Strategies on Operations Management

This study analyzes the strategies of operations management of Hard Rock Cafe and Toyota Motor Corporation. It compares their operations strategies, processes, quality management, and capacity planning.

Running head: STRATEGIES ON OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIES ON OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1STRATEGIES ON OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Table of Contents.......................................................................................................................1
Introduction:...............................................................................................................................2
Background:...............................................................................................................................2
Background of Hard Rock Cafe:............................................................................................2
Background of Toyota Motors Corporations:........................................................................3
Operations strategies:.................................................................................................................3
Operations strategies of Hard Rock Cafe:..............................................................................3
Operations strategies of Toyota Motors Corporation:...........................................................4
Operations process:....................................................................................................................5
Operations process of Hard Rock Cafe:.................................................................................5
Operations process of Toyota Motors Corporations:.........................................................5
Quality management:.................................................................................................................6
Quality management of Hard Rock Cafe:..............................................................................6
Quality management of Toyota Motors Corporations:..........................................................7
Capacity planning:.....................................................................................................................7
Capacity planning of Hard Rock Cafe:..................................................................................7
Capacity planning of Toyota Motors Corporations:..............................................................8
Supply chain management:........................................................................................................8
Supply chain management of Hard Rock Cafe:.....................................................................8
Supply chain management of Toyota Motors Corporations:.................................................8
Conclusions:...............................................................................................................................9
Lesson learned:.......................................................................................................................9
Recommendations:.................................................................................................................9
References:...............................................................................................................................10
Appendix:.................................................................................................................................12

2STRATEGIES ON OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

3STRATEGIES ON OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
Introduction:
Operations management is all about the process by which the business operations of an
organization are managed (Hitt, Xu and Carnes 2015). Strategies are made for managing the
business operations effectively and those strategies vary according to the industries of the
respective companies. Those organizations which are able to develop efficient strategies on
operations management are able to gain the relevant success and those which are not able to
develop efficient strategies are not able to maintain the sustainability in the business. With
proper strategies on operations management, efficiency in the business can be derived which
also results in long term success. Elements of a successful operations management include
the control in the process of production or services, enhancing the quality and capability of
the products and services and efficient management of the supply chain of the business.
Responsibilities are given to the skilled stakeholders of the company to manage the business
operations effectively in accordance with the developed strategies (Khanna 2015).
This study will analyze the strategies of operations management of Hard Rock Cafe and
Toyota Motor Corporation. Both these companies are highly successful in their own industry
and for this, it will be essential to analyze the strategies that they have implemented for
managing their business operations. Therefore, a comparative analysis will be conducted to
compare the strategies of operations management of both these companies.
Background:
Background of Hard Rock Cafe:
Hard Rock Cafe or HRC is one of the most successful restaurant chains in the world. HRC
was founded in the year 1971 in London and gradually, with this unique interior design and
high-quality service, HRC became highly popular (Hardrock.com, 2019). The business of the
company gradually expanded to other countries and in the year 2007, the headquarters of the
company was shifted to Florida, US. Current HRC is operational in 74 countries along with
having its own cafes, casinos, and hotels.
Refer to the Appendix.

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Background of Toyota Motors Corporations:
Toyota Motors Corporation is an automotive manufacturing company which has its
headquarters in Toyota, Japan. After founded in the year 1937, this company began
expanding its business worldwide and currently, the vehicles manufactured by the company
are available and popular worldwide (CORPORATION., 2019). The brand name of Toyota
has gained a high reputation for which the numbers of sales of its manufactured vehicles are
on the higher side and for this, the organization is known as one of the most successful
automotive manufacturing companies in the world.
Operations strategies:
Operations strategies of Hard Rock Cafe:
Since the start of its business operations in London, HRC has emerged as one of the most
popular restaurant and pub chains in the world. This has been possible mainly due to the
presence of an efficient operations management of the company. With its innovative themes
in terms of designing the interiors of the cafes and menu cards, HRC has developed the
strategies which are unique and highly attractive. Most important of all, the themes and types
of services have been consistent in all the cafes regardless of different countries. HRC has
maintained its brand image in all the countries where its business is operational (Thai 2018).
The music which is played in the cafe to entertain the guests is modified over time in the
process of making those apt with modern times. Even the menu and layout also keep on
modifying to match with the changing preferences of the customers. This means that the
operations strategies of HRC are modified and are highly adaptable to the changes. This
strategy makes the company one of the most successful in the industry since long a period of
time. Along with the cafes, HRC also has its retail shops in which the merchandizes of the
company are sold and those are extremely popular among the customers. The retail business
of the company is also highly successful and contributes hugely to the business growth. The
employees are chosen as such that they have the relevant competencies that are required in
the industry and also have personalities which are engaging. HRC regularly conducts surveys
with the customers in the process of improving the quality of food and music and the overall
service. This contributes to the excellent customer service and brand image for which the
company is famous for. The strategies of business operations also involve the focus on the
marketing of the business. With the help of the website and by marketing through television

