Business Strategy and Operations Management Essentials

Posted on May 3, 2025 in Business Administration and Management (BAM)

Strategic Planning Framework

Mission, Vision, and Strategic Perspectives

  • Strategic Perspectives: Financial, Customer, Internal Processes, Organizational Capacity
  • Strategic Themes & Results
  • Strategic Objectives
  • Strategy Map
  • Measures
  • Targets
  • Initiatives

Control Levers

  • Belief System
  • Boundary System
  • Diagnostic Control System
  • Interactive Control System

Strategic Process Steps

  1. Analysis & Strategic Diagnosis: Internal and external analysis, mission and vision, strategic diagnosis
  2. Decision Making: Strategic alternatives, strategic objectives (SOs) & strategic initiatives (SIs), financial coherence
  3. Implementation & Continuous Improvement: Development of action plans, execution, monitoring and control, correction of deviations

Changes and Keys in Management

  • Social Responsibility
  • Services
  • Less separation between goods and services
  • Key role of new information technologies

Operations Management in a Global Environment

Global Integration & Local Responsibility

  • Strategies: International, Global, Multidomestic, Transnational

Characteristics of Strategic Initiatives (SIs)

  • Long-term oriented
  • Brief and unequivocal (understandable)
  • Shared by owner and management
  • Consistent and provided with resources
  • Coherent with business culture

Strategy and Operations Decisions

Analysis Levels

  • Company
  • Industry
  • Environment

Strategy Hierarchy

  • Company Philosophy – Global Strategy
  • Strategy and Functional Decisions
  • Production-Operation Strategy

Competitive Factors

  • Cost
  • Quality
  • Service
  • Flexibility
  • Innovation

Operations Decisions

Structural Decisions (Hard Decisions)

  • Internationalization
  • Design, development, and launch for new products
  • Operations capacity
  • Operating facilities & logistics
  • Degree of vertical integration and purchases

Infrastructure Decisions (Soft Decisions)

  • HR Management
  • Quality Management
  • Operations Planning & Control
  • Technology Management

Key Operational Capabilities

  1. Adaptive Production: Respond to changing situations
  2. Operating Cost Effectiveness: Bring productive contributions of HR and competitive salaries together
  3. Capacity to Respond to Orders: Quickly deliver orders made by customers, speed of reacting and responding. Fast deliveries and shipment on time
  4. Achieved Economies of Scale: Reduce unit costs because of efficient distribution of fixed costs. Improvements on how resources are utilized and technological innovation
  5. Logistics: Manage flow of material, products, etc., inside and outside facilities. Location (Effectiveness: speed of delivery / Efficiency: inherent costs in logistics processes) & Distribution
  6. Technology: Employ knowledge of technology. Facilities, machines, equipment, materials, people, information, productive process
  7. Quality Performance: Launch or manufacture long-lasting, high-quality products. Offered vs Demanded // Specified vs Supplied. Evolution of quality management: product, process, management system, management model
  8. Total Time for Production Flow: Identify and use critical points where effectiveness of production cycle lies. And reduce amount of products during process. Minimize time used for each activity and identify points that delay production. Manufacturing lead-time: Plan, program, launch/cut/merchandise, manufacture/finishes/control quality/storage/assembly
  9. Vertical Integration: Exert high level of control on supply sources and distribution channels. Capacity to integrate upstream and downstream. Necessary factors: where organization is in the value chain and what clusters or suppliers are near our position