Comprehensive Operations Management Analysis: Asda Stores Limited

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of operations management within Asda Stores Limited, a British supermarket retailer. It examines the company's operations, focusing on the George clothing line and its supply chain strategy, including sourcing from various countries and implementing lean manufacturing. The report delves into the transformation process, performance objectives, and strategic fit achieved through merchandise differentiation. It also explores the integration of operations with other business functions like human resources, sales, and finance, highlighting the use of technology and data analytics. Furthermore, the report identifies challenges faced by Asda, such as staffing, data synchronization, and multi-store reporting, while suggesting solutions like streamlined management systems and improved decision-making processes. The report also emphasizes the importance of customer experience and the integration of various business functions to achieve organizational goals.

Running head: OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN ASDA STORES LIMITED
Operations Management in Asda Stores Limited
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

1OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN ASDA STORES LIMITED
Part 1
Asda Stores Limited refers to the British supermarket retailer which has headquarters
within West Yorkshire (Asda.com 2019). The retailer offers exclusive clothing for the men,
women, kids and the baby on the basis of their needs and the demands. George clothing has
signed the deals with that of seven factories within Midlands that has helped it in the arena of
manufacturing. The manufacturers of the company are closer to the home that has helped in
the growth of the company. George clothing is presently sold in more than 580 stores owing
to the superior operations management of the company. George has built up a reputation for
the style and the value with the help of its supply chain strategy. The company has a talented
supply base across the world that has helped in increasing the production of the company
(Bernon, Cullen and Gorst 2016). George clothing is produced with the help of suppliers
within Bangladesh, India, China along with Turkey that has been instrumental in increasing
the production of the company. The clothing of the company are produced by taking recourse
to sourcing within Bangladesh where it has developed the lean manufacturing that has aided
in the manufacturing process of the company. The company has worked with the factory
owners of Bangladesh and educated them in the right manner that has helped in the process of
production of the company. The transformation process refers to group of the activities which
takes the inputs, changes them and provides the outputs so that it can cater to the needs of the
clients. The factories of Bangladesh have made investments in the arena of lean
manufacturing that has helped in the implementation of the best practices in relation to the
operations management (Fernie and Sparks 2018). The company works on the basis the
supplier standard of Wal-mart that has ensured the process of operations management of the
company. The company makes use of direct sourcing and it has acquired the Turkish supplier
that has aided the process of operations of the company.

2OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN ASDA STORES LIMITED
The main performance objectives of the clothing section of Asda is to attain the
strategic fit that can help the retailer in rising above the competitors. The company involves
itself in research and development and involves the operation managers so that it can provide
the business with competitive advantage. Strategic marketing Fit model has been used by
George Clothing that has helped in the area of operations of the company. The company has
pursued the merchandise differentiation strategy that has helped it in rising above the
competitors (Ramanathan, Subramanian and Parrott 2017). George clothing has achieved the
strategic fit as it has established supply chain strategies on the basis of implied uncertainties.
The uncertainties pertaining to the retailing sector has been researched by the company that
has helped it in delivering the efficient performance. The company has used the cheap mode
of the transportation that has helped in increasing the efficiency of the process of production
of the company. The company has high inventory level within the warehouses that has helped
in optimising the production of company.
The supply chain network of the company is spread across the world that has helped
in facilitating the co-ordination of the various business process of the company. The business
process that is outsourced to the outside locations has helped the company in making use of
the resources along with the capital of the other countries. George Clothing has 250 people
who are located in various parts of the world that has helped the company in sourcing in a
direct manner. There are 70 designers who are associated with the brand who has helped in
keeping the cost down for the company. The company has a superior sourcing process and
they work with buyers along with the merchandisers that has helped in the area of decision-
making of the company (Bell, Gallino and Moreno 2017). The company takes care of the
element of availability that has helped in ensuring the success of the brand. The fashion brand
of Asda called George Clothing has made use of information technology in the supply chain
that has helped the franchise partners who are located in Middle East along with the Channel

3OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN ASDA STORES LIMITED
Islands in managing ordering along with the shipment of their latest clothing range. It has
helped in outsourcing the different business process that has helped in the growth of the
company within the competitive environment (Mena et al. 2016). It has provided the
franchises of the George Clothing with more amount of visibility regarding where the stock is
within the supply chain. It has helped in revealing how the goods would be delivered to the
distribution centers that are situated within UK, China along with the Middle East.
Part 2
The operations function in Asda Stores Limited collaborates successfully with the
business functions like the human resources, sales along with the financial marketing that has
paved the path for increasing the efficiency of the service of the company. It has been
instrumental in serving the demands of the customer in a manner that is cost-efficient. Asda
Stores Limited have the personnel who are responsible for the management of the human
resources. Ech of the stores are involved in translating general human resource plan from that
of the corporate HR department. Asda Stores Limited makes use of the special software that
helps in automating process of analysing the changes within workforce (Heizer, Render and
Munson 2017). This helps in the area of forecasting of Asda Stores Limited that has helped in
providing flexibility to the company. The organization takes recourse to the information
system that has helped the company in meeting the demand of the human resources. The
Human Resources of Asda Stores Limited have the holistic perspective that has helped the
human resources in aligning the business goals with the help of strategic orientation along
with the business acumen. The changing business environment has made the human
resources act as the business partner that can help a company in achieving the objectives. The
training is provided to the employees of Asda Stores Limited that have helped in the process
of inducing the best retail practices that have greatly helped in the operations of the company.
The human resources in Asda Stores Limited show the career succession plan to the

4OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN ASDA STORES LIMITED
employees and they are provided with the requisite amount of training that can help in the
operations of the company. The human resources in Asda Stores Limited makes use of
workforce management technology delving into the areas of the data analytics that has helped
in the calculation of the future staffing needs (Hitt, Xu and Carnes 2016). This points out to
the integration of the human resources and the operations management of the company that
can help in the long run of the company.
Asda Stores Limited has made use of Channel integration that has helped in providing
the consistent product information to the customers. It has helped in improving the insight of
the company that has helped them in understanding the needs of customers in the present era.
The company has been adept in engaging with the customers over the platform of the social
media that has proved to be advantageous for the company. The sophisticated algorithms are
used by Asda Stores Limited that has helped in increasing the yield along with the
profitability of the company.
The financial department and the operations management of Asda Stores Limited has
come together that can help a company in achieving the goals. It has helped in the process of
the business management along with the optimization of the activities of the company. The
company has adopted the integrated business planning that have helped in linking the
marketing along with the procurement functions of the company. The organization has
standardized along with the aligned metrics that has helped the company in reaching the
targets. The company has conducted the pilot cycles that has helped in training the employees
which can drive the improvement of the firm (Bromiley and Rau 2016). It has proved to be
advantageous for measuring the performance of the employees and has helped in building the
capabilities of the employees of company. It has provided the senior leadership with the tools
that has helped in managing the operations of business in Asda Stores Limited. Cross-
functional group spans over the important functional layers in Asda Stores Limited that

5OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN ASDA STORES LIMITED
includes the R & D along with the IT of the company. The integration of the sales department
along with the operations department of Asda Stores Limited has helped in improving the
trade-off decisions across the entire value chain of the company. The tailored business stream
have acted as a crucial operating model that has helped in managing the complexity in the
company (Mahadevan 2015). The technology that is used in the company has helped in
offering the real time information that has helped in linking the suppliers to the retailers
which has contributed in increasing the profitability of Asda Stores Limited.
Part 3
The retail companies need the careful maintenance of the day to the day operations of
the company that can help them in producing the best performance. The challenges are faced
by the operations of Asda Stores Limited in relation to the staffing, conducting of the
appraisals along with the performance reviews that raise difficulties for the company. The
organization has to face the challenges pertaining to the team collaboration along with the
sharing of the information across the various departments (Haksever and Render 2017). The
employees have to carry out the redundant tasks that has a negative effect on the productivity
of the company. The employees have to work for long hours that gives rise to fatigue among
the employees of the retail company. The employees suffer from fatigue that reduces the
motivation of the workers. The working conditions are poor in the retail sector and this
causes problems for the employees. The company has to face the challenge in the
identification of the inefficiencies that has a negative impact on the growth of the company.
The retailer has to manage the connectivity across the various stores and the cross-store
operations acts like a challenge for Asda Stores Limited. Asda Stores Limited has also to
sponsor and organize the events for which they have to carry out the interaction with the local
communities that have raised the hurdle for Asda Stores Limited. Data synchronization
proves to be challenging for Asda Stores Limited as the stores operate from the various

6OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN ASDA STORES LIMITED
geographies along with the locations (Mou, Robb and DeHoratius 2018). The setting up of
the system requires special kind of skills that is challenging for Asda Stores Limited. Multi-
store reporting is an area that proves to be challenging for Asda Stores Limited as it can help
the managers in generation of the consolidated results pertaining to the sales performance
throughout the value chain. The company has to reach out to the potential customers with the
help of proper communication which can be instrumental in facilitating the sales of the
company.
Asda Stores Limited can streamline the management system that can prove to be
useful for the company in managing the challenges in relation to leadership. It can help the
company in prospering within the competitive market of United Kingdom. The faster
decisions can be taken in the company with the help of the streamlined structures that can
help in the area of the decision-making (Aloysius et al. 2018).This can help in encouraging
the element of collaboration that can work to the benefit of the company. Streamlining can
help in facilitating the faster operations within Asda Stores Limited. It can help in the process
of furnishing the meaningful customer experience that can act as a significant facet in relation
to the streamlining. The streamlining of the positive customer experience can help the
company in going ahead of the competitors.
A strategy can be implemented in Asda Stores Limited that can help the company in
streamlining the management system. The company can make use of staffing analytics that
can help the company in organizing the staff schedule on the basis of the data. It can be
integrated within the workforce management system that can help in the future growth of the
company. Retail analytics can help the company in making the smarter decisions that can
help in the management of the business in a more effective manner (Caro, Kök and Martınez-
de-Albéniz 2019). It can help the retailer in understanding the value of the location and its
importance for the company. The predictive analytics can help the company in exploring the

7OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN ASDA STORES LIMITED
structured along with the unstructured data that can help in understanding the new
correlations in between the trends. It can help Asda Stores Limited in deeper understanding
of the customer data that can work to the benefit of the company. The predictive analytics can
help in gaining the loyalty of the customers. It can help in the process of crafting the
customer engagement strategies that can aid in the process of future growth of company. It
can help in making the big data relevant within the retail environment. The statistical
modelling along with the data monitoring can be used that can help the company in the arena
of the accurate forecasting. It can help in withstanding the constant readjustments which is
dictated by the data of the consumers.

8OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN ASDA STORES LIMITED
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