Operations strategy

Select an organization you are familiar with or have an interest in and analyze the operations within that organization. Please note that if an organization is large, you are welcome to analyze a subset of it, such as one business unit.

Following your analysis, please write a 4 – 6 page document answering the below questions.  Minimum 1200 words.

The prompts provided are a great place to start, however, feel free to include other components that you view to be important.

Please include in your document a brief description of the organization or business unit you plan to analyze. Also, include a summary that outlines your recommendations for improvement.

Before starting your assignment, keep in mind this assignment is asking you to demonstrate achievement of the learning outcomes for this module. While completing this assignment, please apply theory, tools and techniques covered in this course.

Operations Strategy-

Discuss the operations strategy of your selected organization or business unit.

How does the operations strategy support or complement the business strategy?

How has the operations strategy developed and/or changed in recent years?

How are goods and services evaluated at the organization using search, experience and credence attributes?

What are the organization’s competitive priorities?

How can the operating strategy be improved?

Goods & Service Design-

Discuss the goods and services offered by your chosen organization.

What operations challenges does the product/service mix pose?

What is the organization’s target market? Does the organization have one target market, or does it have different offerings for different markets?

In your opinion, how successful is the organization at developing products and services?

Discuss the organization’s goods or service design process.

Who else is involved in product and service design (for example, suppliers, customers, retailers)? How are they involved?

How does the organization measure the impact of design and new product development?

Process Design-

Discuss some of the processes within your chosen organization.

After reading Chapter 7 of the textbook as well as other outside reading, do you feel alternative approaches might lead to improvements in the performance of the organization?

After reading Chapter 8, please comment on the layout of retail outlets or manufacturing facilities belonging to the organization.

How would you help the organization make improvements?

Also, please comment on the use of technology in the organization.

Planning & Control-

Outline the types of short- and long-term planning and forecasting that are carried out in the organization.

Do you feel the organization’s efforts to plan and forecast are effective?

How can they be improved?

Discuss capacity management for the organization.

How does the organization cope with fluctuations in demand?

After reviewing the five ways to adjust short-term capacity levels, what other alternatives might be available to the organization?

Is technology used to support these activities?

Do you feel there is adequate feedback and control for planning and forecasting activities?

Innovation and Improvement-

How does the company encourage innovation?

Is innovation something that is managed?

Describe some of the tools for innovation and improvement that you would recommend for your organization and explain how they can be implemented.

Supply Chain-

Outline the supply chain of the organization (or one section of it), including purchasing, physical distribution management and materials management.

How is IT used in supply chain management?

How does the organization obtain its resources?

Identify the types of inventory used in the organization. How is inventory monitored and controlled?

Have any supply chain activities been outsourced? Why?

How does the organization address supply chain risks and disruptions?

Are there any supply chain performance metrics in place?

Please offer suggestions regarding how supply chain might be improved.

Quality Management-

Discuss the costs of quality as they apply to your chosen organization.

How are quality problems diagnosed?

How can the organization improve its approach to quality management?

Does the organization have a formal quality system?

In your opinion, how can quality management activities be improved?

 Each student will be expected to follow these minimum requirements:

1. The paper will include the following sections:
   1. Title page (Title, your name, course, professor, date)(doesn’t count toward total pages)
   2. Contents page (sections and page numbers) (does not count toward total pages)
   3. Introduction
   4. The Body of the paper
   5. Summary section (half page or less)
2. A maximum of 160 points possible for the term paper.
3. Submit your paper in a Microsoft Word file.
4. Your paper should contain proper grammar, be free of spelling errors, and reflect critical thinking.
5. Use proper APA Standards, including citing footnotes and references
6. Be sure to save a backup copy.
7. By submitting this assignment, you agree to have Turn-it-in software check the originality and intellectual integrity of your work. You acknowledge and understand that upon submission, your paper will be added to the Missouri Baptist University database and compared against a global database of submitted papers. You further recognize that the determination of academic dishonesty rests with the professor of this course and that plagiarism will be dealt with according to the policy set forth in the MBU Student Handbook. If plagiarism is found, the term paper will receive a grade of zero.