Introduction to Business Operations and Management

This report covers four tasks related to business operations and management, including contemporary research on operational management issues, a case study on Aldi and customer experiences, business ethics in Marks and Spencer, and a class discussion on the importance of human resources in operational and overall business management. The report provides insights into the challenges and opportunities in these areas.

Introduction to business
operations and
management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................3
Contemporary research:...........................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
Case Study:.................................................................................................................................4
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................6
Business ethics:...........................................................................................................................6
TASK 4............................................................................................................................................6
Class discussion:.........................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Business operations are the daily operations or activities of a business that enhance the
value of organisation along with earning and maximising the level of profits. This concept
includes the processes and resources of business, location as well as other tools that are requires
to transformed the inputs into outputs (Andersen and De Boer, 2019). This report is divided into
four tasks in which task one is about the contemporary research on a topic of operational
management issues with two current news publications and their summary. In second task, a case
study is given in which there are two questions that are to be answered in context to Aldi. Third
task involves the concept of business ethics in which a real example of an organisation is to be
taken into consideration where management team of the business is practising or implementing a
positive ethical approach. The task four of this report is based on a presentation and include a
particular business area and within that it is explaining the impact and challenges of it on
operations management or overall business management of an organisation.
MAIN BODY
TASK 1
Contemporary research:
There are several operational management issues that have an effect on individual's daily
lives. In this task, the selected operational management issue is Consumer products shortage. On
this topic, there are two current news publications that are described as under:
According to Jaana Remes and Sajal Kohli, when customers think it is safe to decline
their pandemic stockpile of sanatary papar, many are searching stockouts on other commodities
and raising prices. Unexpected price extends on every product from pickup trucks to poultry are
tending to increase their queries about when the market of consumer products will back to its
normal situation (Arana, 2019). The pandemic situation of COVID-19 disturbed a long-term
trend of services shares within household in-takings increasing and leading to an unpredicted rise
in products demand. According to Jaana Remes and Sajal Kohli, there is a strong case that this
may not alter soon anytime even with the recent component of uncertainty which is caused by
Delta Variant. Since first quarter of 2020 to first quarter of 2021, consuming durable goods such
as recreational commodities, motor vehicles and furnishings raised almost up to 32% and
consumption on non-durable products such as kitchen equipments and food increased by 8%.

During that time, consumption of services such as hotels, restaurants and travel declined by 3%.
it means within several markets of the consumer products, supply of the commodities has not
carried soaring demand and therefore, there is a hike of shortage as well as unexpected prices
(Shortages of consumer products, 2021).
As per Ratna Bhushan and Sagar Malviya, indication of shortage of consumer products
had been so strong because supplies and last-mile offerings to customers were getting delayed
further along with the surge in spreading of infectious disease of COVID-19 started influencing
the staff members (Bruno, 2019). It also put the pressure on manufacturing, distributing,
providing and supply chain of the products. Last year a lot of people hoarded products over fears
associated with the shortage of products because the economic lockdown of all nations went into
force (Signs of shortage of essentials, 2021). The Chief executive of company Dabur had said
that it had faced stock-outs of some of essential packs. This is also because of the higher demand
of the products such as juices which that helps in building the immunity. The CEO of Dabur also
said that the company is working towards making more and more supplies.
TASK 2
Case Study:
This case study is about the supermarket Aldi in which changing the landscape of
Grocery shopping within the company is discussed. Within this case study, there are two
questions that are to be answered and are as follows:
Answer 1:
Aldi and similar stores are offering different customer experiences and this similar
business model would also work in other industries also such as hospitality (Drummond, Cooley
and Cooley, 2021). Aldi is a company in retail industry and its business model is built on cheap
prices instead of competition. The company does not deliver its products in brand name
packaging or food in the common store models of grocery along with special departmental units
like products that are related to meat. Despite it, they offer a restricted collection of groceries
under their private-label name. Within retail industry, Tesco is another example which is similar
to Aldi. Both the companies are retail supermarkets selling products like grocery but are offering
different customer experiences (Dutta, 2019). As Aldi is having small stores selection and is not
having national brands. The company is having less stores because of which there are less