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programs and social media, HRC has been able to catch the attention of a large number of
target customers (Bhasin, 2019). Even the process by which the company keeps
communicating with its customers is also innovative as well as an efficient one. The
operations managers of the company play the key roles in making the operations up to date
and innovative one. The cafe at the headquarters at Orlando, Florida is the largest of all and
prepares more than 3500 meals in a day along with serving over 1500 customers
(Hardrockhotelorlando.com, 2019). Despite the fact that it is a challenge for the company to
maintain such workflow, however; over the years; HRC has been hugely successful to
provide high customer services for all the customers who visit the cafe. These high-quality
services are not only limited to this single cafe. In fact, each of the cafes of HRC around the
world has been highly successful in proving quality services and food to the customers. This
is the main reason for sustainability in the success that HRC has maintained over the years.
Refer to appendix...
Operations strategies of Toyota Motors Corporation:
Like HRC, Toyota Motors Corporations has been extremely successful in its own industry
and known for maintaining its brand value over the years. The designs of the vehicles are
always made attractive ones and the changes are made in accordance with the changing
preferences of the customers. Along with this, the operations strategies of the company are
based on manufacturing innovative products along with using the latest technologies to
provide high-quality products to the customers (Monden, 2019). This is the reason why the
vehicles manufactured by the company are popular in almost all over the world. The
investments made in R&D have helped the company make efficient strategies through which
the quality of services has been excellent. The focus of the company is on constant
improvement of the production system, re-engineering, use of innovative technologies and
satisfaction of the employees. Through these operations strategies, Toyota has been able to
manage all its vital business operations efficiently and has emerged as one of the most
successful companies in the industry.

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Operations process:
Operations process of Hard Rock Cafe:
The success of operations management is always dependent on the process by which the
operations are conducted. Being a multinational company, it is always a challenge for HRC to
manage all the operations process in all the cafes around the world efficiently. In order to
maintain the brand image, it is highly important to provide the equal quality of services in all
its cafes around the world. In this process, the service design of the company has been
developed as such that customers in all the cafes can feel a similar ambiance for which HRC
is known for (Kuisma and Niemi 2016). The culture of hard rock songs in the process of
keeping the target audiences engaged and entertained has been one of the main highlights of
the successful operations process of HRC. By targeting a specific group of audiences, HRC
develops the plans which meet with the expectations of the target group efficiently.
The process design of HRC involves preparation of food, routing of order, making
reservations and others. This involves all the important internal business processes that HRC
is focused on. Most important of all, HRC is well aware of the quality and competencies that
their employees require to handle these tasks. Therefore; the responsibility is only given to
those staffs who have the required skills to handle these tasks efficiently. In the process of
management of the business operations, the quality of the services is also given importance
by the management of HRC. The choice of locations that HRC makes for opening their cafes
also is an important success factor. The locations that the company chooses are always in the
popular areas of the cities and for this, the business process involves proper R&D on the
culture and popular locations of a particular city before starting its business operations
(Elliott, 2019). The themes that are developed are different and unique from other cafes and
the themes are maintained equally in all the cafes of the company. All these processes make
HRC highly successful in the industry.
Operations process of Toyota Motors Corporations:
The operations process of the company is focused on using the lean manufacturing method in
which the importance is given on reducing the wastes. This helps the company to control its
budget and thus, the end products which are sold are available at affordable rates to the
customers (Coetzee et al 2019). With the help of proper R&D and re-engineering, Toyota has
been extremely successful in the industry. Even if some of the models of vehicles that are

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produced by the company fail to establish its market presence; Toyota rather than considering
those as wastes; focuses on altering the design within the similar facility of production. This
process helps significantly in reducing the overall production cost. Toyota also uses robotic
technology which helps in mass production and also in the process of bringing in control in
the overall process of production. The lean production method also helps the company to
reduce the manufacturing time along with enhanced management of the factories
(Hovemeyer, 2019). This is an important factor for the long-term success that the company
has achieved so far. Proper inspection is conducted in the process of evaluating the
production process and if any types faults are found in production, then it is interrupted and
after finding the causes of the errors, then strategies are developed to eliminate those errors.
The strategies on the manufacturing of the hybrid vehicles have brought in huge success for
the company due to their high market demands. Toyota is always focused on conducting
market research and this forms an important aspect of its operations process. Due to these
advanced and innovative strategies, Toyota has always maintained competitive advantages in
the industry with success.
Quality management:
Quality management of Hard Rock Cafe:
The operations managers of the company are also responsible for assessing the quality of the
services. HRC maintains a specific quality for all the services and the responsibility of the
operations managers is to ensure that all the services that are provided to the customers by
HRC meet with the standards of quality that HRC maintains. This is an important strategy
which helps HRC to maintain its quality successfully in all the cafes. The ambiance along
with the quality of food and music are also the success factors of quality management of
HRC (Chang 2016). This is because; the management of HRC has always maintained a
particular standard for music and food which are required to be followed by all its cafes.
Along with the cafe, services at the hotels of the company are also maintained as such that the
high quality is maintained in all the business. One of the other processes by which HRC
maintains its quality is through the methods by which it is able to adapt to the market
demands. This means that HRC has always been successful to identify the changing market
demands and the recent trends and therefore; the standards of services are developed as such
that those are able to meet with the demands and match up with the changing trends. Further;

