Operations Management Research

This assignment delves into various aspects of operations management. It examines the evolution of the natural-resource-based view of the firm, explores service-based business models, and highlights critical success factors in business process management. Furthermore, it discusses supply chain risk management, resilience, and the impact of lean manufacturing on business performance. The assignment requires students to utilize research from academic journals and books to analyze and synthesize these concepts.

OPERATION
MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Importance of strategies in operation management..............................................................1
1.2 Operational function for organisation...................................................................................2
1.3 Five performance objective that influence operation management......................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Different types of approaches to quality management and its influence..............................3
2.2 Quality of system and operations for Primark organisation..................................................3
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................3
3.1 Influence of information system in supply chain management............................................3
3.2 Benefits of e procurement for supply chain improvement....................................................3
3.3 Importance of IT system in supply chain efficiency............................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION
Operation management basically determines the administration of business practices to
make a highest level of efficiency which is possible within the organisation. It actually deals with
converting matter and people in to valuable goods and services which would benefit the
company as much as possible (Ageron, B., Gunasekaran. and Spalanzan, 2012). It is concerned
with managing full production team. It involves responsibility on ensuring business operations
which can be useful for efficient use of resources. This report is based on Primark organisation
which is an international company that has so many subsidiary of AB Foods and it has its
headquarters in Dublin. This company was at first opened in the year 1962. This company offers
different range of products which include clothing of all categories. Main purpose of this report
is to analyse the strategic importance of operation management in Primark. There can be various
operations that can be performed in the organisation. There is a discussion of various methods by
which quality can be managed and improvement can be brought easily in this organisation.
Quality of the required system needs to be identified and considered properly. There is also list
of impacts that information system has are drawn in this report which affect supply chain.
TASK 1
1.1 Importance of strategies in operation management.
Operation management deals with the design, operations and controlling of
transformation process that includes the conversion of some resources like the labour and raw
material in order to provide better services and goods which are demanded by organisation (de
Menezes, Wood and Gelade, 2010). And since very unit independently will produce something
then the entire company will be benefited with that production. In today's time Primark
organisation recognise its most important role which is played by operational management in
overall developing of strategies to establish and maintain the global leadership. Strategic role that
this management plays in Primark's successful performance.
This company is moving towards managing their operations form a simple value chain
perspective. This basically symbolises that entire series of organisational work activities. All
these method add value to every step of beginning of any process and the methods include use of
raw materials is required to finish the products. There are various reasons which make
operational management effective and important. Those reasons are includes both services and
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manufacturing. Its requirement is effectively seen in managing the efficient production of this
company. It has a high productivity demand which will lead to economic growth and
development ideas and provide high receiving wages that is also one more cause for the
company to gain profit (Diabat and Govindan, 2011). For example, there is a real life example
that suppose there is this company Primark which offers a product or service, then they have to
make sure that whether the supply of goods or services is according to the demands of the
customer or not. This seems to be the most important process and so the marketing team is
playing an important role in realising what does the customer wants and how should one fulfil it.
So basically operation management includes various types of some management tasks
irrespective of what can this cited firm expects or wants. The operations and its management
system involves many processes like planning, staffing, controlling, motivating and organising
the procedures of this company.
1.2 Operational function for organisation.
A framework to understand that operation management requires certain organised
formats of functions to be performed. There is a disciplinary field that is based its focus on
managing all types of aspects of this cited company's business operations. They are required to
integrate the modules of this company with so many activities that perform specific operations.
There is two most important part of this organisation is to sell products and services in an
efficient manner (Gawer, ed, 2011). So the main job of the operational management is to perform
certain action along with providing goods and services. This types of planning is called relative
strategies and this is very important for producing quality products and services. In the
operational management there can be many aspects that include realising the requirements of
products and services. There are two companies taken for comparison of operational functions to
be carried out in other organisation that is Tesco and Mark and Spencer. Basically in Primark
organisation they work in order to develop a plan and strategy to cope up with latest technologies
coming in the market. Some of the organisational functions in operation management include:
Design: This process is the beginning of any process to start the product development. It
is basically responsible for working in progress for product design according to the demands of
the customer from Tesco. There are various key factors which ought to be kept in mind while
designing the product this includes various feature and characteristics of the products which are
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sold most often and mostly liked by the clients. This process actually works on the basis on
customer expectation and growth product design.
