Operation Management Assignment : Make or Buy Decision

Because many businesses in the US have more often began outsourcing different business products instead of doing them in-house, it is important to understand why outsourcing may be the best option. Although many tie outsourcing to foreign markets, outsourcing can include both foreign and domestic markets. By entering into a contractual agreement, outsourcing allows organizations to pay for services they need. This gives the option for a business to get professionals to perform services for them that the business may not have the staff for. Outsourcing provides a cost saving-strategy that is usually more affordable. Ultimately,

Decision-making in the workforce is a process of responsibilities used by upper management to implement, enforce rules, regulations, and maintain a successful environment. Decision-making implemented more effectively by making a plan, thinking it through, accepting more than one opinion and determining what is best. However, decision-making often utilized more effectively by opening doors of opportunities for a suggestion, question, discussion, and feedback. Although, more involvement helps improve understanding, utilize behavior skills and present opportunities for better communication. Everyday life consists of decision-making, the right decision may not always be applied, but ensure room for improvement and opportunity. Individuals approached decision-making in many different ways. As stated by (Jones, Graham, & Bateman, 2006) decision making is a procedure used to recognize a problem, weigh the alternatives and evaluate a solution in which, certain situations will require different approaches to become effective.

Negotiations and decisions are a part of everyday business. In order to make a successful decision, it is necessary to understand how to make rational and sound decisions. Decisions that are rash, made on snap judgments, and past experiences can prove detrimental to a business. A deficit in basic thinking and decision making is felt at all levels of an organization (Gary, 1997). Decisions can have long term and short term impacts on organizations and their world in which they exist (Turner & Dean, 2008). In order to understand the process of making a sound and good decision, it is necessary to define and understand several decision-making models. These models help to make clear the issues to be addressed and the

Managers who struggle with these types of decision-making can avail themselves of opportunities to learn how to make and live with their right versus right decisions by studying the subject in greater depth. Badaracco’s book is one place to start, and it is a comprehensive yet concise point of departure. In addition, there is a large and growing body of research and popular literature on the subject of business

To take on these competitive challenges, corporations are outsourcing to specialized companies that can use their capability to increase the efficiency of an outsourced function (Burt, 2010). Outsourcing has become so common that it is listed as one of the five basic forms of collaboration among supply chain participants (Bowersox, 2010). However, over the past several years there has been a surge of outsourcing taking place in the United States and abroad and this trend has added a new dimension to procurement (Burt, 2010). Today, procurement is used as a competitive weapon that differentiates successful, highly profitable companies from others within the same commerce. (Simchi, Kaminski, Simchi,

“Decision making is a complex cognitive process influenced by a number of factors” (Johnson & Kruse, 2009, p. 33). A leader is called on to make numerous decisions each day to meet the needs of their organization. The individuals associated with an organization look to the leader to have the answers to the many problems that present themselves. The challenge for the leader to is to make the “right” decision, but what the right decision is varies and is not always clear. The decision-making approach a leader takes can greatly impact the success of an organization, and a leader must always weigh their decisions carefully. The high stakes and complexity of decision making for

Thinking critically and making decisions are important parts of today’s business environment. It is important to understand how the decision making process works and the steps involved. The nine steps of the decision making process are: identifying the problem, defining criteria, setting goals and objectives, evaluating the effect of the problem, identifying the causes of the problem, framing alternatives, evaluating impacts of the alternatives, making the decision, implementing the decision, and measuring the impacts. (Decision, 2007.) By using various methods and tools to assist in making important business decisions an individual can ensure the decisions they make will be as successful as possible. In this paper it

Make-or-buy analysis is conducted at the strategic and operational level. Obviously, the strategic level is the more long-range of the two. Variables considered at the strategic level include analysis of the future, as well as the current environment. Issues like government regulation, competing firms, and

According to the famous adage, “with great power comes great responsibility,” and this could not be more true than with decision making. As free thinking agents with rational abilities, everyday, humans are required to make choices/decisions, each varying in scale. The difficulty of decision making arises from the perceived losses or opportunity cost of the foregone option. Being rational creatures, individuals generally make choices which maximize value through determining the appropriate criteria for each decision, examining all available alternatives and establishing a fair method of of measuring how each alternative meets (or fails to meet) the criteria. This analysis leads to implementing solutions, which if evaluated appropriately, should lead the desired outcome. As simple as this may sound, in theory, there are many factors which influence the effectiveness of the decision making process. Each individual often faces limitations in the process and is subject to not only their environment but also their own biases.

The decision is to select an action among a number of actions that solves a given problem, that prevents a problem from happening, or that forces to apply new ideas for development. The need for understanding decision making process is increasing because the complexity of modern organizations is increasing, and because the modern organizations' effectiveness depends on the decisions made by the managers. The question is how to select the most appropriate action to solve the problem satisfying all stakeholders.

The focus of my term paper is the decision making process used by today's top-level managers. Top-level managers, such as Chief Executive Officers (CEOs), Chief Operations Officers (COOs), and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs), must make critical decisions on a daily basis. Their choices and the resulting outcomes affect the company, the employees, and the stakeholders. Due to the high importance of their decisions, the process they use to reach them merits a close examination.

Outsourcing involves the transfer of an organization’s regular business activities (functions and processes) to an outside service provider that provides the services back to the organization, as defined in a (typically) long-term contract. The core of an outsourcing arrangement is that the control and ownership of the business activities are put into the hands of the service provider. The service provider then owns and manages the business processes, including the resources that are used to provide the services to that organization. In a typical outsourcing, the people, the facilities, the equipment and the technology are transferred to the service provider. Given the magnitude and complexity involved, outsourcing relationships tend to be long-term propositions, usually in the 5 to 10 year range, and sometimes longer.

Because of the important relationship between insourcing/outsourcing and competitiveness, organizations must consider many variables when considering an insourcing/outsourcing decision. This may include a detailed examination of a firm’s competency and costs, along with quality, delivery, technology, responsiveness, and continuous improvement requirements. Because of

This report will discuss about the approach to rational decision making process. It discusses how an everyday problem faced by management can be tackled by using

Outsourcing should only be implemented when a company’s core competitive advantages are not affected and then when