promote speed. Bar code technology is used to speed

up processing and handling, and the company uses its own fleet of airplanes. FedEx relies on

a very flexible part-time workforce, such as college students who are willing to work a few

hours at night. FedEx can call on this part-time workforce at a moment’s notice, providing

the company with a great deal of flexibility. This allows FedEx to cover workforce

requirements during peak periods without having to schedule full-time workers.

4. Flexibility

A competitive priority focusing on offering a wide variety of goods or services.

As a company’s environment changes rapidly, including customer needs and

expectations, the ability to readily accommodate these changes can be a winning strategy.

This is flexibility. There are two dimensions of flexibility. One is the ability to offer a wide

variety of goods or services and customize them to the unique needs of clients. This is called

product flexibility. A flexible system can quickly add new products that may be important to

customers or easily drop a product that is not doing well. Another aspect of flexibility is the

ability to rapidly increase or decrease the amount produced in order to accommodate changes

in the demand. This is called volume flexibility.

You can see the meaning of flexibility when you compare ordering a suit from a

custom tailor to buying it off the rack at a retailer. Another example would be going to a fine

restaurant and asking to have a meal made just for you, versus going to a fast food restaurant

and being limited to items on the menu. The custom tailor and the fine restaurant are

examples of companies that are flexible and will accommodate customer wishes. Another

example of flexibility is Empire West Inc., a company that makes a variety of products out of

plastics, depending on what customers want. Empire West makes everything from plastic

trays to body guards for cars. Companies that compete based on flexibility often cannot

compete based on speed, because it generally requires more time to produce a customized

product. Also, flexible companies typically do not compete based on cost, because it may

take more resources to customize the product. However, flexible companies often offer

greater customer service and can meet unique customer requirements. To carry out this

strategy, flexible companies tend to have more general-purpose equipment that can be used to

make many different kinds of products. Also, workers in flexible companies tend to have

higher skill levels and can often perform many different tasks in order to meet customer

needs.

Firms may compete on their ability to provide either flexibility of the product or

volume. Firms that can easily accept engineering changes (changes in the product) offer a

strategic advantage to their customers. This can also apply to services. A number of years

ago, a well-known fast food restaurant advertised "hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special

orders don't upset us," which meant that ordering a non standardized version of the product

would not slow down the delivery process. Also, some firms are able to absorb wide

fluctuations in volume allowing customers with erratic demand the luxury of not holding

excessive inventories in anticipation of change in demand.

The Need for Trade-Offs

The need to focus more on one competitive priority than on others.

You may be wondering why the operations function needs to give special focus to

some priorities but not all. Aren’t all the priorities important? As more resources are

dedicated toward one priority, fewer resources are left for others. The operations function

must place emphasis on those priorities that directly support the business strategy. Therefore,

it needs to make trade-offs between the different priorities. For example, consider a company

that competes on using the highest quality component parts in its products. Due to the high

quality of parts the company may not be able to offer the final product at the lowest price. In

this case, the company has made a tradeoff between quality and price. Similarly, a company

that competes on making each product individually based on customer specifications will

likely not be able to compete on speed. Here, the trade-off has been made between flexibility

and speed.

It is important to know that every business must achieve a basic level of each of the

priorities, even though its primary focus is only on some. For example, even though a

company is not competing on low price, it still cannot offer its products at such a high price

that customers would not want to pay for them. Similarly, even though a company is not

competing on time, it still has to produce its product within a reasonable amount of time;

otherwise, customers will not be willing to wait for it.

One way that large facilities with multiple products can address the issue of tradeoffs

is using the concept of plant-within-a-plant (PWP), introduced by well-known Harvard

professor Wickham Skinner. The PWP concept suggests that different areas of a facility be

dedicated to different products with different competitive priorities. These areas should be

physically separated from one another and should even have their own separate workforce.

As the term suggests, there are multiple plants within one plant, allowing a company to

produce different products that compete on different priorities. For example, hospitals use

PWP to achieve specialization or focus in a particular area, such as the cardiac unit,

oncology, radiology, surgery, or pharmacy. Similarly, department stores use PWP to isolate

departments, such as the Sears auto service department versus its optometry center.

Order Winners and Qualifiers

Order Qualifiers

Competitive priorities that must be met for a company to qualify as a competitor in the

marketplace.

Order Winners

Competitive priorities that win orders in the marketplace.

