Operations strategy / Nigel Slack, Michael Lewis.

By:

Slack, Nigel

Contributor(s):

Lewis, Michael, 1969-

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: Harlow, Essex ; New York : Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2011.Edition: 3rd edDescription: xxiv, 434 p. : ill. (chiefly col.) ; 25 cmISBN:

027374044X (pbk.)
9780273740445 (pbk.)

Subject(s):

Production management

DDC classification:

658.5 SLA

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Copy number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Standard Loan	Moylish Library Main Collection	658.5 SLA (Browse shelf(Opens below))	1	Available		39002100395996

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Operations Strategy is focused on the interaction between operational resources and external requirements. Companies such as Apple, Google and Tesco have transformed their prospects through the way they manage their operations resources strategically, turning their operations capabilities into a formidable asset. These and other examples in this book illustrate the broad and long-term issues of Operations Strategy that complement the more operational, immediate, tangible and specific issues that define Operations Management. Building on concepts from strategic management, operations management, marketing and HRM, this text offers a clear, well-structured and interesting insight into the more advanced topic of Operations Strategy in a variety of business organisations.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

1 What is operations strategy?
2 Operations performance
3 Capacity strategy
4 Supply network strategy
5 Process technology strategy
6 Improvement strategy
7 Product and service development and organization
8 The process of operations strategy - sustainable alignment
9 The process of operations strategy - substitutes for strategy?
10 The process of operations strategy - implementation?
Case studies

Excerpt provided by Syndetics

Names are important. They are used to set expectations as much as they are used to describe something. This particularly applies to the seemingly simple title of this book: Operations Strategy.Depending on the punctuation you use, the meaning you ascribe to either word, or even the order of the words, could refer to several areas of study. These words could refer to the larger-term impact of day-to-day operations, the medium-term direction of a narrowly defined organizational function, or the more nebulous and dynamic interaction between all operational resources and the external requirements they attempt to satisfy. It is this last interpretation that forms the focus of this book. INTRODUCTION Just as some physical objects are so big that it can be difficult to see their whole, some concepts are so broadly based that they can be difficult to define. Operations strategy, as we see it, is like this. It is so all-embracing that it is easy to downplay the significance of the subject. Yet, operations strategy both lies at the heart of how organizations manage their strategic intent in practice, and is the context within which managers make strategic decisions. Take a look at some of the decisions with which operations strategy is concerned: How should the organization satisfy the requirements of its customers? What intrinsic capabilities should the organization try and develop as the foundation for its long-term success? How specialized should the organization's activities become? Should the organization sacrifice some of its objectives in order to excel at others? How big should the organization be? Where should the organization locate its resources? When should it expand or contract, and by how much? What should it do itself and what should it contract out to other businesses? How should it develop relationships with other organizations? What type of technology should it invest in? How should it organize the way it develops new products and services? How should it bind together its resources into an organizational structure? How should the organization's resources and processes be improved and developed over time? What guiding principles should shape the way any organization formulates its operations strategies? All these questions are not merely important, they are fundamental.No organization, whether large or small, for-profit, or not-for-profit, in the services or manufacturing sector, international or local, can ignore such questions. Operations strategy is central, ubiquitous, and vital to any organization's sustained success. THE AIM OF THIS BOOK The aim of this book is provide a treatment of operations strategy that is clear, well structured, and interesting. It seeks to apply some of the ideas of operations strategy in a variety of businesses and organizations. The text provides a logical path through the key activities and decisions of operations strategy as well as covering the broad principles that underlie the subject and the way in which operations strategies are put together in practice. More specifically, the text aims to be: Balancedin its treatment of the subject. In addition to taking the orthodox "market-led" approach to operations strategy, the book also provides an alternative but complementary "resource-based" perspective. Conceptualin the way it treats the decisions, activities, and processes that together form an organization's operations strategy. Although some examples are quantified, the overall treatment in the book is managerial and practical. Comprehensivein its coverage of the more important ideas and issues that are relevant to most types of business. In any book covering such a broad area as operations strategy, one cannot cover e Excerpted from Operations Strategy by Nigel Slack, Michael Lewis All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.