Operations Management and Business Models (Essay Sample)

Operations Management and Business Models
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Introduction
Operations management is an inherent management process that harmonizes business process to maximize output. Previously, operations management was not considered to be an integral part of business operations. However, the recent years have seen an acknowledgement by business organizations that managing business operations is important to an organization. Freeman is of the view that, effective operations management is a major contributor of business success and growth (2012). Key concepts in operations management include product life cycle, supply chain management and the ‘six sigma’.
‘Six sigma’
‘Six sigma’ is a management approach that is meant to improve business capability and efficiency by streamlining business processes and operations. The overall goal of the ‘six sigma’; when used as a management tool, is to improve business performance thus leading to profit maximization. Just as the name suggests, this tool applies a well controlled technique of combining various business requirements and using the same to increase efficiency. According to Conger, the ‘six sigma’ approach uses both qualitative and quantitative technique to improve business performance (2010).The major components in the ‘six sigma’ technique are; define, measure, analyze, improve and control also abbreviated as DMAIC. DMAIC provides directions regarding how various management issues should be solved using the ‘‘six sigma’’ technique. Any problem solution starts with identifying the problem and ultimately coming up with plausible solutions for the problem.
Product Life Cycle
According to Stark (2011), product life cycle is defined as the period that a product is developed within the market taking into account the time factor. For any product to be launched there is always an idea involved. The idea is developed after thorough research before the actual development process. If the idea is found to be plausible, the next phase involves the actual development of the product in the market for sale. During the initial development stages, the demand for any product is very high. However as production continues, demand for a product declines which eventually renders the product obsolete. In terms of competition, a new product in the market may not experience a lot of competition at the beginning. However, continued supply of a product is met with increase competition which ultimately explains why the product becomes obsolete in the long run.
Supply Chain Management
According to Barney (2012), Supply chain management refers to the ac of ensuring that a product reaches the intended market at the appropriate time. This string of co-dependence in management involves several activities. The key activities involved in supply chain management include; purchases, pr...