warehouses and display at stores. The customer experience within the company is low to average
because there are less stores of the company and consumers are facing problems in choosing the
products because of limited collection. But, Tesco is a supermarket and is having its own
factories which makes it different from other supermarkets in retail industry. The company is
having a large number of stores with a wide variety of collection so it does not buy anything
from its external suppliers and saves all the money. Because of wide range of products, the
customers feel comfortable in making selection of the products and have good experience in their
shopping with Tesco. So it is clear that Aldi and similar stores have different customer
experiences. Within hospitality industry, the hotel like Hilton and similar hotels are offering
different customer experiences. The excellent services, complimentary breakfasts, Wi-Fi facility,
sustainable practises and great hotel designs are some of the reason that makes Hilton unique
from other hotels (Gallino and Moreno, 2019). Customers are more satisfied with the services
offered by Hilton as compared to other hotels within the industry. Similarly the customer
experiences are different within hospitality industry also.
Answer 2:
In order to access the shopping experiences mentioned in case study, the customers have
to make some sacrifices. For examples, Aldi is having small stores of the products so the
consumers are sacrificing their time and cost when going to the stores of Aldi. The small stores
of the company is not having the collection in a wide range and customers seek a problem in
making selection of the products and therefore, they feel that they are sacrificing their precious
time and cost while going through their personal vehicles (Hasle, Madsen and Hansen, 2021).
Consumers have to make sacrifices along the overall customer experiences because in all the
level of shopping, they have to make use of some resources like cognitive effort, emotions for
reaching out to next step, time and many more. There are some other sacrifices that customers
make in order to access for shopping experiences. Customer's pride, personal interest, stability
and certainty, instant gratification, etc. are the sacrifices that customer have to make in order to
have access to this shopping experiences.
While shopping at Aldi, the customers of the company are sacrificing many aspects and
some of them are discussed here.
 The business model of Aldi is formulated with a very specific customer in mind that
someone who evaluates groceries from a utilitarian perspective. The customers of the

Aldi wants the products at low prices in a quick shopping environment and are also
willing to make sacrifices on choices and services.
 Customers are also sacrificing their precious time while shopping at Aldi and along with
it sometimes they also get substitute products when the exact product which is in their
demand is not available within the company.
 There are some another sacrifices that the customers have to make while shopping at Aldi
and they are dependency on the brand, product delivery expectation, spending the
savings, etc.
TASK 3
Business ethics:
Business ethics is considered as a code of conduct that businesses are expected to adhere
while performing business functions. Organisations develop business ethics for fostering
integrity among the human resources and building trustful relationships with stakeholders of the
business (Jayachandra, 2020). An organisation which is perceived to work ethically by its human
resources can gain improved business outcomes and favourable benefits. There are several types
of business ethics within the workplace such as integrity, respect, lawfulness, transparency,
equality, trustworthiness, accountability and many more. In this task, the chosen organisation is
Marks and Spencer which is working in an ethical environment where the management team in
the business has practised and implemented a positive ethical approach. The objective of
respective company is to conduct a business with greater standards of ethics like integrity as well
as honesty. By following this type of business ethics within the organisation, the company is
making its operations more effective. The integrity and honesty within the workplace helps the
business organisation in achieving its success and growth. By working with integrity, the
company is maintaining its reputation and brand value within the market (Le and et.al, 2019).
Through working in an ethical environment, the overall productivity as well as morale of
employees of the respective organisation got increased. When the workforce of this organisation
work in the way which is based on integrity and honesty, then it benefits the organisation as a
whole. With the help of integrity. Business ethics within Marks and Spencer help the employees
of the company in improving their business performance and build trust among the human
resources of the organisation. Marks & Spencer is working in an ethical environment and is

following the values of quality of the products of the company (Thomas, 2017). Human
resources in Marks and Spencer makes better business decisions in a very short time with the
help of integrity and honesty as a guiding principle. The company is also focussing on its shared
values for achieving them in an effective way and is creating an innovative environment within
the workplace by making innovations in food products, groceries, home products and many more
(Perry, 2017). The respective company is maintaining trustworthy relationships between the
employees and employers of the organisation and is following the ethical practices regarding the
satisfaction of customers by providing those products that fully satisfy their needs (Esoimeme,
2020). The manpower of the company assures a better culture within the workplace that helps
them in maintaining organisational relationships.
TASK 4
Class discussion:
There are several business areas within an organisation such as marketing, human
resource, finance, information technology, sales, production and supply-chain management.
Human resource is the chosen business area in this respective section.
NOTES:

