Summary Operations
Management
Book: Operations Strategy
Edition: Sixth edition
Authors: Nigel Slack & Michael Lewis
EAN: 9781292317847
,Table of contents
Chapter 1. Introduction to operations strategy ...................................................................................... 4
1.1 Why is operations excellence fundamental to strategic success? ................................................ 4
1.2 What is strategy? ........................................................................................................................... 4
1.3 What is operations strategy and how is it different from operations management? .................. 5
1.4 How should operations strategy reflect higher-level strategy (top-down)?................................. 5
1.5 How do the requirements of the market influence operations strategy (outside-in)? ................ 6
1.6 How can operations strategy learn from operations experience (bottom-up)?........................... 6
1.7 How van the intrinsic capabilities of an operation’s resources influence operations strategy
(inside-out) .......................................................................................................................................... 6
1.8 What is the difference between the ‘content’ and the process’ of operations strategy? ............ 8
1.9 How are operations strategy decisions made? ............................................................................. 9
Chapter 2. Operations performance ..................................................................................................... 10
2.1 What is meant by operations performance? .............................................................................. 10
2.2 How is operations performance judged at a societal level? ....................................................... 11
2.3 How is operations performance judged at a strategic level?...................................................... 11
2.4 How is operations performance judged at an operational level? ............................................... 12
2.5 Does the relative importance of performance objectives vary over time? ................................ 14
2.6 Do operations performance objectives trade-off against each other? ....................................... 15
2.7 What are the advantages and disadvantages of focused operations? ....................................... 16
Chapter 3. Socially responsible operations strategy ............................................................................. 19
3.1 What is corporate social responsibility ....................................................................................... 19
3.2 How does the environmental dimension of CSR affect operations strategy? ............................ 19
3.3 How does the social dimension of CSR affect operations strategy? ........................................... 20
3.4 How does the economic dimension of CSR affect operations strategy? .................................... 20
3.5 How does the stakeholder dimension of CSR affect operations strategy? ................................. 21
3.6 How does the voluntary dimension of CSR affect operations strategy?..................................... 22
3.7 How can operations mangers analyse CSR issues? ..................................................................... 22
Chapter 4. Capacity strategy ................................................................................................................. 24
4.1 What is capacity strategy? .......................................................................................................... 24
4.2 How much capacity should an operation have? ......................................................................... 24
4.3 How many separate sites should an operation have? ................................................................ 26
4.4 What issues are important when changing capacity levels ........................................................ 26
4.5 What tasks should be allocated to sites? .................................................................................... 27
4.6 Where should capacity be located? ............................................................................................ 28
Chapter 5. Purchasing and supply strategy ........................................................................................... 30
2
, 5.1 What is purchasing and supply strategy? .................................................................................... 30
5.2 What should we do and what should we buy? ........................................................................... 32
5.3 What is the role of contracts and/or relationships? ................................................................... 33
5.4 How do we manage supply dynamics? ....................................................................................... 36
5.5 How do we manage supply networks over time? ....................................................................... 37
5.6 How do we manage supply chain risks? ...................................................................................... 38
Chapter 6. Process technology strategy ................................................................................................ 39
6.1 What is process technology strategy and why is it getting more important? ............................ 39
6.2 How can process technology be characterised? ......................................................................... 40
6.3 How do market volume and variety influence process technology? .......................................... 41
6.4 How can process technology be evaluated strategically?........................................................... 44
Chapter 7. Improvement strategy ......................................................................................................... 47
7.1 What are different approaches to improvement? ...................................................................... 47
7.2 How do the needs of the market direct the ongoing development of operations processes? .. 50
7.3 How can the ongoing management and control of operations be harnessed to develop their
capabilities? ....................................................................................................................................... 53
7.4 What can operations do to deploy their capabilities into the market? ...................................... 55
Chapter 8. Product and service development and organisation........................................................... 56
8.1 What is the relationship between innovation, design and creativity? ....................................... 56
8.2 Why is the way in which companies develop their products and services so important? ......... 57
8.3 What process do companies use to develop products and services?......................................... 59
8.4 How should the effectiveness of the product and service development process be judged in
terms of fulfilling market requirements? .......................................................................................... 61
8.5 What operations resource-based decisions define a company’s product and service
development strategy? ..................................................................................................................... 63
Chapter 9. The process of operations strategy – formulation and implementation ............................ 66
9.1 What is the ‘formulation’ of operations strategy? ...................................................................... 66
9.2 What is involved in maintaining alignment over time? .............................................................. 66
9.3 What analysis is needed for formulation? .................................................................................. 68
9.4 What is operations strategy implementation? ........................................................................... 70
9.5 Who can be responsible for implementation?............................................................................ 70
Chapter 10. The process of operations strategy – monitoring and control .......................................... 73
10.1 What are the differences between operations and strategic monitoring and control? ........... 73
10.2 How is progress towards strategic objectives tracked? ............................................................ 74
10.3 How can the monitoring and control process attempt to control risks? .................................. 75
10.4 How does learning contribute to strategic control? ................................................................. 77
