Challenges to Business Success an Operations Management Focus (Essay Sample)

Challenges to Business Success an Operations Management Focus
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Challenges to Business Success an Operations Management Focus
Bridgestone Corporation
The Bridgestone Group is one of the largest manufacturers of rubber products in the world. Majorly Bridgestone supplies a broad range of tires to the entire world. Some of the tires are used for on passage vehicles, trucks, mining vehicles, buses aircrafts, and motorcycles. Bridgestone also manufactures and sales a wide variety of rubber products and other diversified materials. Many of the materials produced by Bridgestone are used for different applications all over the world. Bridgestone has therefore helped in enriching a variety of industries through their production and the general consumer lifestyles (Ansari, 2009, 23). The manufacturing department in Bridgestone has been constantly changing as the years pass. The industry has therefore been facing very many new challenges.
a) Changing technologies 
The technological changes are taking place in the manufacture of tires at Bridgestone mainly refers to the changes in production techniques and the equipment being used. Change of technology involves the types of machinery used in the production the products. There are also different types of machines such as computers that need to be used to design the products being manufactured. The use of these tools for the last years has seen the improvement in the efficiency and the competitiveness of Bridgestone increase over time. Since the changes in technology are so rapid, there are many important consequences that Bridgestone will be facing. The change in technology at Bridgestone affects the production process, the in provision of services both within and outside the company and the office (Faisal, 2011, 178).
Technology comes with very many different kinds of challenges. The changes being undertaken are in most cases very expensive to the company as additional costs are required for purchasing of equipment and training of the staff members to know how to use the new technology. Technological changes also change the methods of manufacturing due to the replacements and upgrading of various processes. The changes in the processes bring about the overall change of the final products and therefore making it hard to get the new product to the market.
There is a need for the tires and other rubber products formed by new technology to evolve into a much better product. The amount of brands needs to be kept at a minimum level to reduce the brand’s range of selection for it to sale. The changes are technology will bring brand creation as opposed to a brand extension. Changing technologies is also a real disperser of jobs within Bridgestone Corporation. Many jobs are being lost as new technology takes over the production process as less manpower is needed. There is a need for the production managers to address such issues with utmost urgency (Betty, 2011, 45 ).
b) Continued Globalization of markets including 1st and 2nd world entrants.
The global market competitors producing the same products as Bridgestone will constantly seek to standardize their offering everywhere. This can make Bridgestone go off from its standardization after all the possibilities have been exhausted. Continued globalization will, therefore, push for reinstatement of standardization whenever divergence and digression have occurred. Bridgestone cannot assume that her clients are the king who knows their individual wishes (Danaher, 2014, 362). If Bridgestone lacks a clarified global focus by remaining inattentive to the economics of standardization and simplicity, there are chances that it is going to be difficult for the corporation to evolve to dominate the market. With the low transportation costs, distant competitors gain access to the presently sheltered markets of those similar companies with goods produced at a cheaper rate under the scale-efficient conditions. Global competition will definitely spell the end of the domestic territoriality created by Bridgestone Corporation, regardless of how diminutive the territory may be.
c) Changing customer expectations
With time, there is a continued change in the expectations of the customers due to the changes in technology. The online shopping has created a broad market and other super competitive environments to diversify the needs of the customers. The social media, in particular, has been put in the spotlight on the provision of customer service. The consumers currently have the power to share different experiences and opinions about the products produced by Bridgestone with thousands of other people all over the world. The shared views include the negative ones and, as a result, customers tend to have high expectation. Providing the best quality of tires for different purposes is a significant challenge for Bridgestone Corporation (Coelho, 2013, 132).
There is a combination of several external factors that have created a customer experience with tires. Many competing companies realize they cannot compete on prices alone due to the nature of the expectations of the customers. Many of the competitors against Bridgestone tend to improve on the customer experience by using the company’s strategies to take quietly the customers (Deleersnyder, 2009, 89). This kind of challenges means customers expect many different types of products to suit their diverse needs. Many customers also buy their goods online, and it is a significant challenge for Bridgestone to create a different online working sales department to meet the needs.
The reality is that if Bridgestone is not able to offer similar levels of service, the expectations from the customer will be difficult to reach. If the expectations are not meet, it will create a bad customer experience that will result in minimal or no customer satisfaction. Lack of customer satisfaction, on the other hand, will spread negative word that will spread fast and affect the future of the company (Ansari, 2009, 89). The customers possess the power now! There is a need to monitor customer expectations to ensure the company is regularly meeting as well as exceeding them. It is important for the customers to be well informed about any products on the market. Keeping the customers informed is one way to understand their expectations as their responses will be well known. The changing expectations are putting so much pressure on Bridgestone Corporation. To stay competitive, the corporation is being called to task to win the business. The big challenge is putting the right kinds of systems in place to ensure Bridgestone adapts to the changing expectations not to annoy the customers (Coelho, 2013, 98). d) Changing job designs
In the next fifty years, manufacturing will be very different from today, and it will be practically unrecognizable from the past 30 years. For Bridgestone to be among the most successful manufacturing companies, it must ensure there is a rapid adaptation to both the changing job designs and their physical as well as intellectual infrastructures. This will enable them exploit the changes in technology as the manufacturing process becomes faster. There is need for Bridgestone to harness a wider skills base, that include highly qualified managers and other leaders whose expertise can combines with both commercial and technical insights with good judgment (Joe, 2013, 253 ).
There are typical changes taking place in the fields of technology, science, engineering, and mathematics. Bridgestone has the challenge to ensure it is providing a constant adaptation to permeate all the aspects of research, manufacturing and development. The changes in job designs provide innovation and lifetime product maintenances. The corporation has a task at hand to ensure it is adapting to the changes in job plans. Adapting to world class job market and the provision of greater opportunities for both the employees and other staff members will ensure the manufacturing process has a wide of opportunities to exploit all the needs of the customer (Cross Media Services, 2014. 25). e) Quality management
Quality management is a very complex and most important tool in management approaches. There is a need to provide total quality management to any of the products being manufactured by Bridgestone Corporation. For the survival of the company in the recent economy, there is a need for the management to understand all the production activities and ensure they are correctly functioning (Ariely, 2013, 48). The control and dominance of good quality management provide the path of output reaches a supreme quality level. There is a need for supreme management both during the regular times and also at crisis times.
Quality management ensures there is the application of precise methods and techniques, with uninterrupted improvements as well as the involvement of all the employees and stakeholders in the production process. However, precise adherence to the standard of the products produced does not mean that Bridgestone Corporation should not look for the best-tailored models to suit the needs of the diverse range of customers (Forman, 2013, 98). That means they are to task to ensure the best creativity of products to suit the market needs. f) Global manufacturing
The manufacturing sector, just like so many other areas, has to face increased regulations as well as compliance measures. While it is unquestionable that some rules are crucial, there are others that can be enormous to manufacturing companies especially when they differ from one country to country. It is the duty of Bridgestone to ensure that there is complete visibility in their supply chains (Lisa, 2014, 150). When the competitor 1st and 2nd world producers offer their lower costs globally, their patronage and investments will expand exponentially. Bridg...