Plan: Managing system in Tesco organisation then proper organised pattern of planning
techniques is required. It determines how should the management utilize the limited amount of
resources which are available in the Mark and Spencer company to cope up with various
situations
Managing: Team work is the most essential and crucial part of Tesco for carrying out
important and necessary decisions of company. Team management makes the work very easy
and effective. It provides best outcome possible for Mark and Spencer.
1.3 Five performance objective that influence operation management.
For improving the performance of Primark company then there is great benefit in looking
at the income or loss for that company (Gold, Seuring and Beske, 2010). But basically income
statement is not the whole measurement of what are its performance level and what techniques it
has used to improve it. Also one more important factor which can be utilized for measuring the
capacity barrier is that it provide operations in providing profit margin which may be equal to
gross profit minus the operating expenses. There are these five operational performance
objectives which needs to be fulfilled to achieve proper goal for this company.
Quality: This is very essential and considered to be more important than conformance to
a specification. It basically determines how exactly is the product. Hows well has it been formed
and whether it performs in manner expected by the customer. The desirability of product's
features is basically considered under this section. Also the durability is also an important factor
which makes the item more reliable and useful for long run.
Speed Performance Objective: This actually refers to the rate by which this company
can generate its sales information and how rapidly does this company can deliver its products to
the required location also comes under the speed factor. This refers to issues like the time
constraints which is responsible and required for manufacturing and transportation of the product
from industry to the required location. Even though this is very important factor but still it is also
responsible to make sure that quality is not hindered.
Dependability Performance Objective: This Primark company has many operations
which are dependable on other factors. If this cited firm produce and deliver products to its
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demanding customers and clients then according to their acceptance of price, company would
have to settle for a price which can be accepted by them (Hart and Dowell, 2011).
Flexibility Performance Objective: This is very essential feature for any company to
exist in the market for long run. If the company can configure product lines with different types
of product requirements and then perform operations which can adjust to new requirements very
quickly then the company would stand very high for a long run. Flexibility basically requires that
this company should produce products at different levels of quality and with so many varieties of
design modification so that customer can get ample amount of items and services and would
interest them to go marketing with same company always. This terms also means that company
has to adopt operations to meet new and latest changing delivery schedules and production
volumes (Heizer, 2016).
Cost Performance Objective: This refers to variation in unit cost produced by the firm
due to changes in the amount of manufactures producing large variety of products. Higher the
value of variety of products lower can be the volume which is being produced. Finally this will
lead to higher unit cost and this can be vice versa. Equally important factor for any firm is to
maintain its cost factor in each products which may vary and will affect the product prices cause
the running cost and profits.
TASK 2
2.1 Different types of approaches to quality management and its influence.
Total quality management is basically seen as addition to traditional method of handling
quality. It is being acknowledged that techniques used in this service management is used to
evaluate company's success as compared to any other similar business rivals (Holsapple, ed.,
2013). Different approaches to quality management can be:
Customer Focus: The job of this company is to focus on the customer and their needs.
This should be the first principle for any company to establish their position in the market. It is
required to convert both customer needs and customer services very efficiently and effectively.
As a result of all this, it leads to increase in customer loyalty. This is ultimately generate revenue
to rise high and reduces in waste generation in the business strategies. Its ability to spot new
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customers and latest opportunities which would satisfy the customers more quantitatively. This is
a more effective process which results in improved customer satisfaction.
Leadership: With the help of a strong and clear leadership, business of Primark will
flourish. Its employees are actively involved in achieving those targets. These have benefits like
better employee engagement and improved motivation techniques for satisfying customer needs.