The human resource management area of the organisation facilitates in assuring the
satisfaction to its employees and also helps in developing the performance of the business. This
business area has positive impacts on operational management as well as overall business
management of an organisation (Shi, Qiu and Fan, 2020). Human resources provide assistance in
gaining a competitive advantage over the rivalries in the market as they make effective HR
strategies and practices to sell the products and services of the organisation. Operations
management are interdependent with other business areas as the amount of output produced
relies on the amount of manpower of the business. The respective business area takes part
effectively in achieving the success of the organisation by maintaining employee retention and
effective recruitment practices to improve the culture of the organisation. The management of
operations and human resources are tied together with one another in virtually all the
environments of the business. This helps in recognising the opportunities for making major
improvements in both practice and research.
The challenges that are daily faced by the business area of human resource are engaging
the workforce, maintaining the relationships, issues related to training and development
strategies (Wakeman, 2017). There are other challenges also that are faced by the human
resources while performing daily business activities and some of them are employee retention,
diversity within the workplace, health and safety of the workforce and many more. The business
could not operate without this management area because human resources within the
organisation have skills, abilities, technical knowledge and capacity that help a business in
achieving its success (Wisner, 2020). It is because of the fact that only the skills of human
resources and technology change the natural elements into a valuable resource.
Reflection:
From above presentation, it is critically analysed that there are different business areas
within an organisation and within this report, the business area of human resource is taken into
consideration. I have made this presentation on the concept of human resources that plays an
important role within a business to achieve its objectives in an effective manner. The
presentation prepared by me went well. While making this presentation, I have observed some
positive aspects related to human resources. I analysed that without human resources, a business
could not operate in an effective way. I also examined that this presentation helped me in
knowing the role and importance of human resources within operational management.

CONCLUSION
From above explanation of the report, it is concluded that management of business
operations helps in planning and organising the daily business activities of the organisation. It
facilitates in the overall growth and success of the business by achieving the organisational
objectives in an effective manner. Within this existing report, an operational management issue
is discussed on the topic shortage of consumer products. Answers related to the case study of
Aldi have been explained in this portfolio which are concerned with the customer experience.
Furthermore, business ethics are considered within the report that describes about the ethical
practices followed by an organisation to maintain growth and success of the business. In the last
section, business area of human resource is described in the portfolio that explains the
importance of human resources within an organisation and the challenges faced by them in
performing their daily business operations.

REFERENCES
Andersen, P. H. and De Boer, L., 2019. Sustainable Operations Management (SOM): An
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Arana, L., 2019. Lack of Characteristics Management Causing Biggest Projects Failure. In
Advanced Methodologies and Technologies in Business Operations and Management
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Books and Journals:
Bruno, G., 2019. Viewpoints on Business Process Models. In Advanced Methodologies and
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Dutta, A., 2019. TLP for Operations Research 2018-2019.
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Gallino, S. and Moreno, A., 2019. Operations in an Omnichannel World: Introduction.
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Hasle, P., Madsen, C. U. and Hansen, D., 2021. Integrating operations management and
occupational health and safety: A necessary part of safety science!. Safety science. 139.
p.105247.
Jayachandra, Y., 2020. High Velocity Business Operations. Cambridge University Press.
Le and et.al, 2019. Supply, demand, operations, and management of crowd-shipping services: A
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Moynihan, G. ed., 2018. Contemporary Issues and Research in Operations Management. BoD–
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Perry, P., 2017. Garments without guilt?: A case study of sustainable garment sourcing in Sri
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Shi, Q., Qiu, W. and Fan, Y., 2020. Economic policy uncertainty and the distribution of business
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Thomas, S., 2017. Fashion ethics. Routledge.
Wakeman, T., 2017. Introduction: Transportation Systems Resilience: Lessons Learned in
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Wisner, J. D., 2020. Introduction to Operations Managemnt: A Supply Chain Process Approach.
Online
Shortages of consumer products, 2021[Online]Available
through:<https://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/overview/in-the-news/shortages-of-everyday-
products-have-become-the-new-normal-why-they-wont-end-soon>

Signs of shortage of essentials, 2021[Online]Available
through:<https://m.economictimes.com/industry/services/retail/stock-taking-signs-of-shortage-
of-essentials/articleshow/82538173.cms>