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What is the difference between a ‘market requirements’ and an ‘operations resources’ view of operations strategy?

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Question added by Divyesh Patel , Assistant Professional Officer- Treasury , City Of Cape Town
Date Posted: 2014/08/25
Tomasz Modrzejewski
by Tomasz Modrzejewski , Programmer , Company Skraw-Mech

A Market Requirements document (MRD) in project management and systems engineering, is a document That expresses the customer's wants and needs for the product or service. Typically it is written as a part of product marketing or product management. The document should explain: What (new) product is being Discussed. Who are the target customers. What products are in competition with the proposed one. Why are customers that want Likely this product.

operations management The design, execution, and control of operations convert resources into That Desired goods and services, and implement the company's business strategy.

 

In some ways the very term 'operation strategy' sounds like a contradiction in terms. Operations is, after all, about the day-to-day creation and delivery of products and services. So how can it be strategic? In fact, the issue is one of distinguishing between two words Which are similar but have different meanings. These are operations and operational. Operations refers To those parts of the business Which are concerned with producing products and services. Operational is the opposite of strategic in the sense That It Means 'short-term' and 'limited in its influence'. Other functions of the business dry as marketing or finance have both strategic and operational activities. For example, marketing strategy covers the overall long-term approach is how the organization wants to position itself in its markets. The operational side of marketing refers to the day to day tactics of how to manage things like advertising, pricing, and so on. It is just the same with operations. Operations strategy looks at the long-term issues of how to manage the resources Which produce products and services. The more operational subject of operations management looks at the more detailed and 'shop floor' issues of designing, planning and controlling, and Improving the resources Which produce products and services. Your Learning Objectives This is what you should be able to after reading this Chapter 3 and working through this study guide. Understand the difference between operations strategy content and strategy process operations. Understand the difference between a top-down and a bottom-up view of operations strategy. Understand the difference between a market perspective Requirements and an operations resources perspective of operations strategy. Describe some of the more important steps in the process of operations strategy formulation.

 

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Content and Process The content of operations strategy is concerned with the specific Decisions Which shape and develop the long-term direction of the operation. Think of content as the building blocks of an operations strategy. The process of operations strategy refers to the procedures Which are used to formulate operations strategies. It is the way we go about the activity of devising strategy. Think of operations strategy content as what the organization is Deciding it and process as to how the organization has made ​​That Decision. Obviously operations strategy is a huge subject. And although this textbook takes a slightly more strategic view than most books in the area, Chapter 3 only 'scratches the surface' of the subject. The first part of the chapter (the larger part) looks at the content of operations strategy by taking four, quite distinct perspectives. The second part of the chapter looks at the process of operations strategy, Mainly to Describing two Relatively well-known processes for devising an operations strategy. Top-down versus bottom-up perspectives of operations strategy One view of operations strategy (the more traditional one) is operations strategy is one of several functional Which strategies are governed by Decisions taken at the top of the Organisational tree. According this this 'top-down' approach, overall business strategy sets the general direction of the organization, this is then interpreted by the different functional areas of the company (marketing, finance, operations, etc.) In Their functional strategies. By contrast, the 'bottom-up' view of operations strategy is to see strategic Decision making as an accumulation of practical experiences. After all, Organisations would find it difficult to 'invent' strategies in a total vacuum. Their ideas are formed from Their previous experience of dealing with customers, suppliers and Their own processes. This is the idea behind emergent strategies. These are strategic Which ideas emerge over time as an organization begins this understand the realities of Their situation. When thinking about top-down versus bottom-up perspectives of operations strategy, Remember That they are not 'rival' ideas. In reality we can see both top-down and bottom-up influences on strategy making. What is important to remember Is That the pure 'top-down' view of operations strategy is simplistic in the sense That it does not recognize the Importance of learning through experience. Market Requirements versus operations resources The chapter goes on to propose that another apparent clash of perspectives - that between Market Requirements and operations resources. Again, it is a comparison between what has been the orthodox view (Market Requirements perspective) and what is a more recent view (the operations resource perspective). Again also, it is not a real clash in the sense That neither perspective is right or wrong. The Market Requirements perspective starts from the commonsense notion That any operations strategy should reflect what the organization is trying to to in its markets. Companies compete in different ways, some small Primarily compete on cost, others on the excellence of Their products or services, others on high levels of customer service, others on Customising Their products and services are individual customer needs, and so on. The operations function must respond Therefore this is by providing the capabilities Which allow it perform in an Appropriate Manner that satisfy the Requirements of its market. In some ways this is a 'translation' task because the techniques and language used by marketing managers that understand the Requirements of markets are different to the language and techniques used by operations managers to manage Their productive resources. So, for example, Figure 3.6 shows how competitive factors can be 'translated' into Performance Objectives. Different ways of competing imply different competitive factors and different performance Therefore Objectives. Table 3.1 gives an example of how this translation process works in the banking industry. See the figure below for another example. It describes and instrument manufacturer with two product groups. The first product group is a range of standard electronic medical equipment Which is sold 'off the shelf' is a direct Hospitals and clinics. The second product group is a wider range of electronic measuring devices Which are sold are original equipment manufacturers who Incorporate them in Their Own products. These electronic measuring devices often have to be customized to individual customer's Requirements. The analysis of the two product groups That shows they have very different competitive factors. Therefore different Performance Objectives are required from the manufacturing operation. Such very different competitive needs could possibly require two separate operations - one for each product group - each focused on its own Objectives and is devoted to providing the things Which are important in its Particular markets.

