S+M Flashcards

Question

Explain how buyers priorities change over the life cycle

Answer 1

Introduction: * Price and risk are high. Only a small number of buyers will gain sufficient benefit to justify purchase. Growth * Price and risk have fallen. A larger number of buyers will benefit Mature * Risks are almost non existent although cost of change. Benefits tend to exceed risks Decline * Cost of change is not yet balanced by benefits. Benefits fall as there are better substitute technology.

Answer 2

Capital goods * Inital purchase trigger * external vs internal triggers * business and personal drivers * Information gathering * Selection process * Purchase transaction * Post purchase experience Consumables * Purchase transaction * Post purchase experience The purchase of consumables is typically a two-step process, provided that the post-purchase experience is good

Answer 3

* Quality * Availability/Delivery * Design * Serivce/Support * Price * Warranties

Answer 4

If buyers choose the channel first, you need a PUSH strategy focussed on the distributor If buyers choose the brand first, you need a PULL strategy focussed on the end user

Answer 5

Early stages: * Buyers look for support and education * Propositions are bundled together into a packaged solution * Propositions are widely differing in quality and function * Prices are not easily comparable Later stages: * Buyers look for low cost channels and efficiency of supply * Propositions are available as individual components * Propositions are similar quality and function * Prices are easily compared

Answer 6

Knowledge of the technology passes from the seller to the buyer during the evolution of a market * Proposition * Application * Brand * Reinforcement Marketing to * Innovators: concentrate on product features and benefits * Early adopters: business breakthroughs product achieves * Early majority: emphasise reputation, track record, industry alliances, market leadership * Late majority: focus on brand *

Answer 7

* long term goals * objectives * adoption of course of action * allocation of resources

Answer 8

* Operations has to cope with the clash between the nature of external markets and the nature of internal resources * Operational resources are: difficult to change, technically constrained and complex * Market requirements are: dynamic, heterogeneous and ambiguous Therefore: operations strategy reconciles the requirements of the market with the capabilities of operational resources. **Market:** Performance objectives * Customer needs (competitive priorities) * Market positioning * Competitor's actions **Resources and processes** Operations strategy decision areas * Tangible/Intangible resources * Operations capabilities * Operation processes Understanding processes, activities, capabilities, and resource is an essential part of an operations strategy. A company can achieve a sustainable competitive advantage through constantly reconfiguring its processes, activities, capabilities, resources, and coordination mechanisms to deliver superior performance.

Answer 9

Order winners: * Performance objectives which directly and significantly contribute to winning businesses from customers * Considered by customers as key reasons for purchasing a product or service Order qualifiers: * Important but are not major competitive determinants * Must be at some “threshold” level to be considered by the customer * Further improvement beyond “threshold level” unlikely to result in competitive benefit

Answer 10

* Quality * Speed * Dependability * Flexiblity * Cost

Answer 11

Coordination is all about the management of resources. Mintzberg (1979) identifies six coordination mechanisms: 1. Mutual adjustment * Coordination of work is made possible by a process of informal communication between people conducting interdependent work. 2. Direct supervision * Coordination is achieved by one individual taking responsibility for the work of others. 3. Standardisation of work processes * Coordination is made possible by specifying the work content in rules or routines to be followed. Coordination occurs before the activity is undertaken. 4. Standardization of output * Coordination is obtained by the communication and clarification of expected results. The individual actions required to obtain a goal are not prescribed. 5. Standardization of skills and knowledge * Coordination is reached through specified and standardised training and education. People are trained to know what to expect of each other and coordinate in almost automatic fashion. 6. Standardisation of norms * Norms are standardized, socialization is used to establish common values and beliefs in order for people work toward common expectations.

Answer 12

Capacity structure: * capacity, number of sites, allocation of tasks, location, focus and segmentation Supply network: * make or buy, customer & supplier relationship, supply chain dynamics Process technology: * development rate, automation, integration, in/out house development Development and organisation: * NPI, organisation structure, performance and control, process development

Answer 13

Structural: require significant investment & have a long-term impact. They refer to decisions about capacity, location, technology & vertical integration/relationships with suppliers. They have a significant effect on physical assets, & once they have been implemented, they cannot be modified in the short term Infrastructural: have a short-term impact & serve to support the production processes. They include the organizational structure work force management; & the systems for planning, stock control & quality management.

