Tanglewood Stores
|Chapter | |
|1 | |
| |Competing with Operations |
Discussion Questions
1. Answering this question demonstrates that processes underlie all of our jobs. What might be surprising is how many students would put their job in the category of “other,” suggesting that many jobs do not fall neatly into any one functional area. Perhaps many in the “other” category might best be called “operations” on further reflection. Customers, both internal and external, are part of each process, and the goal is to manage the processes to add the most value for them.
2. Amazon.com offers a very broad range of services and products at competitive prices. Its competitive priorities would include fast delivery time, on-time delivery, customization, variety and low-cost operations. As a business, Amazon.com is actually assembling a customized basket of goods that must be delivered in a short window of time in a dependable fashion. Low-cost operations are needed to remain competitive. To remain in business, Amazon.com needs to maintain high volumes of traffic. Operations strategy must focus on stock availability and quick, economical, and dependable delivery.
3. The hospital’s commitment to provide attention to patients arriving to the emergency unit in less than 15 minutes and never to turn away patients who need to be hospitalized implies that the facility must be designed to have extra capacity in both beds and emergency room facilities. It must plan on having extra personnel in the emergency room and also plan on having additional emergency personnel on call to take care of unprecedented heavy loads. In line with the mission
|1 | |
| |Competing with Operations |
Discussion Questions
1. Answering this question demonstrates that processes underlie all of our jobs. What might be surprising is how many students would put their job in the category of “other,” suggesting that many jobs do not fall neatly into any one functional area. Perhaps many in the “other” category might best be called “operations” on further reflection. Customers, both internal and external, are part of each process, and the goal is to manage the processes to add the most value for them.
2. Amazon.com offers a very broad range of services and products at competitive prices. Its competitive priorities would include fast delivery time, on-time delivery, customization, variety and low-cost operations. As a business, Amazon.com is actually assembling a customized basket of goods that must be delivered in a short window of time in a dependable fashion. Low-cost operations are needed to remain competitive. To remain in business, Amazon.com needs to maintain high volumes of traffic. Operations strategy must focus on stock availability and quick, economical, and dependable delivery.
3. The hospital’s commitment to provide attention to patients arriving to the emergency unit in less than 15 minutes and never to turn away patients who need to be hospitalized implies that the facility must be designed to have extra capacity in both beds and emergency room facilities. It must plan on having extra personnel in the emergency room and also plan on having additional emergency personnel on call to take care of unprecedented heavy loads. In line with the mission