People Involvement: Primark is an organisation which is nothing without its staff
members whether they work for part time, full time, in house or out sourced. Their ability which
is required for the company to maximize its business success and goals (Karlsson, ed, 2016).
Systematic approach to management: Business focus of Primark company is to put
their efforts on key processes as well as managing straitening the complementary processes to
get improved efficiency.
Continual Improvement: This principle is very straight forward and basic in nature. It
includes continual improvement of the system and strategies so that it should be an active
business once and for all. This is the main objective of this section.
Factual approach to decision making: This seems to be a logical approach which is
based on data and analysis for any business to make some sense in real life scenario. Usually
when the company does not have an effective and organised plan of making decisions then it is
made in a hap hazard manner in a rush without proper thought. This needs to be reduced and
efficiency should be re-forced by organisation after implementation of prior principles and this
will actually help in making decisions with more clarity and efficiency.
2.2 Quality of system and operations for Primark organisation.
Quality management system is a formalized system that contain documents, processes,
procedures and responsibilities for achieving quality policies and its objectives. QMS helps in
coordination of organisation and direct company activities to meet the customer's needs and its
regulatory requirements to improve its efficiency (Kindström, 2010). This company defines its
corporate strategy and then determine its operational performance objectives. This is basically
required to meet the achieved target.
To make a good strategy for attracting them to produce better quality goods and services
along with parallel planning of work strategies. Main function operation with latest technologies
and ideas to improve productivity and reduce their cost makes them flexible in nature to meet the
challenges in the upcoming environment (Lavastre, Gunasekaran and Spalanzani, 2012). So then
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when the net profit increase there can be a substantial rise in the business operating expenses and
there would be a decrease in its operation losses. Then understanding the location and size of the
products with respect to customer need and supply. There are various techniques and equipments
which are utilised in underlying the requirements of customers and clients.
TASK 3
3.1 Influence of information system in supply chain management.
These days, organizations are in the race for progressing their hierarchical aggressiveness
in request to contend in the 21st century worldwide market (Myers, 2013). This market is
electronically associated and dynamic in nature. In this way, organizations are attempting to
enhance their spryness level with the goal of being adaptable and receptive to meet the changing
business sector necessities. With an end goal to accomplish this, many organizations have
decentralized their esteem including exercises by outsourcing and creating virtual venture (VE).
All these feature the significance of data innovation (IT) in incorporating providers/joining
forces firms in virtual venture and inventory network. Supply chain administration (SCM) is an
approach that has advanced out of the combination of these contemplations. SCM is
characterized as the incorporation of key business forms from end client through unique
providers that gives items, administrations, and data furthermore, subsequently include an
incentive for clients and different partners.
3.2 Benefits of e procurement for supply chain improvement.
The nest step that the company plans of is fix the measure to determine the performance
objectives are met or not. This way at least the company will configure its operating environment
and accomplish its objectives. These days, organizations are in the race for progressing their
hierarchical aggressiveness in request to contend in the 21st century worldwide market (Pettit,
Fiksel and Croxton, 2010). This market is electronically associated and dynamic in nature. In this
way, organizations are attempting to enhance their spryness level with the goal of being
adaptable and receptive to meet the changing business sector necessities. With an end goal to
accomplish this, many organizations have decentralized their esteem including exercises by
outsourcing and creating virtual venture (VE). All these feature the significance of data
innovation (IT) in incorporating providers/joining forces firms in virtual venture and inventory
network. Supply chain administration (SCM) is an approach that has advanced out of the
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combination of these contemplations. SCM is characterized as the incorporation of key business
forms from end client through unique providers that gives items, administrations, and data
furthermore, subsequently include an incentive for clients and different partners.
