Generic strategies Essays

Generic strategies Essays Generic strategies Paper Generic strategies Paper Operations managements main aim is to identify a common set of objectives such that the organisation can deploy its resources and capabilities to produce goods and services for internal and external customers. Operational management not only supports operational efficiency, but it also provides a potential source of strategic competitive advantage and it explains how operations strategy influences the activities of operations managers. Porters three generic strategies broadly define a process through which these common set of objectives can be found. However, these strategies are mutually exclusive as Porter emphasises the need to only adopt one strategy and failure to do so will result in a stuck in the middle (Porter , 1980) scenario. He discusses the idea that practising more than one strategy will lose the entire focus of the organisation hence a clear direction for a future path cannot be established. Operations Strategy  The changing business environment over the last century has prompted operations management to change the pattern of decisions and actions that were intended to achieve its long-term goals. Increased cost-based competition, demands for better service, choice and variety, increased ethical awareness and more legal regulations (Slack et al., 2004, p.8) have led to the globalisation of operations networking, technologies replacing manual jobs, computer-based integration of operations activities, mass customisation, fast time-to-market methods and lean process design. From the volume of output, variety of output, variation in demand for output and the degree of visibility of production that customers have, four trade-offs and two linkages have become apparent. The evolution of these trade-offs and linkages are a major part of the progression of world class manufacturing from the Industrial Revolution to where it stands today. : Though Hayes and Wheelwright had coined the term world class, Womack et al. (1990) more accurately described the status of becoming world class as the ability cut the usage of all factor inputs and still maintain a high level of output. With the development of world class manufacturing two views of operations strategy emerged. One which highlighted the planned corporate strategy and unitary managerial power concepts as decisions were made from the top levels of management and were enforced on all the employees, and the other, which saw corporate strategy transpire from empowering individuals and drawing ideas from day-to-day operational experiences. As the perception of manufacturing changed due to the introduction of new processes such as the lean design model and new innovative technologies that helped supply chains, the four trade-offs became more distinct. Prior to Henry Fords introduction of the automated assembly line, American manufacturers had already extended the basic economic principles of Adam Smith and used jigs to make standardised products, from which the notion of using interchangeable parts to facilitate assembling complex products arose. This led to a substitution from non-skilled labour basic-skilled labour capable of operating the new contraptions. The second trade-off between volume and variety came to light after firms were able increase output and cut long run average costs by investing in capital and firing workers. However, firms had to make an executive decision at this point as to whether they were going to stick to producing low volume, high variety products or use the emergent manufacturing techniques to produce low variety products en masse. The third trade-off between quality and cost has a similar optimisation problem to the setup and inventory costs. The optimal quality level of output is when total costs are minimised and the cost of failures is relatively low. Japanese car company Toyota is a prime example of the last trade-off between setup costs and inventory costs. Using the kanban card controlling system, parts of the manufacturing process are only allowed to produce goods when they have received notification on the kanbans stating that orders have been placed. Even though this method significantly reduces inventory costs, it would only be successful if the manufacturing processes were quick enough to deal with demand responses and able to assemble goods to sell within a short time after the kanban had been written. The just-in-time method of manufacturing employed by Toyota is that of the bottom-up operations strategy defined earlier. The demand for the product is pulled through the system rather than basing product stock on estimated sales projections that have been calculated on previous sales and trends. It is an approach which differs from traditional operations practices insomuch as is stresses waste elimination and fast throughput, both of which contribute to low inventories. A comparison of the just-in-time and materials requirement planning system will show the influence of Porters generic strategies on operations strategy in general. Porters generic strategies  In the economic analysis of the theory of the firm, the key feature of a monopoly is that it faces an imperfectly elastic, downward sloping demand curve whereas in perfect competition, the elasticity of demand was infinite. A good way to escape an infinite elasticity problem is to differentiate a product such that there arent any close substitutes. Hayes and Pisano (1994) mirrored this by stating that long term success requires that a company continually seeks new ways to differentiate itself from competitors by finding sources of competitive advantage and focusing on core competencies that were unique to the firm. Product differentiation is the first of Porters three generic strategies and it fulfils a distinctive customer need by specifically tailoring the service or product to consumer to demand, thus allowing organisations to charge a premium price to capture market share. Hoover Limited effectively implemented this strategy by providing a product of superior value to the customer through product quality, features and branding. They were able to charge a higher price as the quality was perceived on a brand name and image, to the extent that Hoover became a household nameknown worldwide as a maker of quality appliances (About Hoover) and consumers now use the word Hoover and vacuum cleaner interchangeably. With product differentiation, firms choose quality and variety, whereas Porters alternative strategy of cost leadership focuses on low cost and volume. By producing high volumes of standardised products the firm emphasises efficiency, benefits from economies of scale and learning from the experience curve effects. In terms of mass manufacturing using the materials requirements planning strategy, cost leadership was a definitive means of keeping a considerable market share advantage over the other incumbents in the industry. Low-cost airlines are a prime example of providing a service solely based on giving consumers the lowest fares to travel from one location to another. Cost leadership became a means of product differentiation as firms such as Ryanair and EasyJets main selling point was the fact that they provide low quality, low service, and budget air travel for a fraction of the price.  When just-in-time technique was established, cost leadership was still a harbinger for corporate strategy in the manufacturing industry as Toyota were adamant to reduce inventory costs because they did not have the capital to store cars and compete with General Motors and Ford. This method is very popular in other industries such as retail, where the sudden growth of Primark is due to the fact that it can supply high-street clothing on demand in a limited time period. Product differentiation and cost leadership remained in the broad manufacturing market scope as two of the best strategies to follow when making decisions about operational strategy. The resource based view and use of core competencies that were valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable suggests that operations strategy evolved from the ideas that firms either concentrated on cost or quality. Conclusions Research on profits accrued due to the implementation of various market strategies showed that firms with higher market shares were as profitable as those with low market share. Porterian analysis indicates that firms that pursued a cost leadership strategy as an initial strategy for operations strategy were successful as they captured large market shares due to their low priced products. Firms with low market share were successful as they used market segmentation to focus on a small but profitable market niche. Those stuck in the middle however were less profitable as they did not have an initial viable generic strategy to guide the operations management of the firm to implement specific operations strategies. Bibliography and references About Hoover, The Hoover Generation Future, hoover.co.uk/about-us/ Hayes, R.H. and Pisano, G.P. (Jan-Feb 1994) Beyond world-class: the new manufacturing strategy, Harvard Business Review, 72 (1) Porter, M. (1980) Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, Free Press

