Introduction
A business strategy should be geared towards the increase of the company profit. To tailor the business strategy to the aim of the business enterprise operations managers should come up with low cost strategy that concentrates on narrow range of products. Marketing managers may also be compelled to come up with sales strategy that increases sales volume. This can be achieved by offering a wide range of products. Concerned business managers have to ensure that the business becomes successful by devising policies that enable them to compete favorably in their market niche. The managers have to choose the types of the products they want to deal with and to be responsive to the changing conditions. They also have to review and revise the functional strategies they have employed constantly.
Operations strategy has to deal with the structure of the production system. Policies that define the infrastructure of the firm are also involved in a company’s operations strategy. Operations strategy must be consistent with all strategy levels so as to support the whole firm’s strategy. Success of any operations strategy depends on its capability to generate personal abilities to enable the firm to have competitive advantage over its present and potential competitors in a more proactive way. In fact, it is the vision of the operation functions that relies on corporate management for decision making purposes. Performance of an operations strategy forms a basis for making decision pertaining to firm’s attainment of competitive advantage over other rival firms. It also acts as a feedback to an organization’s corporate strategy.
Objectives of the Paper
This paper seeks to compare Eveready Exhausts and Gray’s Garage with respect to their business and operation strategies. The paper also discusses the relationships between business strategies and operations strategies of the mentioned companies. Finally, the paper undertakes to discuss how a decision by Eveready Exhausts to introduce other services like the servicing of breaks and changing of engine oil filters to the already existing ones will affect its business strategies as well as its operation strategies. Gray’s strategy revolves around offering full range of car servicing. They charge fair price for first class services. When major repair has to be done implying that the customer’s car has to stay away from the road for more than 24 hours, Gray’s garage lends their customers a courtesy car.
Comparison of Eveready Exhausts and Grays Garage
Business and operation strategies Eveready Exhausts implements as an advantageous competitiveness is limited to using specialized equipment to increase staff productivity. Alternatively, the company can come up with a workshop lay out that enhances the productivity of their staff. Eveready Exhausts can also train new recruits to acquire the desired level of expertise within the shortest period of time. Finally, the company can consider keeping a limited range of stock to minimize costs that are incurred due to storage. It has to keep a large range of stocks to be engaged into the successful process. Store men have to be hired to look after these stocks.
A flexible workshop layout is one of the competitive advantages for Gray’s garage. This company can easily use stalls to repair door locks, to overhaul an engine, or to wash car. It must hire staff with wide range of skills in comparison to those who work at Eveready Exhausts. Highly skilled staff should be motivated by attractive pay packages offered to them.
Business Strategies and Operations Strategies: Comparative and Contrast Analysis of Eveready Exhausts and Grays Garage
Being a car servicing business, Eveready Exhausts provides a narrow range of services which are cheaper compared to those of Grays Garage. Eveready Exhausts deals in exhausts, tires, and shock absorbers opposed to Grays Garage that does alignment, body repair work, engine overhaul and other tasks in addition to those offered by Eveready Exhausts (Hill 2000, p. 54). Grays Garage has some sort of competitive advantage over Eveready Exhausts because it offers additional services that the latter cannot afford, despite the fact that the prices of Eveready Exhausts are lower. Eveready’s strategy of not making the customer to wait for more than thirty minutes and if circumstances dictate that they wait they can do so in a customer waiting room complete with a complementary coffee machine gives the company a competitive advantage over its competitor who does not offer such services. Thus, Eveready Exhausts delivers better services to its customers for lower price in comparison with Grays Garage whose services are more expensive, however the customer is offered the whole range of possible help.
Relationship between Business Strategies and Operations Strategies
Business strategy calls for the input of the senior management staff in an organization either from operations department or any other department that exists within that organization. All the management staff has a mandate to build a successful business and come up with policies that can make their organization to have a competitive edge over its competitors. The management has to choose the products to supply irrespective of the fact that it is the operations department where issues relating to manufacturing and supply are handled (Neilslen-Englyst 2003, p. 680). The management has to be responsive to changing business environment and undertake to review and revise its functional strategies. An operation strategy is supposed to support an organization overall business strategy. Operation strategy encompasses various operation decisions and actions to respond to competitive priorities settled on by business strategy. Operation strategy helps in determining and developing firms operations resources to enhance compatibility between the amassed resources and the business strategy. It helps in handling issues related to how major organizational resources can be aligned so that an organization’s corporate aims are realized. The questions that it addresses include the capacity, location, processes, technology, and timing. The success of a business strategy relies on the proper integration of the operations strategy with other functions at corporate level. Operations strategy gives a firm a competitive edge over its competitors as well it helps in achieving a firm’s business strategy. Through distinct and unique technological development, a business strategy can help make a firm have a marketing edge over its competitors thereby helping in realization of business strategy. Once a firm invests in technology that its competitors do not have, the firm will have competitive edge over its competitors. Distinctive competencies that are brought about by operations strategies largely help a firm in actualizing their business strategies (Lewis 2003, p. 751). This is exemplified when a firm wins orders over its competitors. To be successful, an organization’s operations strategy must encourage the establishment of a set of guidelines consistent with the firm’s core competency.
Effect of Eveready Exhausts’ Changes in Services: Impact on Business and Operation Strategies
Eveready Exhausts is aimed at adding such new servicing as brakes repairing and changing engine oil and filters. These services are going to be added to the company’s existing range of services. When Eveready Exhausts undertakes to begin servicing brakes and changing engine oil filters, it will have to higher more staff and buy more stock. This implies that the company’s operational costs are going to increase. The company, therefore, will not charge the price charged initially for the services it renders to their staff. Its pricing obviously gives the company a competitive advantage over its competitor, Gray’s garage. At the same time, offering more services, pricing is not going to give them an upper hand over their competitors as the only advantage. Eveready Exhausts has to acquire equipment for ensuring that they provide the best of services to have competitive advantage over its competitors. It also have to make sure that they higher staff who are very qualified and if there are none they have to undertake to train their current staff for servicing breaks and changing engine oil filters. The company’s stock has to be replenished to ensure that any spare part needed in the process of engaging in the added services they offer is present. Eveready Exhausts has to ensure that it expands its warehouses to create more room for accommodation new business it is engaged into. It is imperative that Eveready Exhausts remains responsive to the demands of the market, so they keep on improving service delivery to remain alive to the dreams and aspirations of their customers.
Reference List
Hill, T 2000, Manufacturing Strategy: Text and Cases 3rd ed. Homewood, IL: Irwin.
Lewis, MA 2003, ‘Analyzing organizational competence: Implications for the management of operations’, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, vol. 23, no. 7, pp. 731–756.
Neilslen-Englyst, L 2003, ‘Operations strategy formation — a continuous process’, Integrated Manufacturing Systems, vol. 14, no.8, pp. 677–685.