To help a company decide which competitive priorities to focus on, it is important to

distinguish between order winners and order qualifiers, which are concepts, developed by

Terry Hill, a professor at Oxford University. Order qualifiers are those competitive

priorities that a company has to meet if it wants to do business in a particular market. Order

winners, on the other hand, are the competitive priorities that help a company win orders in

the market. Consider a simple restaurant that makes and delivers pizzas. Order qualifiers

might be low price (say, less than $10.00) and quick delivery (say, under 15 minutes),

because this is a standard that has been set by competing pizza restaurants. The order winners

may be “fresh ingredients” and “home-made taste.” These characteristics may differentiate

the restaurant from all the other pizza restaurants. However, regardless of how good the

pizza, the restaurant will not succeed if it does not meet the minimum standard for order

qualifiers. Knowing the order winners and order qualifiers in a particular market is critical to

focusing on the right competitive priorities.

It is important to understand that order winners and order qualifiers change over time.

Often when one company in a market is successfully competing using a particular order

winner, other companies follow suit over time. The result is that the order winner becomes an

industry standard, or an order qualifier. To compete successfully, companies then have to

change their order winners to differentiate themselves. An excellent example of this occurred

in the auto industry. Prior to the 1970s, the order winning criterion in the American auto

industry was price. Then the Japanese automobile manufacturers entered the market

competing on quality at a reasonable price. The result was that quality became the new order

winner and price became an order qualifier, or an expectation. Then by the 1980s American

manufacturers were able to raise their level of quality to be competitive with the Japanese.

Quality then became an order qualifier, as everyone had the same quality standard.

Elements of operations strategy

Operations strategy is discussed in the following sections

1. Positioning the production system

2. Product / service plans

3. Outsourcing plans

4. Process and technology plans

5. Strategic allocation of resource

6. Facility plans: Capacity, location and layout

1. Positioning the production system

Positioning the production system means selecting the type of product design, type of

production processing system, and type of finished-goods inventory policy for each product

grouped in the business strategy.

The two basic types of product design are custom and standard. Custom Products are

designed according to the needs of individual customers. The choice of this type of product

design results in many different products, each being produced in small batches. Flexibility

and on-time delivery are usually needed for this type of product. The luxury cruise ship and a

super computer are examples of this type of product. The choice of standard products result

in only a few product models that are typically produced either continuously or in very large

batches. Fast delivery and low production costs are usually needed for this type of product. A

television set is an example of standard product.

The two classic type of production process are product-focused and process-focused.

Product-focused Production is also called line flow production, production lines, and

assembly lines. In this approach, the machines and workers needed to produce a product are

grouped together. This type of production is usually best if there are only a few standard

products, each with high volume. Assembly lines such as in auto manufacturing typify these

systems. Today’s auto assembly lines can produce 30 to 60 vehicles per hour. Because such

systems are usually difficult and expensive to change to other product and design and

production volumes, they are not very flexible. Process-focused production is usually best

when producing many unique products, each with a relatively low volume. Each production

department ordinarily performs only one type of process, such as painting. All products that

need to be painted would be transported to the painting department. Custom products usually

require this form of production because process-focused system are relatively and easy and

expensive to change to other products and volume, there by offering great flexibility. If a

business strategy calls for custom products whose market strategy requires the competitive

priorities of flexibility and on –time delivery, then process-focused production is usually

preferred.

There are two basic types of finished- goods inventory policies: produce-to-stock and

produce-to-order. In the produce-to-stock policy, products are produced ahead of time and

placed in inventory. Then when orders for the products are received, the products are shipped

immediately from inventory. In the product-to-order policy, operations managers wait until

they have the customer’s orders in hand before they produce the products. If fast delivery of

products is important, then produce-to-stock is usually preferred because the products can be

shipped directly from finished – good inventory. Mc-Donald’s use a produce-to-stock policy,

although this has begun to change, and Burger King (“Have it your way”) uses a produce-to-

order policy.

Once the type of product design, production process, and finished-goods inventory

has been selected for a product, much of the structure required of the production system has

been established. To further explore factory structure, let us consider the scope of the factor is

operations.

2. Product/ service plans

An important part of business strategy id to plan for new products and services to be

designed, developed, and introduced. Operations strategy is directly influenced by

product/service plans for these reasons:

1. As products are designed, all the detailed characteristics of each product are established.

2. Each product characteristics directly affects how the [product can be made or produced.

3. How the product is made determines the design of the production system, and the design

of the production system is the heart of operations strategy.

