MBA operation management Firms, in seeking competitive advantage, develop an operations strategy Free Essay Example, 1750 words

In accordance with a definition given by the Encyclopedia of Management (2006) ‘a qualifier is a competitive characteristic a firm or product must be able to exhibit to be a viable competitor in the marketplace; an order winner is a competitive characteristic of a product or service that causes a customer to choose this firms product or service rather than that of a competitor (distinctive competence)’. In the firms under examination the role of four specific criteria – using other as order qualifiers and order winners – will be explored tried to locate their influence on the development of the various operational activities of the particular firms. These criteria are the following ones: price/cost, quality, service, and flexibility. Specific figures will be used in each firm (acquired from each firm’s financial statements) in order to support the relevant arguments. A1. Toyota The operations management of firms operating in the automotive industry may be slightly differentiated from that applied on firms within other industrial sectors. The specific issue was examined by Lowe et al. (1997) who came to the conclusion – after made a research on the operations management practices followed by 71 firms that operate in the automotive industry around the world – that ‘tight process control and closely integrated operations are more productive; work organization and human resource policies associated with the lean production model do not represent a universal best way for achieving high manufacturing performance’ (Lowe et al. , 1997, 783). We will write a custom essay sample on MBA operation management: Firms, in seeking competitive advantage, develop an operations strategy or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page It is clear that the global financial crisis do not affect the firm’s performance (at least up to now); the reasons for the continuous improvement of the firm’s profitability can be identified in the operations management scheme applied on the firm’s branches worldwide – referring especially to the Orders Qualifiers and the Orders Winners – as elements of the firm’s success within its industry.