Question

(Determining the Operating Model of a Multi-Profile Company) MultiCorp is a diversified, multi-profile company. Essentially, it is a conglomerate company consisting of three diverse strategic units acting as independent businesses under separate brands in different industry sectors: Unit Alpha, Unit Beta and Unit Gamma. MultiCorp is governed from the central head office, which oversights the three subsidiary business units and their financial performance indicators, though without any operational interventions. Each strategic business unit has its own managing director with full discretion and responsibility over its competitive strategy, investment priorities, budget allocation and ensuing yearly profits. Unit Alpha is in the food manufacturing business. The unit produces and distributes a variety of goods including, but not limited to, vegetables, groceries, meat and dairy products. Each of these product lines requires unique production processes, storage arrangements, transportation approaches and underlying equipment and is organizationally implemented by a separate specialized product department. However, these products are delivered largely to the same circle of customers, including both major retailers and local food shops. All product lines are also served by a number of common unit-wide functions, e.g. HR, finance, accounting, logistics, legal, marketing and sales support. Unit Beta competes in the restaurant business. Specifically, the unit controls a chain of small fastfood restaurants occupying the low-cost market niche. In total, the chain includes more than 80 restaurants located in different geographies and more restaurants are planned to be opened in the foreseeable future. All restaurants offer same interiors, menus, prices, meals and services to their customers and imply standardized policies, working procedures and supporting equipment. However, each restaurant is run separately by a chief manager responsible for its overall financial well-being and all necessary business processes, e.g. recruiting, training, procurement, cooking, servicing, cleaning and complaints management. With the exception of Unit Beta’s lean central office, where chain-wide branding, marketing and other strategic decisions are made, the Page | 7 Asia Pacific International College Pty Ltd. Trading as Asia Pacific International College 55 Regent Street, Chippendale, Sydney 2008: 02-9318 8111 PRV12007; CRICOS 03048D Approved: 14/02/2019, Version 1 restaurants operate independently from each other and even have their own profit and loss statements. Finally, Unit Gamma runs a chain of resort hotels. These hotels gravitate towards the high-end price segment and offer premium-quality services to their customers. Unit Gamma’s competitive strategy implies improving its brand recognition and achieving consistent customer experience. For this purpose, the unit’s leadership plans to standardize all customer-facing and, to a lesser extent, backoffice processes across all hotels of the chain as well as all its suppliers and service providers. Moreover, Unit Gamma also intends to become “closer” to its customers and build lifelong customer relationships. This strategy requires collecting more information about customers, their individual preferences and transaction histories, aggregating this information globally and leveraging it for providing customized services, launching loyalty programs, developing special offers and promoting personalized discounts.

Questions

1. What is an operating model of MultiCorp and each of its three strategic business units?

2. What particular business processes are standardized company-wide and within each of its business units?

3. What specific types of data are integrated across the whole company and each of its business units?

4. What is the highest-level structure of the IT landscape in the company and in each of its business units?

Answer 1

1) The operation busniess model in this case is diversification model. Diversification is relayed on the fact that business units are different and have in few count . MultiCorp is a mentioned as diversified and have three unit such as alpha, beta and gamma. These business units also are operationally unique and their  transactions are independent that is multi corp provide busniess which relates to food even though are totally differentand each units tranactions are independent. Each business unit stratergy is  having  its own managing director with full discretion and responsibility over its competitive strategy, investment priorities, budget allocation and ensuing profit maximization.

Moreover, this buniess unit is conglomerate diversification as the firm diversify into areas which are totally unrelated to the organisation business.

2)Business process standardes concentrates on the unification of the organizations procedures to do same business process. it can be done by:

setting the standards, reporting standards to all, making adherence to the standards and encouraging the continuous improvements on the standards.

so the multicorp should emphises on the business process standardization.

3) verticial intergration of data

4)UML Unified model language