3
, Chapter 1. Introduction to operations strategy
1.1 Why is operations excellence fundamental to strategic success?
Operations managers are responsible for managing interacting sets of issues:
- Resources (materials, information, people, buildings etc. to best fulfil the organisation’s
objectives);
- Processes (how are resources organised to best create the required mix of products and
services)?
Figure 1.2
Operations, networks and ‘level of analysis’
Network: group of two or more sets of resources linked together.
Networks can describe operations activity of many different types at many different levels of
analysis:
- At a detailed microlevel: networks of individual units of resources (technology and people) from
processes
- Slightly higher, level of analysis, these processes themselves are linked together to form larger
operational units that again, are the elements of what is generally called ‘the operation’ (HRM,
Finance etc.)
- Higher level of analysis, any operations can also be viewed as part of a greater network of
operations, ‘the supply network’
Three levels of analysis, hierarchy of operations:
- The level of process: a network of individual units of resources
- The level of ‘operations’: a network of processes
- The level of supply network: a network of operations
Not all operations are the same
All operations and processes differ in some way and so will need managing differently.
Four V’s: four characteristics of demand that have significant effect on how processes need to be
managed:
- Volume
- Variety
- Variation
- Visibility
Figure 1.4
1.2 What is strategy?
Strategy:
- Setting broad objectives that direct and enterprise towards its overall goal
- Planning the path that will achieve these goals
4
Management
Book: Operations Strategy
Edition: Sixth edition
Authors: Nigel Slack & Michael Lewis
EAN: 9781292317847
,Table of contents
Chapter 1. Introduction to operations strategy ...................................................................................... 4
1.1 Why is operations excellence fundamental to strategic success? ................................................ 4
1.2 What is strategy? ........................................................................................................................... 4
1.3 What is operations strategy and how is it different from operations management? .................. 5
1.4 How should operations strategy reflect higher-level strategy (top-down)?................................. 5
1.5 How do the requirements of the market influence operations strategy (outside-in)? ................ 6
1.6 How can operations strategy learn from operations experience (bottom-up)?........................... 6
1.7 How van the intrinsic capabilities of an operation’s resources influence operations strategy
(inside-out) .......................................................................................................................................... 6
1.8 What is the difference between the ‘content’ and the process’ of operations strategy? ............ 8
1.9 How are operations strategy decisions made? ............................................................................. 9
Chapter 2. Operations performance ..................................................................................................... 10
2.1 What is meant by operations performance? .............................................................................. 10
2.2 How is operations performance judged at a societal level? ....................................................... 11
2.3 How is operations performance judged at a strategic level?...................................................... 11
2.4 How is operations performance judged at an operational level? ............................................... 12
2.5 Does the relative importance of performance objectives vary over time? ................................ 14
2.6 Do operations performance objectives trade-off against each other? ....................................... 15
2.7 What are the advantages and disadvantages of focused operations? ....................................... 16
Chapter 3. Socially responsible operations strategy ............................................................................. 19
3.1 What is corporate social responsibility ....................................................................................... 19
3.2 How does the environmental dimension of CSR affect operations strategy? ............................ 19
3.3 How does the social dimension of CSR affect operations strategy? ........................................... 20
3.4 How does the economic dimension of CSR affect operations strategy? .................................... 20
3.5 How does the stakeholder dimension of CSR affect operations strategy? ................................. 21
3.6 How does the voluntary dimension of CSR affect operations strategy?..................................... 22
3.7 How can operations mangers analyse CSR issues? ..................................................................... 22
Chapter 4. Capacity strategy ................................................................................................................. 24
4.1 What is capacity strategy? .......................................................................................................... 24
4.2 How much capacity should an operation have? ......................................................................... 24
4.3 How many separate sites should an operation have? ................................................................ 26
4.4 What issues are important when changing capacity levels ........................................................ 26
4.5 What tasks should be allocated to sites? .................................................................................... 27
4.6 Where should capacity be located? ............................................................................................ 28
Chapter 5. Purchasing and supply strategy ........................................................................................... 30
