Description

Title:
Production and Operations Management Assignment
Subtitle:
Toyota & Swatch vs. Primark & CenterParcs

Event:
Production and Operations Management MBA P/T
Institution / College:
The University of Surrey (Surrey University)
Author:
MBA Mo Elnadi
Archive No.:
V129763
ISBN (E-book):
978-3-640-37473-1
ISBN (Book):
978-3-640-37448-9
DOI:
10.3239/9783640374731

Category:
Examination Thesis
Year:
2009
Pages:
23
Grade:
78/100
Language:
English

Notes :
The goal of this paper is to investigate and compare operations strategies of two manufacturing-
based and two service-based companies. The paper takes an integrated evaluation approach of
each firm’s prioritised performance objectives from a requirements and operations capability
point of view, as well as focusing on line of fit strategy and tactics to achieve competitive
advantage through examining their process design, capabilities management and resources
management.
Tags:
ProductionOperationsManagementAssignmentToyotaSwatchPrimarkCenterParcsMBA

Abstract
Operations strategy can be defined as the strategic decisions and tactics which set the role,
objectives and activities of a firm. It derives from the firm’s capabilities, resources and
processes, seeking to deliver competitive advantage to winning customers through meeting their
needs. Competitive factors that are significant in winning customers’ business are order winners.
Improvements of these factors will likely result in gaining more business to the firm. In order for
a firm to have a competitive advantage, it must understand and provide products and services
whose factors create order winners for its customers. As a precursor, factors which customers
have a certain minimum expected level from are defined as order qualifiers that firms should
conform to. Therefore business decisions should be thought of in terms of order winning and
order qualifying criteria, designed to win customers and drive business growth to the firm. A
firm can outperform rivals only if it can establish a difference that it can preserve. This could be
delivering great value to customers or creating comparable value at a lower cost, or both. Such
differentiation arises from both the choice of performance objectives activities and how they are
performed, or deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix of value
or perform similar operational activities better than rivals. Operations managers should decide on
which of the sub-dimensions of these five performance objectives (Figure 1) they wish to excel
at, and how they are going to configure the operation to do so. Figure 1: The Multiple
Dimensions of the Five Operations Performance Objectives The goal of this paper is to
investigate and compare operations strategies of two manufacturing-based and two service-based
companies. The paper takes an integrated evaluation approach of each firm’s prioritised
performance objectives from a requirements and operations capability point of view, as well as
focusing on line of fit strategy and tactics to achieve competitive advantage through examining
their process design, capabilities management and resources management.

Excerpt (computer-generated)
Page 2
School of Management
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Production and Operations Management MBA P/T
Individual Assignment
Deadline: 27.04.2009 at 12:00
First name
Surname
Mo Elnadi

Page 3
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Introduction
According to Slack, operations strategy can be defined as the strategic decisions and tactics
which set the role, objectives and activities of a firm. It derives from the firm's capabilities,
resources and processes, seeking to deliver competitive advantage to winning customers through
meeting their needs (Slack et al., 2009b). Competitive factors that are significant in winning
customers' business are order winners. Improvements of these factors will likely result in gaining
more business to the firm. In order for a firm to have a competitive advantage, it must
understand and provide products and services whose factors create order winners for its
customers (Slack et al., 2009a). As a precursor, factors which customers have a certain
minimum expected level from are defined as order qualifiers that firms should conform to.
Therefore business decisions should be thought of in terms of order winning and order qualifying
criteria, designed to win customers and drive business growth to the firm.
A firm can outperform rivals only if it can establish a difference that it can preserve. This could
be delivering great value to customers or creating comparable value at a lower cost, or both.
Such differentiation arises from both the choice of performance objectives activities and how
they are performed, or deliberately choosing a different set of activities to deliver a unique mix
of value or perform similar operational activities better than rivals. (Porter, 1996)

Page 4
School of Management
3 of 22
Operations managers should decide on which of the sub-dimensions of these five performance
objectives (Figure 1) they wish to excel at, and how they are going to configure the operation to
do so. (Neely, 2008)
Figure 1: The Multiple Dimensions of the
Five Operations Performance Objectives adapted from: (Neely, 2008)
The goal of this paper is to investigate and compare operations strategies of two manufacturing-
based and two service-based companies. The paper takes an integrated evaluation approach of
each firm's prioritised performance objectives from a requirements and operations capability
point of view, as well as focusing on line of fit strategy and tactics to achieve competitive
advantage through examining their process design, capabilities management and resources
management.

Page 5
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Chosen organisations
1. Primark
Primark operates 194 discount department stores throughout the UK (Figure 3), Holland and
Spain. Its the UK's second largest clothing retailer and its largest value clothing retailer targeting
the under-35-year-old, fashion-conscious market through 13 departments including
womenswear, lingerie, childrenswear, menswear, footwear, accessories, and household textiles
providing range flexibility to consumers (Figure 2). (Hoovers, 2008b)
Figure 2: Primark's market share as a leading player
in £8.6 billion value sector. (VerdictResearch, 2007)
Figure 3: Primark Locations
across UK (Primark.co.uk,
2009)
2. CenterParcs
CenterParcs operates four forested holiday villages, which attract vacationers by offering such
amenities as villas, swimming pools, restaurants, high street shops, lakes and spas. CenterParcs
caters primarily to the "short-break" market. The villages have nearly 3,400 units in four
categories ranging from standard villas to exclusive four-bedroom villas. (Hoovers, 2008a)
The profitability of companies in the leisure sector depends on efficient operations, and
effective marketing since capacity is a constraint. Large companies have operations economies of
scale advantages and large amounts of capital, but operations are labour-intensive. Small
companies can compete effectively in favourable locations and by providing specialty services
through their capability which CenterParcs focuses on as order winners.
The sector is fragmented with 6% of adults visiting CenterParcs in the last two years followed by
Butlins, which focuses on coastal holiday parks (Figure 4). (Mintel, 2008c)

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Figure 4: Leading owners of holiday centres in the UK, 2008. Source: (Mintel, 2008c)
3. Swatch
Swatch is the world's second-largest watchmaker after Citizen (JCKonline.com, 2009) with more
than 333 million watches sold worldwide in over 2,500 different models in 80 markets. Total
2008 UK market is estimated to be worth £880 million (Figure 5). (Mintel, 2008d, Quest, 2006)
Swatch has four brand segments: Basic, Middle, High and Luxury. Its 19 brands range from low-
priced, collectible Swatch and Flik Flak to premium-priced Blancpain, Brequet and Omega
brands. Their watches are sold at 15,000 retailers worldwide, 500 Swatch stores, shop-in-shops
and kiosks. (Hoovers, 2008c)
The company supplies all the components for its own watches and supplies other watchmakers
with a market share of 38% in Japan (Talylor, 1993), and more than 25 percent of total watch
and component sales and 10% of global watch revenues (Press, 2000).
Excerpt from 23 pages - scroll top

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