business operations Flashcards
supply chain-
all the businesses and firms involved in making a final product/service
important factors when picking suppliers
- quality- consistant, customers will associate bad quality with the business not the supplier
- reliability-
- availability- affect the production process
- delivery
- price
procurement
- finding and buying things a business needs
flow production
- all products are identical
- produce as many as possible
- productivity will be higher
- continuous
how to manage a supply chain
- good relationship with suppliers
- finding the best price and value
- reducing waste and unnescasary costs
job production
- making one thing at a time
- individual and unique products
job production positives and negatives
- unique designe based on customer specification means highly skilled labour
- time consuming lower productivity
- higher costs due to skilled workers - higher wages unable to economies of scale
- unit costs will be higher
- higher costs = higher prices – higher profits
advantages of technological advancements
- technology can be quicker and more accurate than humans
- more consistant quality
- longterm– cheaper
disadvantages of technological advancements
- expensive to buy and install
- staff need to be traines to use
- staff can lose jobs- demotivation- loss productivity
Just-In-Time
- products are made just in time
- form of lean production
Just-In-Time advantages
- reduces cost of having to keep stock
- stock is less likely to go to waste
- helps cash flow wont be delay in between buying supplies and selling the products
Just-In-Time disadvantages
- a lot of coordination
- could run out
- small quantities- no economies of scale
Just-In-Case- advantages
- can meet sudden increases in demand as there is spare stock
- lower risk if there is a problem with the supplier
Just-In-Case- disadvantages
- holds stock that might go out of date or need to have price reduced to sell
- higher stockholding costs as it hold stocks just in case an increaase in demand or if theres a problem with the suppliers
how firms measure the quality
- csn specify the physical properties
- monitor the amount of returns
- carry out customer surveys
how to do quality control
- checking raw materials
- randfom samples- work in progress
- random samples-finished products
total quality management
- making quality the responsibility of every employee in a firm
- getting things right the first time
- emphasis on the quality of after sales service + quality of prodcution -increase customer satisfaction
- time to introduce and workers need training
rapid growth makes quality harder to maintain-
- expensive to do quality inspections
- overwhelmed by orders- cutting corners
maintaining quality benefits
- customers may be more prepared to pay a higher price for better quality products
- if customers are more pleased with a product there may be repeat purchases
maintaining quality costs
- staff need to do their job properly
- need to be inspected to check wuality
failing to maintain quality
- disrupted provision of services
- product recalls
sales process
- finding potential customers
- approaching potential customers
- assessing customer needs
- presenting
- closing
- follow up
good service in sales process
- excellent product knowledge
- engaging with the customer
- quick and efficient customer service
- post sales service
- customer feedback
benefits of good customer service
- higher customer satisfaction
- more loyal customers- repeat buying
- spend more at the company
drawbacks of poor customer service
- dissatisfied customers
- less loyal- bad brand image
customer service methods
1) websites and e-commerce
- easier for customers to buy
- FAQ
2) social media
- communication and sharing content
- quick and easy to set up- cheaper positive brand image