 

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Divyesh Patel
by Divyesh Patel , Assistant Professional Officer- Treasury , City Of Cape Town

The market requirements perspective starts from the commonsense notion that any operations strategy should reflect what the organisation is trying to do in its markets. Companies compete in different ways, some may compete primarily on cost, others on the excellence of their products or services, others on high levels of customer service, others on customising their products and services to individual customer needs.

 

Operations resources therefore must respond to this by providing the capabilities which allow it perform in an appropriate manner to satisfy the requirements of its market.

 

Mohd Asif Ansari
by Mohd Asif Ansari , HR Administrator , Al Nasseej Al Arabi Factory Co. Ltd.

Operations strategy is the strategic reconciliation of market requirements with operations resources.

Market Requirements are Dynamic, heterogeneous and Ambiguous.

Operation Resources are Difficult to change, Technically constrained and Complex.

 

HANNA SABA
by HANNA SABA , Team Leader (Administrative Support), including translation, editing, and writing , Deloitte

I share the same answers.

georgei assi
by georgei assi , مدير حسابات , المجموعة السورية

Agreed with colleagues answers

mariam samir labib
by mariam samir labib , محاسب , اكاديمية ويننج ايجبت (سوهاج)

market requirements is which determine the needs and resources needed in market  

Shirin Hamdan
by Shirin Hamdan , Senior Human Resources Assistant , UNHCR

Market requirements are based on operations resources whether the organization can meet these requirements or not

Market requirements is based on the resources whether the organization can meet these requirements or no Same as the most answers that are provided by members and I agree with it

Mohd Mustaqeem
by Mohd Mustaqeem , Executive Secretary , SAUDI PAN KINGDOM CO

I agree with divyesh patel.

VENKITARAMAN KRISHNA MOORTHY VRINDAVAN
by VENKITARAMAN KRISHNA MOORTHY VRINDAVAN , Project Execution Manager & Accounts Manager , ALI INTERNATIONAL TRADING EST.

Agree the contents of answers provided by Mr. Vinod Jetley and Divyesh Patel.

Nila Eslit
by Nila Eslit , Content Writer for Fitness web , George Allen

Thanks for considering to invite me to answer this question.  But, I regret to say that I am not in the position to do so.  I am not an expert in this field.

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