8STRATEGIES ON OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
HRC also engages its staffs to receive training and take feedback from the customers which
help in understanding the quality that the customers expect (Ramazonava 2016). All these
factors help HRC to maintain its quality significantly and for establishing successful quality
management.
Quality management of Toyota Motors Corporations:
Toyota Motors Corporations has been always known for the high-quality products that it
manufactures. The strategies on continuous improvement in the process of production make
the company extremely successful in the industry. This means that with the help of R&D,
Toyota has been able to understand the market demands and faults in its production processes
(Araki et al 2018). Through this, it assesses the quality of the production and re-engineering
strategies are used to meet with the required quality of the vehicles. A standard is maintained
which is followed by the staffs to ensure that the quality is maintained without fail. Despite
the growing competition in the industry, Toyota has been always successful to maintain its
brand image and this is due to the high quality of the vehicles that it has manufactured since a
long period of time. In the process of manufacturing of hybrid vehicles, Toyota always
ensures that the quality of these vehicles is of a high standard and better than that of all the
other competitors in the industry. These are the factors that make Toyota extremely
successful in the process of quality control and have also helped the company to effectively
manage its quality control process with success.
Capacity planning:
Capacity planning of Hard Rock Cafe:
HRC has a specific target for its capacity which all the staffs in all the cafes need to maintain.
These capacities define the quality of service and the support for the customers that it has
provided for a long period of time. The management of HRC always analyze the demands
that are persistent in the local markets and the capacity design is developed as per those
demands (Rautiainen 2018). That is in the process of attracting the customers, the capacity
design always involves the identification of the products or services that are extremely
demanding in the local market and likewise the strategies are developed to meet with those
demands. This is one of the success factors in the capacity planning of the company for a
long period of time. Capacity utilization is always on the focus of the company and the

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strategy is developed in order to maximize the utilization of the capacity so that the services
to the customers are of high quality and unique from the competitors in the local market.
Capacity planning of Toyota Motors Corporations:
As discussed earlier, Toyota has been hugely successful in the industry due to the efficient
use of the lean manufacturing process. The strategies on capacity planning are also developed
as per the use of lean production. This means that the planning is made on reducing the cost
and time for the production along with ensuring that wastes in the process of production are
controlled efficiently (Toma and Naruo 2017). The cost-effectiveness in the process of
production has been always in the strategies on the capacity design that the company
maintains with success. Due to this, Toyota has always been successful to deliver cost-
effective vehicles to its customers and thus, has been able to attract more customers over the
period of time than the other competitors in the industry. The focus of the capacity planning
is on increasing the efficiency in the process of production continuously and this reflects on
the quality of the products that the company has supplied till now.
Supply chain management:
Supply chain management of Hard Rock Cafe:
Supply forms an important aspect of business for all the companies and this is not exceptional
for HRC. The decisions of the supply chain are made by assessing the demands in the market,
the cost of services and the cost of inventory management of the business. These costs tend to
increase or decrease according to the market scenario and the management of the company
has been extremely successful in managing these costs effectively. The supply levels have
some targets which the company always tends to achieve and thus, strategies are developed
as such that those targets are achieved with success. The fluctuations in the demand of the
market are also properly assessed by the company and the operations managers are given
these responsibilities to manage the supply chain of the business effectively.
Supply chain management of Toyota Motors Corporations:
Lean manufacturing is also used in the process of management of the supply chain of the
company. This means strategies have been developed as such that the supply chain brings in
efficiency and managed within reduced cost and time. This also helps the company to reduce
the cost of inventory management effectively. The process of supply chain management of

10STRATEGIES ON OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT
the company is automated and by using advanced technologies (Mao 2018). This means that
the traditional method of management of the supply chain which was extremely complicated
has been replaced by automated ones. This helps the company to manage the inventories
effectively as well and ensures that the stock management is handled efficiently. The real-
time processing of the data along with managing the invoices and payments effectively make
the company one of the most successful in the market and in the process of achieving a
competitive advantage.
Conclusions:
Lesson learned:
By assessing the operations management and operations strategies of Toyota and HRC, it has
been possible to learn about how these companies have been able to provide high-quality
services to the customers along with maintaining the sustainability in the business for a long
period of time. Along with this, it has been also possible to understand how the process of
quality control and capacity management can be planned. The way these multinational
companies manage all their employees, customers and the business operations effectively can
be used as the learning materials in the vision of enhancing the business operations of the
companies of the small and medium sector with success.
Recommendations:
The strategies on operations management of both these companies are advanced and efficient
ones. The modern-day companies need to learn from these companies about the processes
which can be applied in the strategies of operations management. Along with proper market
research and implementation of high-quality services can make any business successful such
as these companies. It is important to maintain sustainability in the business through these
effective strategies. In terms of operation strategies, R&D can help significantly in the
process of researching the market demands and the risks from the environment. Therefore; by
conducting a proper method of R&D, organizations can overcome all the external challenges
and the loopholes in terms of service and production can be eliminated significantly.

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Appendix:
http://www.hardrock.com/corporate/history