Figure 6 illustrates the concept of product life cycle. As a product is designed and developed,

it enters the introduction stage of its life cycle. In this stage, sales begin, production and

marketing are developing, and profits are negative. Successful products move on the growth

stage when sales grow dramatically, marketing efforts intensify, production concentrates on

expanding capacity fast enough to keep up with demand, and profits begin. Next comes the

maturity stage when production concentrates on high- volume production, efficiency, and

low cost; marketing shifts to competitive sales promotion aimed at increasing or maintaining

market share; and profits are their peak. Finally, the product enters the decline stage of its life

cycle which is characterized by declining profits and sales. Eventually the product maybe

dropped by the firm or replaced by improved products.

Figure 6: Stages in Product Life Cycle

There is a trend towards shortened product life cycles, particularly in industries such as

computers and customer goods. Shortened product life cycles have three important effects:

1. The amount of spending on product design and development is increased.

2. Production system tends to be whipsawed by continuously changing product models. This

creates the need for flexible production system that can be easily changed to other

products.

3. Operations strategies emphasize the ability to bring a new product design on stream

quickly. Computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM), is allowing some

companies to respond faster to designing and re-designing the products and launching

them to production quickly.

3. Outsourcing Plans

One important part of operations strategy is how much work will be outsourced.

Outsourcing refers to hiring out of subcontracting some of the work that a company needs to

do. Today this operations strategy is being increasingly used as companies strive to operate

more efficiently. Out sourcing has many advantages and disadvantages, companies try to

determine the best level of outsourcing to achieve their operations and business goals. More

outsourcing usually means a company needs fewer employees, so outsourcing is

understandably a sensitive issue for labor union. Some large companies, such as Boeing, must

negotiate with their labor unions before increasing the amount of outsourcing.

At one extreme, a company could design a new product, purchase all the basic raw

materials, and then process all of the subcomponents, subassemblies, major assemblies and

finished products. This could require the company to have more equipment, more employees,

and a larger facility to do all the work itself, but the company would have more control over

quality and other production issues. At the other extreme, a company could design a new

product, outsource all the production of the product to one or more subcontractors, and then

distribute the product under its own brand name. The company could even outsource the

technical design work and the distribution function. This strategy requires much less capital

investment, but the company loses some control over quality and production and may incur

higher cost per product unit. Many companies today even outsource some service functions

such as payroll, billing, order processing, and developing and maintaining a website, finding

and interviewing potential employees, facility maintenance and computer maintenance.

Outsourcing is an integral part of companies supply chain, and better supply chain

management has become an important part of many companies’ operations strategies.

4. Process and Technology Plans

An essential part of operations strategy is the determination of how products and

services will be produced. This involves planning every detail of production process and

facilities. The range of technologies available to produce both products and services great and

is continuously increasing. Combining high- technology equipment with conventional

equipment and devising affective overall production schemes are indeed challenges.

Automated technology is an important strength to be used as companies strive to capture

shares of global market.

5. Strategic Allocation of Resources

All companies today have limited resources available for operations. Cash and capital

funds, capacity, research labs, works, engineers, machines, materials, and other resources are

scarce in varying degrees for each firm. Because for most companies the vast majority of the

firm’s resources are used in production/operations, shortages of these resources impact most

severely in their production systems. These resources must be divided among, or allocated to,

products, business units, products, or profit opportunities in ways that maximize the

achievement of the objectives of operations. Allocation decisions, which are constrained by

the availability of resources, constitute a common type of strategic decision to be made by

operations managers today.

6. Facility Plans: Capacity, Location and Layout

How to provide the long-range capacity to produce the products/services for a firm is

critical part of setting the operations strategy. Enormous capital investment is required to

make production capacity available. Land may need to be purchased, specialized

technologies may have to be developed, new equipment may need to be made or purchased

and installed, and new facilities may need to be located and built. The decisions involved

have long-lasting effects and are subject to great risk. If poor decisions are made or if

circumstance change after the company has committed to a choice of alternative, companies

will live with the results of these decisions for many years. The internal arrangement of

workers, production process, and departments within facilities is a crucial part o f the

positioning strategy that affects the ability to provide the desired volume, quality, and cost of

products and services.

