Needs for trade- offs - business strategy, Operation Management

Assignment Help:

Needs for Trade- offs - Business Strategy

In recent years another reason for questioning the need for trade-offs has arisen. In manufacturing industries great efforts have been expended in developing process technologies, and in particular the application of computers, to create production systems capable of mass customisation. Unlike a mass production system, which produces a standard product at low cost, a mass customisation system would produce 'specials' (traditionally the province of the high-cost job shop) at similar low cost. Such a system has been developed by Levi Strauss, the jeans manufacturer, allowing customers to have their jeans made to measure.

The customer's sizes are sent electronically to the factory, where a computer-driven production system automatically produces the jeans to the specified sizes. A few days later the customer may collect the jeans. Impressive though such technology may be, it raises issues. What then to measure? Ideally, the measures chosen will relate directly to the business qualifiers and order winners. However, care is required in the choice of operations performance measures; the order winners themselves may be inappropriate. For example, consider a business which has identified low price as the prime order winner. Price is an external (market) variable, which may rise or fall for reasons other than operational performance eg in response to competitors' pricing, sales promotions, seasonal price variations, etc. It would be unreasonable to measure the week-to-week performance of operations personnel on the basis of such a variable, which can change substantially for reasons outwith their control. What is needed is an internal (operational) variable, relevant to the order winner concerned: in the case of price it might be appropriate to measure unit cost, labour productivity or equipment utilisation.


Related Discussions:- Needs for trade- offs - business strategy

Explain how you would mitigate each risk identified, Imagine you are consid...

Imagine you are considering opening a specialty pet store in your area. Create a list of the five most significant risks that you must address prior to making your decision regardi

Define why is it deemed necessary to protect the environment, Why is it dee...

Why is it deemed necessary to protect the environment? What does it mean to society? To business? To the individual? To future populations?

Explain what is your personal entrepreneurial strategy, 1. Who was Ewing Ma...

1. Who was Ewing Marion Kauffman, what did he do, and what was his philosophy of entrepreneurial leadership? 2. What is the difference between a manager and a leader? 3. Defi

Sunshine enterprises case study answers, what is the average value of loyal...

what is the average value of loyal customer at abby''s restaurants?

Explain total quality improvement organizational downsizing, Analyze how ea...

Analyze how each has changed healthcare delivery on both the macro and micro levels. Provide specific examples of how both macro and micro impacts/changes: Total quality improvemen

Operation management, Please help me in getting answer for the following qu...

Please help me in getting answer for the following question, please send me your answer to Question : 18 carpets were observed closely and the number of defects in their texture

Explain panel interviewing and its strengths and weaknesses, You're going t...

You're going to have to stretch your imagination for this question:. Assume you're involved in a panel interview team. Identify one strength and one weakness in this interview appr

Explain how would this change of currency affect, When the Zagat, a leading...

When the Zagat, a leading provider of leisme-hased survey results, released its San Francisco Restaurants Survey, it marked the 25th year that Zagat Survey reported on diners and t

Explain most apprenticeship programs are in skilled trades, 1. Which one of...

1. Which one of the following statements is NOT true of apprenticeships? Most apprenticeship programs are in the skilled trades. A major advantage of apprenticeships is the a

Write Your Message!

Captcha
Free Assignment Quote

Assured A++ Grade

Get guaranteed satisfaction & time on delivery in every assignment order you paid with us! We ensure premium quality solution document along with free turntin report!

All rights reserved! Copyrights ©2019-2020 ExpertsMind IT Educational Pvt Ltd