Exam Notes
Final Exam is 100% multiple choice questions.
70 Questions.
In January.
Week 1
What is operations Management?
A systematic way to organise, plan, control and improve processes.
Determine and rank, the operations’ long- and short-term competitive priorities (internal
performance objectives).
• Cost
• Quality
• Flexibility
• Dependability
• Speed
Centre Parcs
Who is responsible for sales?
Retail Managers, Food and Beverage Managers. Village Managers- Leisure line Managers.
Businesses inside Centre Parcs help produce further sales/ revenue past the initial
accommodation sale.
USP- Very few if any places in the UK can offer the range and quality of facilities that they
can- especially for the price.
Flexible Pricing- Supply and Demand – seasonal demand etc.
What are the types of roles at head office?
Specialist Managers: Food and Beverage, Retail, Guest Services, Special Project,
Performance. Meet every 6 weeks and discuss any present issues and longer-term
objectives.
What types of report does the Operations Director look at?
Weekly Financial reports, Weekly Guest Service reports, Capital Expenditure, Labour
Turnover.
Week 2
Winning Customers and Competing Effectively
Characteristics of Operations
Relative similarities or differences between products, processes and/ or operations.
• Volume of Output- i.e. how many products sold, or customers served.
• Variety of Product or Service Offered- i.e. does the organisations mainly produce
one type of product, such as cars, or many different types.
, • Variation in Demand- i.e. is there steady demand or is there a degree of seasonality.
• Variability- in the product or service offering, i.e. can it be customised easily.
Example- Fine Dining Restaurant vs Fast Food Restaurant
Defining The Four V’s
,Example- Airline Travel
Theory- Swift Even Flow
Only two factors are essential- these two factors are variation and the time it takes to
produce something from time to finish.
Materials and Customer Processing
, Differences between Materials Processing and Customer Processing Operations
There are 4 basic features proposed by Sasser (1978) that differentiates Customer
Processing Operations (CPO) from Materials Processing Operations (MPO):
• Intangibility- Cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard or smelt before purchase.
• Inseparability (and Simultaneity)- Customer is involved in the process. Process
happens at the same time as the customer is present.
• Heterogeneity (Variability)- Quality depends on who provides the service and when,
where and how it is provided.
• Perishability- Services cannot be stored. There can be no buffer to cope with
unexpected demand.
These compromise two elements (known as the Service Concept).
1. Customer Experience
• Personalisation of the service.
• Responsiveness.
• Flexibility of service staff.
• Ease of access.
• Friendliness of staff
• Courtesy of staff.
• The service environment (Servicescape).
2. Process Outcome
• The ‘expected’ outcome of the service.
• Value of the service to the customer.
• Emotions- e.g. delight, disappointment.
• Judgements- perceived value, fairness, loyalty etc.
This then influences future use of the process.
The Servuction Model
• A blend of ‘service’ and ‘production’.
• Operations that process customers can do so in two ways:
o Through their infrastructure, i.e. their buildings, plant and equipment.
o Through their staff.
(Or both)
This is best illustrated by the Servuction Model