2
, 5.1 What is purchasing and supply strategy? .................................................................................... 30
5.2 What should we do and what should we buy? ........................................................................... 32
5.3 What is the role of contracts and/or relationships? ................................................................... 33
5.4 How do we manage supply dynamics? ....................................................................................... 36
5.5 How do we manage supply networks over time? ....................................................................... 37
5.6 How do we manage supply chain risks? ...................................................................................... 38
Chapter 6. Process technology strategy ................................................................................................ 39
6.1 What is process technology strategy and why is it getting more important? ............................ 39
6.2 How can process technology be characterised? ......................................................................... 40
6.3 How do market volume and variety influence process technology? .......................................... 41
6.4 How can process technology be evaluated strategically?........................................................... 44
Chapter 7. Improvement strategy ......................................................................................................... 47
7.1 What are different approaches to improvement? ...................................................................... 47
7.2 How do the needs of the market direct the ongoing development of operations processes? .. 50
7.3 How can the ongoing management and control of operations be harnessed to develop their
capabilities? ....................................................................................................................................... 53
7.4 What can operations do to deploy their capabilities into the market? ...................................... 55
Chapter 8. Product and service development and organisation........................................................... 56
8.1 What is the relationship between innovation, design and creativity? ....................................... 56
8.2 Why is the way in which companies develop their products and services so important? ......... 57
8.3 What process do companies use to develop products and services?......................................... 59
8.4 How should the effectiveness of the product and service development process be judged in
terms of fulfilling market requirements? .......................................................................................... 61
8.5 What operations resource-based decisions define a company’s product and service
development strategy? ..................................................................................................................... 63
Chapter 9. The process of operations strategy – formulation and implementation ............................ 66
9.1 What is the ‘formulation’ of operations strategy? ...................................................................... 66
9.2 What is involved in maintaining alignment over time? .............................................................. 66
9.3 What analysis is needed for formulation? .................................................................................. 68
9.4 What is operations strategy implementation? ........................................................................... 70
9.5 Who can be responsible for implementation?............................................................................ 70
Chapter 10. The process of operations strategy – monitoring and control .......................................... 73
10.1 What are the differences between operations and strategic monitoring and control? ........... 73
10.2 How is progress towards strategic objectives tracked? ............................................................ 74
10.3 How can the monitoring and control process attempt to control risks? .................................. 75
10.4 How does learning contribute to strategic control? ................................................................. 77
3
, Chapter 1. Introduction to operations strategy
1.1 Why is operations excellence fundamental to strategic success?
Operations managers are responsible for managing interacting sets of issues:
- Resources (materials, information, people, buildings etc. to best fulfil the organisation’s
objectives);
- Processes (how are resources organised to best create the required mix of products and
services)?
Figure 1.2
Operations, networks and ‘level of analysis’
Network: group of two or more sets of resources linked together.
Networks can describe operations activity of many different types at many different levels of
analysis:
- At a detailed microlevel: networks of individual units of resources (technology and people) from
processes
- Slightly higher, level of analysis, these processes themselves are linked together to form larger
operational units that again, are the elements of what is generally called ‘the operation’ (HRM,
Finance etc.)
- Higher level of analysis, any operations can also be viewed as part of a greater network of
operations, ‘the supply network’
Three levels of analysis, hierarchy of operations:
- The level of process: a network of individual units of resources
- The level of ‘operations’: a network of processes
- The level of supply network: a network of operations
Not all operations are the same
All operations and processes differ in some way and so will need managing differently.
Four V’s: four characteristics of demand that have significant effect on how processes need to be
managed:
- Volume
- Variety
- Variation
- Visibility
Figure 1.4
1.2 What is strategy?
Strategy:
- Setting broad objectives that direct and enterprise towards its overall goal
- Planning the path that will achieve these goals
4