If we have learned anything from our foreign competitors, it is that paying attention to

the details of production can be of strategic importance. Effectively planning of workforce,

maintaining good working relations with labor unions, managing personal, making on-time

deliveries, keeping top of the management of product and service quality, and keeping the

production machinery in excellent working condition, when taken together, equal in

importance any of the strategic decisions.

Operation Strategy in Services

Operation strategy in service firm is generally inseparable from the corporate strategy.

For most services, the service delivery system is business, and hence any strategic decision

must include operations considerations. However, operations executives do not always have a

vice equal to other functions of the firm. A marketing decision to add a new route for an

airline or to add new in-flight services maybe made despite operations’ protects about

feasibility (just as in manufacturing).

For example, service firm may use the plant-within-a-plant (PWP) structure to

achieve focus. Hospitals using the PWP focus may have separate units for distinct patient’s

services such as cardiac units, oncology units, labor and delivery units, and rehabilitation

units. Major department stores group products and services into separate units or

“departments” each with a separate customer focus, ordering, product arrangement, flow, and

strategy. Each department- women’s sportswear, customer service, children’s apparel, house

wares, and men’s clothing- focuses on specific customer niches with unique needs,

particularly if the organization service a variety of customers and markets with distinct needs.

Likewise, order winners and qualifiers have service applications. For a bank, qualifiers might

be a good location, availability of tellers and loan officers, and ATM’s. Order winners might

be relationship banking and customer-oriented banking hours.

Characteristics of Services and Manufactured Products

Table 4 describes the characteristics of services and manufactured products, but this

table really describes the polar extremes of a continuum because while some service

organizations are strikingly different from manufacturers, other service firms maybe very

much like manufacturers. Also, both manufacturing and service firms can provide both

tangible products and intangible services. For example, a service organization like a

restaurant provides food, a tangible good, for customers. A manufacturer like a computer

producer may provide customer services such as technical advice, credit, and field repairs.

Services Manufactured ProductsIntangible Outputs Tangible productsOutputs cannot be inventoried Products can be inventoriedExtensive customer contact Little customer contactShort lead times Long lead timesLabor intensive Capital intensiveService quality subjectively determined Product quality objectively determined

Table 4: Characteristics of Services and Manufactured Products

Manufactured products are tangible goods- they have physical form, they can be seen

and touched, and they ordinarily must be shipped to customers. Services however, are

intangible- they are usually without physical form. Their consumption is often without

physical form. Their consumption is often with their production.

Because manufactured products are tangible, customer demand can be anticipated and

products may often be produced, transported, and held in inventory until customers need

them. This allows manufacturers flexibility in deciding when to produce products. Inventory

can be used as a buffer between a stable production capacity and a highly variable customer

demand. This means that when production levels are held constant, in periods of low demand

inventory levels of finished goods will climb, and in periods of peak demand inventory levels

of finished goods will fall. This is not to say that all manufacturers inventory finished goods,

because some manufacturers chose to wait until products are demanded, then produce the

products and directly ship them to customers. Services can not ordinarily be produced in

advance of customer demand and must be delivered to customer at the time of demand or

later. This means service operations must ordinarily plan production levels to approximately

equal customer demand.

With manufactured products, customers do not ordinarily intrude into the

manufacturing process. In fact, customers have little contact with the manufacturing system

in most cases. In service operations, however, customers are routinely involved in production

of many services. In hospitals, restaurants, and banks, customers enter the production

process, are routed to the necessary service operation , and exit from the service system. In

almost all services, operations personnel need training in people skills because the key

element of quality control is the way in which operations personnel conduct their transactions

with customers.

In manufacturing, determining the quality level of products is ordinarily based on

objective evidence. A Gallup survey of purchasers of automobiles indicated that customers

were interested in product performance, durability, ease of repair, customer service, and

customer satisfaction. The first three of these elements of product quality can be measured,

because objective evidence can be presented to determine the quality level of products. It is

the last two factors, customer service and customer satisfaction, that are difficult to measure,

and it is on factors such as these that service organizations must base much of the

determination of the quality of their services. Pleasant surroundings, friendly and courteous

personnel, speed of performing the service, craftsmanship of the person doing the repair ,

skill of the physician, soundness of the financial planners advice, and other factors are

difficult to measure, but they affect the perception of quality of services.

