Question

Question 5
a. How do you think a fast food restaurant can compete in the market using the principles of operations management? Identify the possible causes of failure of the restaurant.
b. Formulate at least FIVE (5) operations strategies in alignment with organizational strategies for an airline business.

Answer 1

a. How do you think a fast food restaurant can compete in the market using the principles of operations management? Identify the possible causes of failure of the restaurant.

A fast food restaurant is a business which provide the end user, i.e. Customer in this scenario with a service which he/she can avail in a very short time span. Fast food restaurants are considered as the best option for the customer to try different options of food items in quick way. Implementation of basic principles of operations management is a critical scenario which the fast food restaurant has to consider in order to compete in the market against the large number of competitors. Few operations management principles every fast food restaurant has to consider in order to stay alive in the market are;

1- On time delivery of food

2- Customer service

3- Stock management and replenishment

4- Handling Vendors for on time supply

5- Just in time delivery in order to reduce wastage

6- Logistics availability on peak hours including seat availability for the customer

7- Seasonal demand forecast

Failure of a fast food restaurant can be accounted to many reasons. Few common possible causes of failures are listed below;

1- Cannot handle on time delivery of food: Customer comes to fast food restaurants in order to avail tasty food in a short time span. During peak hours, if the restaurant cannot deliver the orders because of operational inefficiencies such as high cooking time, unavailability of products to prepare dishes etc. it will definitely create frustration among customers and they may not come back to the restaurant.

2- Wastage of inventory and perishable items: Restaurant has to make sure that they are able to meet the customer demand during peak hours. For this they should be able to forecast demand based on past trends and make sure that the supply of perishable items are carried out in such a way that restaurant can reduce wastage of food items. Also they have to make sure that during times when there is less customer footfall, the supply is handled in an efficient manner. Just in time delivery of items can be used as a method to handle this failure.

3- Poor customer service: Poor customer service is one of the main issue which can cause the immediate failure of the fast food restaurant. Even if all other operational process are in place, and if the customer service features such as taking order, seat availability, poor attitude of employees, unavailability of orders are not properly designed, the restaurant will faces serious issues in running the business.

4- Failure to forecast demand: Poor techniques to forecast demand can be another major reason of the failure of fast food restaurants. If the restaurant cannot forecast the demand, they may face difficulty in handling the orders during peak hours and there can be wastage of perishable items if the customer footfall is less.

5- Poor feedback mechanism: Customer feedback is one of the important aspect every restaurant has to consider in order to understand the customer satisfaction level and also improve the current processed in order to attract more customer in future. They can depend on customer feedback to improve their service.

b. Formulate at least FIVE (5) operations strategies in alignment with organizational strategies for an airline business.

Airline business is a kind of business which has a huge dependency on operations strategies in order to be successful in the market. They have to make sure that the operations strategies are in alignment with the organizational strategies for handling the business. Few operations strategies which should be in alignment with the organizational strategies for an airline business are;

1- Sustainable operations strategy considering the environment

Airline business has to make sure that they are in alignment with all the national and international policies to protect the environment and reduction of carbon foot print.

This will enable them to carry out the business in a sustainable way and create a pride among the employees that they are working with the best airline company.

Branding based in this always helps the business to create a good impression among the customers.

2- Operations strategy to consider and forecast the demand during various seasons

Operations processed should be able to forecast demand with less errors in order to meet the customer demand and route the flights to places where there is high demand to improve the business profitability.

3- Cost effective operational processes compared to competitors

Various operations activities of the business should be cost effective compared to the market competitors and they should be able to maintain the charges in a reasonable way.

4- Understand customer feedback and improve processes based on the same.

Customer feedback is a main aspect which has to be considered in order to improve the business and align the operational activities with organizational strategies.

5- Availability flexible work force to meet the demand during huge demand

There should be internally motivated workforce in order to carry out various operations and help the business to meet high demand during peak seasons.

6- Innovative and new measure to retain customers using latest technology

Business has to make sure that they are in alignment with latest and innovative technologies to attract and retain the customers and improve the process efficiency.

7- Low turnaround time

Airlines business always has to make sure the turnaround time for each fleet is minimal in order to make sure that all the flights are in air most of the time and makes profit for the organization.

8- Quality management system

Strong and highly effective quality management system should be in place to reduce errors and minimize the risk of failure of processes.