Operations Management Master - Case Study Example

Question Evaluate Globalcast's relationships with its large global s and discuss how this has impacted the growth of Globalcast's business. (Word count : 622) The Globalcast with its position as the lead supplier for majority of the large global business houses due to their well tailored business strategy have clearly given a clear strategic advantage over their business competitors. This was due to their widely distributed business centres and various production facilities that were designed and established to cater to the specific need of the industries in those regions. Thus their ability to give the lowest possible cost for any specific segment of interest of their customers is certainly the most attractive aspect of the business operations undertaken by Globalcast. Also, the operations being highly decentralised, with most of them being managed by unit heads designated for each profit centre gives them the operational flexibility and also the confidence among the customers to involve into a long term relationship. This could certainly help Globalcast managers to insulate the external impacts or disturbance experienced in the other regions of the globe from having a chain reaction on their business process. Thus the globally operated companies functioning in the specific locations would be confident in entering into long term associate ship with Globecast. The relationship marketing strategy adopted by Globecast is another important aspect that would give long and stable established relationship with their customers. The primary step in establishing a marketing link with the customers was through the word of mouth recommendations passed by their customers. The marketing analysis report presented has shown that the most of their businesses are repeat business which shows the reliable customer base they have continued to enjoy. Even through Globecast have not created a well planned strategy for its marketing operations, they were able to retain the position as the lead suppliers for most of the global giant's requirements for in different type of product components justify this aspect. Of course, it is understood that national level promotional exercise is being undertaken simultaneously. But the impact it have shown is very feeble considering the manner in which the business targets are achieved by Globalcast over these period. Further, it must also be observed that the in spite of the wide options for the entry of the competitors for such wide range of requirements exist in most of the emerging industries, Globalcast still remains as the prime choice for the customers shows the trust and confidence that their operation shave created in the minds of the customers. The widely spread operations by Globecast too would be of considerable advantage in consolidating their business with the clients, as any inability for delivery at any one location could also be offset by proper intervention from the production support by the other Globalcast centres. Also, the technical competence the Globecast have demonstrated in the past have resulted in the least cost production units, which are also very attractive for their customers. The capability of design assistance to their customers would too give the added reliability of the operations of Globecast which in turn would help the customers to turn their operations also very efficient. Also, the strength of their networks, supply capability and after sales support all add to the support they have enjoyed in the past. Also, even in such a monopolised business environment, Globecast have never been complacent and is quite obvious that it strives hard to see the benefit of the business continuously reaches all its customers. This is clear from its future plans for expansions that have been necessitated by the growth potential of the customer organisations. The potential for the business growth among the customer companies have made Globalcast to look for options for different type of products and operational systems. So this strong adherence to the ethics of the operations might also have helped to improve their business significantly. Question 2 . Describe the major changes that took place in the market and discuss their implications for Globalcast. To what extent do you think Globalcast was reactive or proactive to its customers' requests (Word count : 664) The significant opening of the markets world during the early 1990s has created huge business opportunities for most of the large business houses operating over the world. The companies like Hewlett Packard, Dell, Ford, GM and Black and Decker have clearly set their business goal of establishing their operations in these places where they did not have any exposure of undertaking the business operations due to the advantage generated by the low cost of the wage and other reduced operational expenditure. Thus in order to stabilise and support their production tin those regions and countries, these companies were in urgent need for having reliable business partner to support their expansion plans, who had operations in these newer locations. This could be undertaken successfully by associating with business group who understands the philosophy of global business rooted in local operations. The efforts Globalcast had made in the past for setting up of distributed operations have come to their advantage during the period of this high growth phase. Having had previous experience of associating with the large business has given them the advantage in associating with similar business giants during the expanding phase across the world. Besides having an opportunity to establish exclusive business linkages across different regions and countries, it would certainly give them a chance to restrict the number of global suppliers and hence finally establish a commanding position on the global business scenario. This is said to generate new set of challenges to Globecast as the cost of supplies and operations had considerable variation across the world. Thus parity in pricing across the world need to be researched by the Globecast managers. As absence of such a situations would result in buyers searching for most cost effective Globalcast selling unit and linking up for future procurements. Also, the new opportunities have also made Globalcast to consider investing in strengthening the purchase processes, improving its competency in assembling operations and setting up testing facility for major sub-assemblies. This need has been emerged as a result of the sudden demand for more value added work from the customers. In addition to the investments in the systems and machinery, further strengthening would also be required in the supply chain operations of Globalcast which it hadn't given a higher priority. Also, the higher business revenue from the expanding sales of the customer companies would force the Globalcast to reduce their delivery time