√ Strategic Role of Operations Management | Business Studies

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Strategic means affecting all business functions. The strategic role of operations management is to contribute to the direction and plan of the business. The main goal of business is to minimise costs to maximise profits. A strategic role of operations is the management of costs. The different operations costs for a business are: Input costs, Labour costs, Processing costs, Inventory costs, Quality management. • Cost leadership aims to have the lowest costs and be the most prices competitive in the market. The business must still be profitable. Operations Management therefore must find ways to reduce costs in production. Example: Bunnings. A business can cut costs by increasing the scale/size of the business. How? By buying in bulk, the business is able to negotiate lower costs per unit. Goods/service differentiation: Tangible – they can be seen and touched. Tend to be standardised. Can be owned and transferred between people. Can take considerable time between production and consumption. Easy to determine costs by calculating inputs and adding margin. Services: Intangible. Generally customised. Cannot be owned. Production and consumption occurs at the same time. The value of a service depends on what the consumer is prepared to pay. Product Differentiation. Operations must find a way to distinguish their products from their competitors. This gives them a competitive advantage. This will differ between goods and services. Product Differentiation: Goods. Varying the actual product features. Operations search for ways to make their product features attractive to the consumer. Varying product quality. Making a low quality alternative to attract a different group of consumers. Varying the augmented features. This refers to add-ons or additional benefits. Product Differentiation: Services. Varying the amount of time spent on a service. Example: Hair salons. Varying the level of expertise brought to a service. Some service providers will offer a higher level of expertise. Varying the qualifications and experience of the service provider. This can be an important factor when consumers are choosing their service provider. Varying the quality of materials/ technology used in service delivery. Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM). Medical technologies. Cross Branding: Operations may choose to offer consumers added benefits from a cross-branding arrangement.