3.3 Importance of IT system in supply chain efficiency.
Supply chain management has become the most important factor in the private fields of
service sector in today's world because customer satisfaction is dependent on efficiency of
supply chain activities. This company Primark has performed many operations where personal
guest satisfaction is a major priority. A large and diverse range of supply factors are gathered
around according to requirements of guests and then services is provided (Pettit, Fiksel and
Croxton, 2010). This type of data is collected from management and relevant department
authorities. The relationship between information system and supply chain structure with
corporate information system. By these finding and these technologies there is a descriptive
analysis method which results in low number of participants having statistical data which may
not give meaningful results. That is why the latest technologies of IT industries is used to cause
improvement in technologies for future use and for making the company stay for long run.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it has been analysed that there is much importance of strategic
techniques in managing operations in Primark. After proper analysing of operational functions
what are its effect in this organisation. In this report also it explains about the importance of five
performance objectives that are very essential in operation management. There are so many
different ways to quality the management system which is discussed in this report. Also here,
there is data provided to understand how information system contribute to supply chain
management. There is also IT influence in impacting the supply chain and certain advantages of
e procurement in the field of supply chain.
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REFERENCES
Books and journal
Ageron, B., Gunasekaran, A. and Spalanzani, A., 2012. Sustainable supply management: An
empirical study. International Journal of Production Economics. 140(1). pp.168-182.
de Menezes, L.M., Wood, S. and Gelade, G., 2010. The integration of human resource and
operation management practices and its link with performance: A longitudinal latent
class study. Journal of Operations Management. 28(6). pp.455-471.
Diabat, A. and Govindan, K., 2011. An analysis of the drivers affecting the implementation of
green supply chain management. Resources, Conservation and Recycling. 55(6).
pp.659-667.
Gawer, A. ed., 2011. Platforms, markets and innovation. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Gold, S., Seuring, S. and Beske, P., 2010. Sustainable supply chain management and inter‐
organizational resources: a literature review. Corporate social responsibility and
environmental management. 17(4). pp.230-245.
Hart, S.L. and Dowell, G., 2011. Invited editorial: A natural-resource-based view of the firm
fifteen years after. Journal of management. 37(5). pp.1464-1479.
Heizer, J., 2016. Operations Management, 11/e. Pearson Education India.
Holsapple, C. ed., 2013. Handbook on knowledge management 1: Knowledge matters (Vol. 1).
Springer Science & Business Media.
Karlsson, C. ed., 2016. Research Methods for Operations Management. Routledge.
Kindström, D., 2010. Towards a service-based business model–Key aspects for future
competitive advantage. European Management Journal. 28(6). pp.479-490.
Lavastre, O., Gunasekaran, A. and Spalanzani, A., 2012. Supply chain risk management in
French companies. Decision Support Systems. 52(4). pp.828-838.
Myers, M.D., 2013. Qualitative research in business and management. Sage.
Pettit, T.J., Fiksel, J. and Croxton, K.L., 2010. Ensuring supply chain resilience: development of
a conceptual framework. Journal of business logistics. 31(1). pp.1-21.
Pettit, T.J., Fiksel, J. and Croxton, K.L., 2010. Ensuring supply chain resilience: development of
a conceptual framework. Journal of business logistics. 31(1). pp.1-21.
Slack, N., 2015. Operations strategy. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Slack, N., Chambers, S. and Johnston, R., 2010. Operations management. Pearson education.
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Tang, O. and Musa, S.N., 2011. Identifying risk issues and research advancements in supply
chain risk management. International journal of production economics. 133(1). pp.25-
34.
Trkman, P., 2010. The critical success factors of business process management. International
journal of information management. 30(2). pp.125-134.
Wheelen, T.L. and Hunger, J.D., 2011. Concepts in strategic management and business policy.
Pearson Education India.
Yang, M.G.M., Hong, P. and Modi, S.B., 2011. Impact of lean manufacturing and environmental
management on business performance: An empirical study of manufacturing firms.
International Journal of Production Economics. 129(2). pp.251-261.
Online
Understanding operations management. 2017. [Online]. Available
through:<http://www.open.edu/openlearn/money-management/management/leadership-
and-management/understanding-operations-management/content-section-0>. [Accessed
on 26th July 2017].
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