to support the sales demand experienced by the customer companies. Though this might amount to significant deviation from those agreed initially, these customers would not be compromising to lose the opportunities that have suddenly emerged. Thus, Globalcast workforce must be capable to absorb these type of challenges which of course would certainly help them to boost their revenues significantly. The post 1990 period has given innumerable opportunities to the Globecast. From the increased volume of the prevailing operations, identification new products of business and exploring their operations in new regions with assured business partner are some of the significant benefits enjoyed by the Globalcast. This has eliminated an additional cost involved in establishing newer markets for Globalcast during the period of expansion. Further, the clients being the global leaders in respective segments it have given them the added confidence in taking favourable decisions on their expansion plans. Also, this would give them further opportunities for identifying newer areas of business as a reliable partner. And it could also help Globalcast in the development of strategic plans for expansion with identifying better local specialist groups who would strengthen their business goals. Thus it is obvious that Globalcast is a proactive organisation which had capability to foresee a expansion potential for its operations. The sudden market potential observed in various business segment have resulted in the creation of more opportunities of Globalcast by virtue of its inherent strength,. Thus it is clear that more the potential for business exist in various production linked operations Globalcast would soon become an automatic choice for their partner in the progress. Question 3 Given that the market is changing, explain the likely impact of the changes and hence evaluate the different strategies Globalcast should consider in meeting this challenge. (Word count : 470) The early period of 1990 period is said to have witnessed a sudden expansion in the markets all over the world. Most of the large global business houses have planned to set up their operations in most of the developing economies due to their low production costs even though their sales was expected to be undertaken on the global scale. Thus a sudden growth in sales is expected which required dedicated support business group who can supply the required assembly parts with high reliability and with least possible cost. Globalcast with its style of business operations had the proficiency in setting up of decentralised production facilities operated as a separate cost centre. The efficiency of their managers to handle these types of circumstances would certainly give them a competitive edge over their business rivals. The major challenges that Global cast would have to address during this phase would be to handle the demand for increased volume of business, identification new products of business and evolving a strategic marketing plan to consolidate its business operations. Among them some of the aspects would be extension of the inherent strengths of Globalcast while some would call form addition competence building within the organisation. On increased volume of production, their past association with the global leaders in different segments would certainly give them the added confidence to take favourable decisions on their expansion plans. This could be attained by either local level acquisitions or mergers with local specialist groups who would strengthen their business goals. On the issues relating to the cost variation across the Globalcast centres, the customer organisation would be too eager to explore the cost of production and hence would be trying for procurement from the Globalcast unit offering the least cost. Thus to have sustainable business operations the mangers would have to face the challenge of undertaking the pricing issue to avoid the skewed preferences in procurement by its customer organisations. This could be solved by introducing a concept of price parity to have uniformity in the cost across all the production units. In addition to these, handling the dynamic inventory to supply demands by the customers is another challenge that Globalcast would have to face. As the customers would be trying hard to boost its sales on global basis to take advantage of the growth opportunity, it would soon add pressure on the Globalcast production capability which at times would be much higher than then the routinely experienced demand. This could be handled by distributed production capability which undertakes similar type of production in one location and supporting the increased demand appropriately. Demand for value addition is another challenge that Globalcast would have to address. This could be handled in the production planning itself, by creating the feasible combination of units that would result in the least of production. Question 4: With reference to your analysis for questions 1, 2 and 3 above, draw together the recommendations you would expect Globalcast to follow in moving the business forward in the next few years. (Word count : 261) In order to meet the new demand of the business Globalcast would certainly have to reorient its operation. But the most significant advantage it enjoys would be trust from already established clients, majority of whom are global giants. Also, the fresh demand for business is mostly spread across the world and hence, the strength Globalcast has attained through its profit centre operations of the past would be highly appreciated. Thus the in-house managerial competence would be of significant advantage in this connection. But significant changes might be required for Globalcast in various other operational segments. As demand for value added production is expected, the in-house technical capability for better product design and planning of assemblies needs to be created. To start with, the Globalcast team could work in combination with the technical team of the customers until the need is clearly transmitted to the Globalcast production unit. Thus through this process the professional competence of the Globalcast would be enhanced to meet the future demand of the customers in the most effective manner. Further, setting up of specialised production centres at selected locations which supports the final assembly point units would be of considerable advantage for Globalcast to undertake the business. This could help them to meet the targets at the desired rate while maintaining the Globalcast business philosophy of separate profit centre. Equally important is to establish a uniform business for all the centre of Globalcast. This shall be achieved by organisational level cost appreciation and establishing equivalence in the cost to avoid any preferential buying behaviour of its customers. References Slack, N , Operations Management , 5th Edition, Robert Johnson Read More