Competitive Priorities of Amul

Store layout, merchandise display and categorization is superb to facilitate easy tracing / location. Individual store managers have liberty to adjust merchandising mix to suit local taste and placing replenishment orders. Purchasing through central office to get maximum margins, low expense

Operations management is essential for the survival and success of any organization. According to Heizer & Render (2011), operations management (OM) is the set of activities that creates value in the form of goods and services by transforming inputs into outputs. Operations managers today contend with competition, globalization, inflation, consumer demand, and consistent change in technology. Managers must focus on the efficiency and effectiveness of processes such as cost, dependability, distribution, flexibility, and speed. The intent of this paper is to discuss the processes and operations management of the Kroger Company.

1.3 Physical Resources & Capabilities The ALDI brothers took over the family business of their parents in 1946. World wide expansion led to enormous growth. This comprises around 9800 stores (1000 to 1500 SQM each). The layout is simple with wide ails designed to refill shelves in the fastest, most convenient way {Brands, D. 2003}. They offer a small assortment of mainly fast-moving items (approximately 700 food – including a slim and organic line- and non food products). Small warehouses are located at the back of each store. Affiliates are equipped with limited technology such as intelligent cash systems high-end product concerning quality and price and bottle deposit machines. ALDI won the 2008 energy management award for great results in terms of cooling systems, illumination etc. Most stores have about 100 parking space and a shopping cart area near the entrance. ALDI has a long history which implies that they have gained great experience over the years. The location and layout of stores are designed to support fast and efficient supply and not especially aimed at customer needs. This is a weakness. Stores advantageously located as there are in convenient reach for consumers. Their product range is adapted to various consumer needs (organic, healthy living). The technological equipments are of high quality enabling fast operations at the checkout (ALDI’s staff are two times faster compared with other similar operations). This is

An operational plan can be defined as a strategy planned by an organization that clearly defines action that it will take to support objectives of upper management.

Operations management refers to all levels of an organisation and how best to efficiently convene, fund, maintain and maximise its services and/or operations, both internal and external. The core goal/objective of operations management it to maximise outputs while reducing and minimising the inputs required to achieve the desired results.

Strategy refers to the plan or action taken to achieve organizational goals. When Ellen took over Tufts-NEMC, the hospital was struggling with payroll and scale. Ellen had to focus on meeting payroll, a short-term strategy, and could not focus entirely on the longer term. She took some immediate measures to help cut cost

Here, from my readings, I will define the two related terms and concepts which are the corporate strategy and Strategic Operations Management. Then, I will discuss the link between them. Next, I will provide four perspectives of the operations strategy. Finally, I will highlight some examples from the operations strategy of Jaguar Land Rover and how it is helping the company to achieve its business objectives.

James, T. (2011) defines Operations Management as the management of the processes which aid production of goods and or services. This implies that all production activities must be coordinated well to ensure a lean process of resource management is adopted.

Operations Management in an organisation is repsonsible for managing and in making decisions concerning the activities that convert inputs into outputs , that is goods and services. This covers both short term actvities as well as longer term activities to meet strategic goals. Inputs can be the raw materaials need to manufacture goods such as furniture or the computers needed to create a service like online shopping site. Operation management’s role is to make decisions to improve how operation activities function, for example, to improve the final quality of the output or to change production methods to be more efficient in terms of cost and in time.

Operations Management explores the way organizations produce and distribute goods and services. Everything you wear, eat, sit on, use or read comes to you courtesy of the

According to Meyer, (2010), strategy is the action that company can take to achieve its desired goals. When it comes to a company, thinking can be said to be either long-term or short-term. When translated into action, it is what is called operations or projects. However there are differences between operations and

Today Unilever is one of the world’s largest consumer products companies. Becel Margarine was launched in 1978 as a premium priced product, positioned as the heart healthy margarine of choice. Previously, the Becel brand had been positioned as the heart healthy margarine of choice in Europe for twenty years prior to Canadian introduction. Despite unique positioning Becel struggled for many years gaining only 8.1 percent market share by 1991. Unilever considered several options for growing the Becel brand, such as, price decreases, repositioning the product, and dramatic increases in advertising support. In 1991 Lipton devised the strategy “living a life that is young at heart”. This strategy was very successful with its current target market, 65 and above. In the butter and margarine category, butter holds fifty percent of the market. The Dairy Bureau of Canada positions butter as tasty and natural, which is conveying that margarine is processed and does not taste as good. However, that is not true, margarine is better for you than butter and does suit consumers’ tastes. In addition, the health focus of the butter and margarine market is growing. More and more competitors are positioning their product as healthy for the consumer. For example, Parmalat is a brand of butter that has just entered the margarine market to compete with Becel with the brand Lactantia.

Operational Strategy - is concerned with how each part of the business is organised to deliver the corporate and business-unit level strategic direction. Operational strategy therefore focuses on issues of resources, processes, people etc.

In a nutshell therefore, the corporate-level strategy would make decisions regarding strategic alliances, diversification, resource allocation, acquisition, and new business ventures formulation (Thomas, n.d).

Operations management focuses on managing the processes of producing and distributing products and services. Operations activities often include product creation, development, production and distribution. It deals with all operations within the organization. Related activities include managing purchases, inventory control, quality control, storage, logistics and evaluations. The nature of how operations management is carried out in an organization depends very much on the nature of products or services in the organization, for example, retail, manufacturing, wholesale, etc.