OS - PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVIES AND LEARNING THE ‘LANGAUGE’ OF THE STRATEGIES, WHAT THE STRATEGIES AIM TO ACHIEVE.

Question 1

WHAT ARE OPERATIONS STRATEGIES

Answer 1

o Operations strategies are actions taken by a business designed to improve the outcomes of the operations function and processes.

Question 2

The intended outcomes of strategies include:

Answer 2

 Reduced costs
 Differentiated product/service
o The achieve of these outcomes will assist a business to achieve a competitive advantage, increase sales revenue and ultimately achieve probability.

Question 3

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES

Answer 3

o Goals that relate to the particular areas of the operations process. Businesses will develop operations strategies to try and achieve them.
o Note: they are not strategies themselves.

Question 4

The performance objectives are:

Answer 4

	Quality 
	Flexibility 
	Speed
	Customisation 
	Dependability 
	cost
o	these performance objectives can then be a set of criteria by which we can judge whether the strategies implemented have been effective

Question 5

QUALITY

Answer 5

o ‘quality’ refers to how well designed, made and functional goods are, and the degree of competence with which services are organised and delivered.
o Businesses look to improve the quality of their processes and outputs

Question 6

SPEED

Answer 6

o ‘speed’ refers to how quickly operations processes can meet market demand
o Businesses will seek to increase speed by reducing lead times (time between initiation and completion) and by reducing bottlenecks (an issue in one area of the processes that reduces speed)

Question 7

DEPENDABILITY

Answer 7

o ‘Dependability’ describes the degree of consistency and reliability of outputs in the production process i.e. how long they last. It is closely related to quality
o Businesses will seek to improve dependability

Question 8

FLEXIBILITY

Answer 8

o ‘flexibility is how quickly operations processes can respond to changes in demand without concern. It is often referred to as production capacity.
o Businesses will seek to improve flexibility in their operations

Question 9

CUSTOMISATION

Answer 9

customisation’ is the ability to tailor products and processes to meet specific customer needs.
o Customisation may come at the expense of costs as it requires individualised production processes.
o Businesses will seek to build in more customisation.

Question 10

COST

Answer 10

o ‘Cost’ refers to the expenses that the business takes on in an effort to produce and sell a good or service
o Businesses seek to minimise the costs of operations
o Reductions in cost may reduce the overall levels of quality

Question 11

PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES

Answer 11

o Businesses need to determine which objectives and the level they want to achieve in their operations processes
o Influences threaten their achievement of their objectives or provide opportunities
o A range of strategies to can be used to improve and adapt operations processes In response.