Answer 14

Position driven: * Understand markets * Define competitive position * State market requirements in terms of operations performance objectives * Make strategic operations decisions * To enhance core capabilities Resource driven: * Understand resources and processes * Identify core capabilities * Make appropriate strategic operations decisions * Define market potential of operational performance * Determine competitive position

Answer 15

* Learn more about your audience * Create a personal relationship between brand and consumer * Improved customer service * Reach new audiences locally and globally * An affordable way to increase brand awareness * Establish your business as an industry leader and inform * Influencers

Answer 16

* Determine your target audience * Understand the buyer journey * Awareness, Familiarisation, Consideration, Purchase, Loyalty * Choose the right social media channel and own it * Design your content to best project your brands voice * Set your metrics, goals and expectations up front * Continually review the process

Answer 17

A pattern of decisions, both structural and infrastructural, which determine the capability of a business and specify how it will operate to meet the manufacturing objectives which have been derived from the business objectives. The decision areas are in the structural and infrastructural categories, and as given by Hayes and Wheelwright are: Structural * Facilities - size, location, specialisation * Capacity - amount, timing, type * Span of Process - vertical integration, make or buy * Process - the transformation processes and the way in which they are organised Infrastructural * Control Policies - production/inventory control, decision making * Human Resources - recruiting, training, motivating * Quality - defect prevention, monitoring, intervention * Suppliers - sourcing policies, supplier relationships * New Product Introduction - how to manage all the above when introducing new products * Performance Measurement -how to measure the above Weak answers gave an approximate version of the definition (covered in lectures), and an incomplete list and explanation of the decision areas. Better/good answers were fuller and more accurate, and excellent answers expanded on the concept of ‘fit’ and other implications of strategy formulation.

Answer 18

* A good discussion covered the role of performance measurement in manufacturing strategy (see above), in driving behaviour (you get what you measure), and the means to link measures to strategy. * A key aspect in a manufacturing business is the **fit between the choices** made in the **decision areas,** and the **competitive criteria** (cost quality, delivery, flexibility and product features). * Thus the matching of market requirements and manufacturing performance is very important, and should drive the choice of appropriate measures. * Better answers also explored the means to set up effective measures (and measurement systems), such as use of success mapping and the measures design template. Giving good examples of three possible measures for the proposed sectors, requires consideration of the competitive priorities in each sector, and some rational speculation as to the firm’s objectives. Good answers were thoughtful (ie giving evidence of the rationale) rather than prescriptive about this choice, and could make reference to the need for balance in measures, as exemplified by techniques such as the balanced scorecard. Possible answers could include the following suggestions: * Passenger airliners: Delivery to schedule, cost and quality (safe operation) are all key requirements, and measures should focus on these aspects of the manufacturing operation. Good students could reason further as to what this could mean for factory operations. * Fresh (short date life) food: Flexible (responsive to demand) capacity, quality (hygiene, food safety) and cost (efficient operations) are all requirements in a competitive sector with low barriers to entry. The sector is generally characterised by labour intensive processes, and measures which relate to operator performance and motivation could be expected. * Steel making: In this sector international competition is very severe, and cost and efficiency (yield, energy usage) are paramount factors. Labour costs are a small part of the overall cost, so measures will be geared to asset utilisation and yield. At the same time, operator safety is critical (inherently dangerous operations) and accident monitoring and reporting will be prominent. A common mis-alignment of answers, compared to the question, was to address performance measurement in the context of operations strategy, rather than manufacturing strategy (similar, but not the same).

Answer 19

Increasing data availability opens up new opportunities and challenges for firms. A basic answer defined big data in terms of the 3 (or possibly 4) V’s: * - Increasing volume of data – with greater digitalisation and increasing use of connected devices the volume of data available is growing. A common quote is that 80% of the data that exists today was created in the last two years. * - Increasing variety of data – the sources of data available to organisations are increasing significantly. In addition to operational and transactional data, firms are able to access data from social media (Twitter and Facebook) to develop insights into customer services. * - Increasing velocity of data – the speed at which data is made available increases as the number of connected devices grows. * - Some commentators mention a fourth V – veracity – questioning the underlying quality or validity of the data generated. In addition to commenting on the 4V’s, some students explained how increasing availability of data makes it easier to measure a wider range of things – both operational measures as well as new ways of generating customer insight. More complete answers explored the challenges of big data. In particular they commented on the phenomenon of “drowning in data” – with firms struggling to make sense of the data they have access to. Some also commented on ethical and social issues associated with increasingly connected datasets – in particular when data sets are connected and therefore reveal deep personal and individual insights. The best answers explored the multiple roles of measurement, recognising the distinction between measurement as a control system and measurement as a learning system. Students could comment on Chris Argyris’ concept of single versus double loop learning. Single loop learning is a classic control loop – targets are set, progress is monitored and corrective action is taken if the target is likely to be missed. In double loop learning the “system” will challenge the target itself, asking whether it is valid. Big data offers opportunities to use measurement as a learning system and therefore to explore relationships between different dimensions of performance, thus challenging managers assumptions.

