Operations Management Report: MBA/MSc Operations Management

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of Marriott International's operations management, addressing key aspects such as the differences and similarities between manufacturing and service operations, competitive priorities, and the role of operations managers. It explores time-based competition, daily and guiding beliefs, and qualitative forecasting techniques used within organizations. The report also delves into facility layouts, purchasing decisions, and opportunities for improving the planning process. The analysis covers various facets of operations management, including supply chain management, quality standards, and strategic decision-making, offering a detailed overview of Marriott's operational strategies and their impact on the company's success in the hospitality industry.

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Mariott International
Operations Management
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OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT 1
Answer 1: Operations Management
Difference
Manufacturing Services
Inputs like labour, materials, etc. are
converted in physical outputs
Conversion of inputs into outputs where the
outputs are insubstantial
The separation between consumption and
production is allowed
Service received by a customer of
consumption and production at the same time
The products are physical so the productivity
is easily measured
The services are insubstantial so the
productivity is not easily measured
The more of material handling is needed for
the requirement of expenses
The need for material handling is less for
expenses in services as compared to the
operations of manufacturing
The people who provide manufacturing
operations have less contact with the
customers
The people who provide services operations
have more contact with the customers
Manufacturing operations are easy to create
and the quality standards are comparatively
simple
It is difficult to create quality products and
standards for assessing service operations
It depends on repair work and maintenance It does no depends on maintenance and repair
work
They are flexible in manufacturing work,
scheduling work, and methods
Services are in direct contact with customers
and are inflexible as the customers are part of
a service system
The operations are larger in size Smaller in size as they have direct contact
with the customers
Similarities
The ultimate goal of manufacturing and services is the same in case of operational success.
The total cost of ownership is used in manufacturing and services as well; to identify the
failures; Generic Error Modelling System (GEMS) where the process is tangible is applied to
both manufacturing and services operations (Wang, et al., 2016). The manufacturing and
services operations include personalizing, credit examination, measuring and labelling.

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT 2
Therefore, attaining decision; causes of inaccuracies in delivery procedure; SCM
coordination while informing; the presence of bullwhip effect; and demand signaling are the
similarities between manufacturing and services operations (Zhou, et al., 2009).
Answer 2: Competitive priorities (CSFs)
The CSFs are necessary for an organization to achieve the mission which confirms the
success of the company. Competitive priorities are one of the factors of CSFs which helps the
company to compete in the market and to gain competitive advantage. This factor includes
delivery performance, low-cost, flexibility, quality, appreciation, and innovation (Phusavat &
Kanchana, 2008). Marriott is becoming stronger by attracting consumers with the growth of
its brand image, overcoming from competition with other hotel chains. The operations
manager handles the competitive priorities and uses more services over the other competitive
brands for consumers to be loyal. Marriott is an expensive brand and attracts the target
audience by competing form the hotels that are cheap and strategizing to grow in the lower-
cost markets (Umpenterprise, 2013). It is the duty of operations managers to focus on the
global outlook to compete on an international basis for achieving success. They provide
quality to the customers and make their experience better for gaining loyalty and attract new
customers. Marriott performs a loyalty program for expansion, developed on a gigantic scale,
benefit of luxury properties for the company and owning their proprietary booking channels
(Sharma, 2018). The decisions need careful calculations of resources which includes
physical, human and company’s capital resources, and environmental adjustments.
Answer 6: Layout in Operation Management
The manufacturing and services include many layouts such as group technology layout in
operation management, facility layout, process layouts, product layouts, fixed position layout,
combination layouts, and just-in-time layout. The product or facility layouts are the common
layouts for manufacturing and service facilities; here the main concern is of facility layout
which means planning for the location of all machines, employee workplace, utilities,
customer service areas, walkways, material storage areas, restrooms, internal walls, lunch and
computer rooms, and offices (Hill & Hill, 2017). This layout is for the flowing patterns of
people and materials around and within buildings. The decision made through facility layout
impacts the flow, affect productivity and costs, and the operations strategy which is incline to
be occasional, expensive to execute, committed for long-term and considered and assessed

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT 3
broadly. Manufacturing and service facility layout is focused on material handling to
minimize the process cost, transporting and material storage in a production system; services
included are technical services, parking services and many more.
Answer 7: Purchasing Decisions
Marriott can increase its visibility in purchasing decisions when the new purchasing policy is
executed which is done at the property level (Johnsen, et al., 2018). Purchasing decisions
have major social and environmental impacts where there is a pressure of introducing a large
number of goods from distant countries according to the guest’s demand. The operations
manager needs to consider the overall life cost to make decisions related to purchasing and
providing services that are helpful for suppliers and consumers' loyalty. The benefits a
company can attain are saving costs, maintaining the image of the brand, right to improve
capital, credits and tax breaks, innovation promotion, staff of good employees, environmental
and social advantages. Marriott needs to look after the quality, non-harmful materials, energy
competence, natural and organic products, ignoring throwaway products, and biodegradable
products.
Answer 8: Opportunity to improve the planning process
Marriott International is covering 200 hotels in the globe with 38,000 rooms by 2023
estimating to generate 12,000 new job opportunities and to maintain their brand on top of the
travel and tourism sector. The company is going to sign five new projects to drive investment
of over $250 million by generating extensive economic activity and property owners.
Marriott planned to achieve the place through organic growth and loyalty program with an
experienced local team and stand. This will increase domestic demand, macroeconomic
management improvisation, and political stability. The company is taking steps for expanding
in new markets and increasing the value of their assets (Marriott International, 2018). The
Marriott is grabbing the growth opportunities by speeding up Starwood, brand growth
establishment, expansion of international select service, transformations, and unions &
achievements (Mest, 2017).

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Bibliography
Hill, A. & Hill, T., 2017. Essential Operations Management. London: Macmillan
International Higher Education.
Johnsen, T. E., Howard, M. & Miemczyk, J., 2018. Purchasing and Supply Chain
Management. 2nd ed. London: Routledge.
Marriott International, 2018. Marriott International Reveals Robust Expansion Plans Across
Africa. [Online]
Available at: https://news.marriott.com/2018/10/marriott-international-reveals-robust-
expansion-plans-across-africa/
[Accessed 23 August 2019].
Mest, E., 2017. 5 growth opportunities for Marriott. [Online]
Available at: https://www.hotelmanagement.net/development/5-ways-marriott-planning-for-
development-domination
[Accessed 23 August 2019].
Phusavat, K. & Kanchana, R., 2008. Competitive priorities for service providers: perspectives
from Thailand. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 108(1), pp. 5-21.
Sharma, A., 2018. 4 Competitive Advantages Marriott International Wants Shareholders to
Grasp. [Online]
Available at: https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/09/13/4-competitive-advantages-marriott-
international-wa.aspx
[Accessed 23 August 2019].
Umpenterprise, 2013. Critical Success Factors affecting Marriott Hotels. [Online]
Available at: https://umpenterprise.wordpress.com/2013/10/27/critical-success-factors-
affecting-marriott-hotels/
[Accessed 23 August 2019].
Wang, Q., Zhao, X. & Voss, C., 2016. Customer orientation and innovation: A comparative
study of manufacturing and service firms. International Journal of Production Economics,
Volume 171, pp. 221-230.

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Zhou, M., Park, T. & Yi, J., 2009. Commonalities and differences between service and
manufacturing supply chains: Combining operations management studies with supply chain
management. California Journal of Operations Management, 7(1), pp. 136-143.