Retail Insight

Wal-Mart Supersession 2009 March 10-12 Rogers,

AR

WaL Mart is undergoing a step-

change so dramatic

that it will transform every aspect of your

partnership with them.

Project Impact—Wal-Mart's new three-year

strategy for growth— aggressively and

simultaneously reconstructs its merchandising,

marketing, and operational strategies. Project

Impact represents a substantial change for the

world's largest retailer.

You must quickly adapt to the altered

environment at your biggest customer, or risk

losing leverage at a time when Wal-Mart is

growing and the economy favors their

marketplace positioning.

The scale of Project Impact will substantially

change your relationship with Wal-Mart long after

the recession ends.

Do you have the insight to strategically re-

tool in advance...or will Project Impact set

the agenda for you?

Event Agenda:

March 10

Full day (choose 1): Partnering with Wal-Mart—Where To Place Your Bets (8a-5p) or Wal-Mart—A Foundation

(8a-5p)

March 11 Choose between full day session or 1 morning and 1 afternoon session Full day: Partnering with

Wal-Mart—Where To Place Your Bets (8a-5p)

Morning (choose 1): Wal-Mart for Marketers (8a-12p) or Wal-Mart International (8a-12p) Afternoon: Sam's Club

(1p-5p)

March 12

Full day: Strategic Retailer Management (SkillBuilders) (8a-5p)

For more info call: +1.611.588.4100 or e-mail:

CustomerService@mventures.com

Wal-Mart Supersession 2009 March 10-12 Rogers, AR

March 10 & March 11 8a-5p Partnering with Wal-Mart—

Where To Place Your Bets During this time of unprecedented

economic headwinds, Project Impact is generating additional

changes and tensions in your relationship with Wal-Mart. Join

MVI and your peers for this new session—in seminar format—and

learn how other suppliers are adjusting to capitalize on the

strategic shift at their most important customer.

• "Win, Play, Show" Understand how Wal-Mart is placing bets

on particular categories, vendors, and shoppers... and how this

merchandising strategy is changing the pricing, assortment,

and promotion game.

• "Save Money. Live Better." Define how Wal-Mart's brand is

increasingly competing with the equity of your brand—even as

suppliers are expected to outline the scale of their commitment

to the new strategy through the CSI.

• "Fast, Clean, and Friendly" Uncover how this initiative will

significantly change your ability to drive volume through Wal-

Mart's stores and compel you to align with their in-store

requirements.

March 10 Wal-Mart—A Foundation

At a time when the world's largest retailer is radically changing

how it goes to market, building a foundation of knowledge around

Wal-Mart's organization, culture, business model, and strategies

across functions is critical.

• Gain insight into the basic drivers of Wal-Mart's business

performance and assess the opportunity to grow sales through

core shoppers and shoppers who are "interviewing" Wal-Mart.

• Walk away with a full overview of Project Impact, including

the broad implications for their marketing, merchandising,

and operations functions...and MVI's 5-year growth

forecasts.

• Examine Wal-Mart's financial model, format portfolio,

sustainability efforts, and recent leadership changes.

March 11 Wal-Mart for Marketers (AM)

The evolution of Wal-Mart's go-to-market approach is increasingly

impacting supplier marketing organizations. Marketing is driving

strategy at Wal-Mart—and especially over the past year, has

placed new expectations on suppliers who are trying to

execute their brand marketing plans through the retailer.

• Consider Wal-Mart's messaging across a variety of media and

uncover what it means to be a "Save Money" and a "Live Better"

brand.

• Inspect Wal-Mart's approach to category management and in-

store marketing—and walk through the implications for

promotional opportunities.

• Discuss how the interplay between Wal-Mart's brand equity

with your own can create both tensions and opportunities

for mutual growth.

March 11 Wal-Mart International (AM)

With Mike Duke moving onto CorporateCEOandDoug McMillon

leaving Sam's Club to head Wal-Mart International, there are a

number organizational changes occurring in the fastest growing

parts of Wal-Mart's business—even as it responds to the global

economic slowdown. With a portfolio of formats, banners,

financial products, and services, Wal-Mart International is

quickly transforming to meet the changing needs of their

shoppers. Understanding Wal-Mart's international scale and

operations will enhance your positioning and planning.

• Contemplate the implications of Wal-Mart's majority stake in

D&S and how that will change their growth across the southern

and western parts of Latin America.

• Review the current winners, losers, and potential growth markets

over the next several years—such as Russia, Eastern Europe,

and Colombia.

• Discuss the recent leadership changes and analyze the supplier

implications.

• Define the key collaboration processes in the International

group, how they are transforming, and what these changes

mean for you.

Wal-Mart Supersession 2009 March 10-12 Rogers, AR

March 11 Sam's Club (PM)

Economic, leadership, and competitive dynamics are changing how

Sam's Club competes for members. Come join us as we

benchmark Sam's Club's current marketplace strategies for growth

within the framework of the club business model.

• Review Sam's Club's 2008 performance in terms of sales

dynamics, membership, product margins, and implications

for future assortment

• Evaluate Sam's Club's business model and how it differs from

key channel competitors

• Explore Sam's Club's focus on the Mom/Family CEO segment

and define how leadership changes may impact its

segmentation strategies

March 12 Strategic Retailer Management for Wal-

Mart(SkillBuilders)

MVI's renowned SkillBuilders™ course on strategic frameworks

and planning...including modules on negotiationactics, aco-

planning road map, and ways to maximize business reviews, top-

to-tops, and scorecards. The workshop gives participants an

exercise-driven "lens" for account planning, using Wal-Mart

examples to illustrate MVI's account management process.

• Strategic Paradigms—Understanding the Big Picture.

Navigate through frameworks to align with the leadership

attributes of Wal-Mart's management, gain an in-depth

understanding of the critical functions within Wal-Mart to execute

the growth plan, and identify strategies to move the dialogue

beyond price to the "who" and "how."

• The Co-Planning Roadmap. Familiarize yourself with OGSM

(Objectives, Goals, Strategies, Measures) as a co-planning

framework and learn how to merge brand plans, customer plans,

and scorecards into a cohesive story.

• Negotiation Tactics. Understand retailer negotiation methods

and uncover why today's environment challenges in-store

execution.

• Measurement and Alignment. Gain insight into getting the

most from score cards and quarterly reviews, discuss how to get

beyond the numbers to move your brand initiatives forward, and

learn how to maximize top-to-top discussions.

For More lnfo & Registration

Logistics

Embassy Suites Northwest Arkansas

3303 Pinnacle Hills Parkway

Rogers, AR 72758

479-254-8400

Room rate: USD169

Cut-off date: February 23, 2009

Email CustomerService@mventures.com Web

www.MVI-Worldwide.com/Events Call

1.800.370.3261 or 1.617.588.4100

Full Day Rate USD 1650 1/2 Day Rate USD 895

Multi-seat rates available. Please contact MVI for details. MVI accepts: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover.

REFERENCES

Books:

Operations Management by Norman Gaither and Greg Frazier

Production and Operations Management by K. Aswathappa and K. Shridhara Bhat

Operations Management for Competitive Advantage by Richard B Chase and F Robert

Jacobs and Nicholas J Aquilano and Nitin K Agarwal

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http://www.personal.anderson.ucla.edu/charles.corbett/papers/syllabus_240g.pdf

http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/Ob-Or/Operations-Strategy.html

http://www.ignetica.com/opstrat.html

http://www.howtowriteabusinessplan.co.uk/operations-strategy-processes.html

http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Sloan-School-of-Management/15-769Operations-

StrategySpring2003/LectureNotes/index.htm

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Operations_Strategy/What_is_operations_strategy%3F/

Operations_strategy

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proeco_OperationsStrategySupplyChainManagement.pdf

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Global-Environment-Outline-Examples-Strategies-Boeing-777-Suppliers-as-Entertainment-

ppt-powerpoint/

http://www.prtm.com/strategiccategory.aspx?id=77&langtype=1033

http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/course/opns430/modules/operations_strategy.html

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/2002cpr/pdf/ch21.pdf

http://www.allbusiness.com/business-planning-structures/business-plans/2524-1.html

http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:e3_OhQly1XMJ:ftp://ftp.cob.sjsu.edu/pub/users/

park_t/bus140/Ch%25204%2520Handout.pdf+operations+strategies+in+wal-

mart&cd=21&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in

http://ivythesis.typepad.com/term_paper_topics/2009/08/operations-strategy-and-

management.html

http://www.lgrmag.com/Pohmer-On-Lessons-To-Be-Learned-Wal-Mart-article7552

G510-5059-00