Answer 20

Strategy is the determination of long term goals and allocation of resources and course of action needed to complete these. Good students may provide a definition and then explain the strategy concept referring to the five Ps for strategy by Mintzberg (Plan, Ploy, Pattern, Position, Perspective). Answers from good students will show the students have understood that strategies have a typical time horizon of 3-5 years, in contrast to operational tactics (e.g. production planning) with a shorter time horizon and normative long term plans (e.g. corporate policies) with an even longer time horizon. Good answers will also discuss two strategy types or rather extremes (deliberate strategy vs emergent strategy)with the real strategy somewhere between these; maybe even providing an illustration. Excellent students will further distinguish different levels of strategy, such as corporate, business unit and function strategies, where technology and marketing strategiesshould be considered as functional strategies.

Answer 21

Technology strategy * Technology strategy focuses on the planning of future technology generations to enable product and service innovations, * Link to the ISAEP framework, shortly explaining each of the ISAEP elements. * Factors influencing choice of a technology strategy, * technology intensive vs contingent company, with examples. * Different technology types and their role in the technology strategy * disruptive vs sustaining * base, key, pacing, emerging. * Firms’ considerations for make or buy decisions, * The extent to which a technology strategy is open vs. closed. * Different tools for developing a technology strategy, such as roadmapping.

Answer 22

Marketing strategy * can support the product / service and technology roadmaps with long term marketing activities. * Framework to be discussed would be the 7P (product, price, place, promotion, people, process, physical evidence). * Discuss the importance of brand management within the context or a marketing strategy.

Answer 23

* Strategic fit concept. Different types of strategies within a firm, such as * Corporate, business (unit) and function levels, and the degree to which they are aligned in order to achieve common goals * Often dictated by the highest strategies (e.g. corporate strategy). * All strategies should complement each other. Please note, even in manufacturing companies it is not the manufacturing strategy that drives what a manufacturing company does. * The concept of strategic alignment is rather generic and encompassing, therefore it is considered insufficient to only narrow the answer to a few selected strategies. * Roadmaps can be integrated and linked together to enable coordination across different organizational levels * thus alignment of strategies at different levels (vertically) and/or functions (horizontally). * Examples illustrating how strategies, (marketing and innovation strategies) can be aligned. * Marketing to innovators (product features), early adopters (benefits), early majority (reputation), late majority (cost justification) The questions was focused on internal strategy alignment, but one may also discuss the concept of strategic alignment for aligning multiple partners’ strategies, e.g. in joint ventures, innovation cooperation projects. * Good answers will then continue with a discussion of a few problems of strategic alignment. These may include, but are not restricted to * different targets of different units, * communication, * flexibility, * organizational structure, * culture and people, * ambition and scope and performance measures. The discussion of problems should be substantiated by examples, such as Riversimple, the VW Beatle. * The distinction between alignment on the strategic level vs the organizational implementation of alignment, e.g. processes and routines. * Dynamics of strategy, e.g. industry evolution and the consequences for different strategies. Excellent answers may also refer to theoretical concepts explicitly, possibly even referencing these, e.g. resource based view, and use contradicting theoretical views to discuss the related challenges. When discussing specific challenges in detail, excellent answer may not only provide examples, but may discuss possible solutions, i.e. tools for aligning strategies. Please note, the question did not ask to explain how a strategy can be developed!

Answer 24

Basic answer should describe the five common operation performance metrics presented below, and be able to expand upon each one of these as shown in the example for ‘quality’ below: Stronger answers would present a summary table or description of how these factors and dimensions from the specific context for the company given in the question. E.g. a version of the example given in the lectures for a Steel Mill as shown below: