AMOM632 Operations Management: Competitive Advantage & Analysis

This report delves into the competitive advantage strategy of Duowave, suggesting a differentiation approach due to its unique product offering of heating and cooling in a single device. It emphasizes the importance of understanding customer needs and competitor offerings when implementing a differentiation strategy. Furthermore, the report explores methods to enhance multi-factor productivity, such as implementing innovative production methods and providing high-quality worker training. Finally, it defines Takt time as the maximum time to manufacture a product to meet customer demand, highlighting its role in ensuring efficient capacity utilization and timely delivery. Desklib offers a wealth of similar resources for students.

Operations Management
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Contents
Discussions......................................................................................................................................2
Reference.........................................................................................................................................5
Discussions
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a. The suggested competitive advantage strategy for Duowave in the market is differentiation
strategy. In case of a differentiation strategy an organization seeks to be unique in its market
along some dimensions which are widely valued by the customers in the market. In this strategy,
the company selects one or more attributes which various customers in the market perceive as
vital and important and accordingly positions itself in order to meet the needs of the customers.
According to Chun & Cho (2017, p. 675)in the differentiation strategy an organization is
rewarded for its uniqueness with a premium price. In the differentiation strategy, an organization
aims to differentiate its products or services within a limited number of market segments. The
special needs of the customers belonging to those market segment implies that there are
opportunities available for the company to provide products to the customers belonging to those
segment which are clearly different from those of the competitors who may be targeting a larger
group of customers.
As stated by Banker, Mashruwala&Tripathy(2014, p. 884)the most important issue for any
business organization who wishes to adopt the differentiation strategy for gaining competitive
advantage in the market is that the business organizations needs to ensure that their target
customers really do possess a different needs or wants which differs from other customers which
in other words can be stated as the presence of a valid basis for differentiation. Another
important issue for any business organization who wishes to adopt the differentiation strategy for
gaining competitive advantage in the market is that the business organizations needs to ensure
that their existing competitors are currently not meeting the needs and wants of those target
customers. The adoption of differentiation strategy can be termed as a classic niche marketing
strategy and as a result various business organizations have successfully able to establish
themselves in their niche market segment by adopting the differentiation strategy for gaining
competitive advantage by achieving higher prices than un-differentiated products by innovating
their product or through various other ways which helps to add value to the customers.
In the context of the Duowave product it can be said that the product is unique in the market as it
offers two functions in a single device. Duowave helps in heating and cooling of food and drinks
so that they can be consumed instantly by using same amount of power. As Duowave is unique
in the market, and it offers both functions in the same time to the customers, it has easily
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differentiated itself from other market offerings of competitors and therefore it can be said that
the company has rightly implemented differentiation strategy.
b. The multi-factor productivity of the company can be increased in the following ways:
 As stated by Guerrieri, Henderson & Kim (2017, p. 277) the first way on improving the
multi-factor productivity of the country is by implementing innovative methods of
production in the company or by using innovative machineries in the production process
of the company. By implementing innovative methods of production or by using
innovative machineries for production, the company will not only be able to increase the
multi-factor productivity of the company but also will be able to improve the quality of
the product which will in turn help in creating values for the products of the company.
 The second way to increase the multi-factor productivity of the company is by providing
high quality training to the workers of the company employed in the production process
of the company as it will help in improving the skills and capabilities of the workers
which will in turn help in increasing multi-factor productivity of the company.
c.
i. Takt time is defined as the maximum amount of time in which a product needs to be
manufactured in order to satisfy the demands of the customers. The term is derived from the
German word “Takt” which means pulse. As stated by Abdelhadi(2016, p. 29)the takt time is set
by customer demands and it helps in creating a pulse or rhythm across all business processes of
an organization in order to ensure the continuous flow and utilization of capacities such as
manpower and machineries. Takt is considered more than a metric of time. Takt time is very
important for business organizations as it helps in ensuring that all the capacities in a business
organization is planned and utilized accordingly and still it is successful in meeting overall
customer demands. Takt time largely helps in delivering the right product at the right time and in
the right quantity to the customers. Takt time also helps in creating a constant pulse across the
various business process of an organization which in turn helps in highlighting capacity issues
immediately, helps in highlighting synchronization issues among the business process of an
organization and also helps in highlighting issues regarding production quality and more similar
issues.
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Reference
Abdelhadi, A. (2016). Using lean manufacturing as service quality benchmark evaluation
measure. International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, 7(1), 25-34.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/IJLSS-02-2015-0003
Banker, R.,D., Mashruwala, R., &Tripathy, A. (2014). Does a differentiation strategy lead to
more sustainable financial performance than a cost leadership strategy? Management
Decision, 52(5), 872-896. Retrieved from
https://search.proquest.com/docview/1633967188?accountid=30552
Chun, S., & Cho, E. (2017). Differentiation strategy, CSR, and real activities earnings
management: Evidence from korea. Journal of Applied Business Research, 33(4), 669-692.
doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.19030/jabr.v33i4.9988
Guerrieri, L., Henderson, D. W., & Kim, J. (2017). Investment-specific and multi-factor
productivity in multi-sector open economies: Data and analysis. Seoul Journal of
Economics, 30(3), 251-289. Retrieved from
https://search.proquest.com/docview/1977152311?accountid=30552
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