Behaviorism essays

Behaviorism essays Behaviorism is a school of psychology and theoretical viewpoint that emphasizes the scientific study of observable behaviors, especially as they pertain to the process of learning. That is the text book definition of behaviorism, my definition in my own words is, doing something that causes a response in someone or something, and by doing it enough times causes a constant reaction every time in the person or thing. John Watson founded behaviorism in the early 1900's. Watson emphasized the scientific study of observable behaviors rather then the study of subjective mental process. The behavioral theory dominated psychology for more then 50 years. Hockenbury and Hockenbury (170) Watson believed that as much as Pavlov's dogs reflexively salivated to food, human emotions could be thought of as reflexive responses involving the muscles and glands. In studies with infants Watson identified 3 emotions that he believed represented inborn and natural unconditioned reflexes, fear, rage, and love. According to Watson each of these emotions could be triggered by a stimuli. For example he found 2 stimuli that triggered fear, a sudden loud noise or sudden dropping A prime example of this is when you have a new puppy and you are training it To sit. Because he is just a puppy it will have no idea what the command "sit" is. So you Will have to teach it what the command means. When you give the command to the puppy you will push his butt down and show him what he is suppose to do when he hears the command. You will have to do this a few times until the dog gets used to it. Every time you give the command and the puppy follows it, you reward him for his Actions, either with a treat or pet and praise him. If the puppy doesn't follow the command you give him negative attention such as spank, or yell at him. Soon enough the dog will realize that every time I follow my masters command I get praised, but ...

Employee telecommuting is good for companies because it helps to Essay

Employee telecommuting is good for companies because it helps to conserve energy, protects the environment (because there are le - Essay Example Telecommuting, e-commuting or Working from Home (WFH) is a new concept in the marketplace. â€Å"Telecommuting is the act of working at a remote location, usually at home, rather than traveling to and from an office. Telecommuters typically telecommute one to three days a week and commute to the office for the balance of the time† (Boyd, 1996: para.1). In this new work arrangement, the employees use telecommunication technology to commute with their work place. What enabled telecommuting was the invention of portable computers and wireless-based networks. Such devices make it possible for anyone to work anywhere seamlessly without the need to plug into an electric outlet for power or cabled internet connection. The benefits of this new use of technology are huge. With telecommuting, organizations have reported up to 30% reduction in overhead expenses when they schedule their employees telecommuting days appropriately. They have consequently reduced their office space requireme nts and rents by requiring the telecommuting employees to share desks and other resources and facilities in the company offices (Boyd,1996). Now, anyone can work from any wireless hotspot place such as cafes and airport lounges (Clark, n.d.).Moreover, the convenience for employees and the benefits of telecommuting to the entire society are immense. Telecommuting is more economical not only for organizations but also for employees who save a lot of money on transportation allowances, clothing and food spent on lunch or snacks outside the home. Companies not only save on rent, by getting smaller offices, but also on electric and water utilities, having less people reporting for work. Taking away the time commuting to and from the office adds up to time available for actual work. This is appreciated more in areas where traffic can be very congested, with employees spending hours idle in their cars instead of doing tasks on the job. Telecommuters are more flexible in scheduling their ac tual work time during their most effective periods and around the other demands in their lives, rendering them to be more productive in the long run (Boyd, 1996). Working from home enables employees to spend more time with their families and schedule work around their duties such as attending parent meetings in their children’s schools or simply helping them out with their homework. Single parents and especially single mothers find it very hard to work in conventional working places due to unavailability of child care while they are at work. With telecommuting they find it much easier to give time to their families and work at the same time (Managing Telework: Options for Managing the Virtual Workforce, 1998). Because the possibility of merging work and home duties is most likely for telecommuters, self-discipline and organizational competencies need to take the upper hand. Telecommuting serves as insurance that work is continued in the comfort of one’s home. There can be several factors for work stoppage caused by external events – bad weather, medical emergencies, etc. Even if an employee relocates for personal reasons, he can still maintain employment by working where he is and submitting work online. When the employee is sick with minor illnesses, they can still do work from home without risking the health of their colleagues at work. Other occurrences such as