Distinguish between the term corporate strategy and operations strategy Corporate strategy Meaning and purpose Corporate strategy provides an overall direction that serves as the framework for carrying out all the organization's functions. It specifies the business or businesses the company will pursue, isolates new opportunities and threats in the environment, and identifies growth objectives. Factors to consider while developing the strategy Developing corporate strategy involves considering environment, industry, corporate resources, core competencies, core processes and global strategies. Level of strategy It is a corporate level strategy, which is at a higher level than operations strategy Formulation Corporate level strategy is formulated by top management to oversee the interests and operations of an organization made up of more than one line of business Constituents Corporate and business strategies are holistic / overall strategies and include growth, stability and retrenchment strategies Example Spice airways has business strategy of competing on price. Its operations strategy is to run a no frill low cost flights easily affordable for the middle class Operations strategy Meaning and purpose Operations strategy specifies the means by which operations implements corporate strategy and helps to build customer driven firm. It links long terms and short term operations decisions to corporate strategy and develops the capabilities the firm needs to be competitive. Factors to consider while developing the strategy Developing customer driven operations strategy begins with corporate strategy, which coordinates the firm's overall goals with its core processes. Developing a firm's operations strategy is a continuous process because the firms capabilities to meet the competitive priorities must be periodically checked and any gaps in performance must be addressed in the operations strategy. Level of strategy It is a functional level strategy, which is at a lower level than operations strategy. A functional level strategy identifies the basic course of action that each of the department must pursue in order to help the business unit to attain its goals. Formulation

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Operations strategy is formulated by middle management in coordination with other functional departments especially marketing Constituents The operations strategy help to achieve the overall corporate strategy and deals with design products, processes , technology and quality.The operations strategy matches an organization's capability with the customer needs and wants. Example Spice airways has business strategy of competing on price. Its operations strategy is to run a no frill low cost flights easily affordable for the middle class Enumerate the objectives of product design Product design is the mother of all operations processes in an organization. The processes for manufacture, the planning of production, the processes and checks for quality, and even logistics depends on nature of the product. Product design includes form, functional and package design. The following are some of the objectives of product design 1. The overall objective is profit generation in the long run 2. To achieve the desired product quality 3. To reduce the development time and cost to the minimum 4. To reduce the cost of the product 5. To ensure producibility or manufacturibility (design for manufacturing and assembly) Thus product design must satisfy a broad array of requirements in a condition of balanced effectiveness. A product is designed to perform a particular function or set of functions effectively and reliably, to be economically manufacturable, to be profitably salable, to suit the purposes and the attitudes of the consumer, and to be durable, safe, and economical to operate. For instance, the design must take into consideration the particular manufacturing facilities, available materials, know-how, and economic resources of the manufacturer. The product may need to be packaged; usually it will also need to be shipped so that it should be light in weight and sturdy of construction. The product should appear significant, effective, compatible with the culture, and appear to be worth more than the price.

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Differentiate between operations management and production management Production Management: Definition: Production management refers to the application of management principles to the production function in a productive system such as a factory or a manufacturing plant Type of system: It involves application of planning, organising, directing and controlling the production processes employed for the conversion of inputs into outputs in a productive system Type of output: Production management is more used for a system where tangible goods are produced Viewed from this perspective production management will cover manufacturing enterprises like cement plant, steel plant etc Historical precedence: Precedes operations management and is much older concept than operations management Characteristics Tends to inherit the characteristics of a manufacturing system or process as given below: Low customer contact Capital intensive Quality and productivity can be easily measured as it is objectively determined Inputs and outputs are highly uniform or standardized Opportunity to correct quality problems before delivery to customer is high Operations Management: Definition: Operations management refers to a set of activities that creates value in the form of goods and/or services by transforming inputs into outputs. Type of system: Operations management designs and operates operating system Type of output: operations management is more frequently used where various inputs are transformed into intangible services. Viewed from this perspective, operations management will cover such service organizations like banks, airlines, utilities, pollution control etc in addition to manufacturing enterprises. Historical precedence: Operations Management is of recent origin and is preceded and influenced by Production Management Characteristics Tends to inherit the characteristics of a service system or process as given below:

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High customer contact Labour intensive Quality and productivity cannot be easily measured as it is subjectively determined Inputs and outputs are not highly uniform or standardized Opportunity to correct quality problems before delivery to customer is low How do you classify demand forecasting based on time horizon? A forecast is usually classified by the future time horizon it covers. Accordingly the three categories of forecasts are: 1. Short range forecast: This forecast has a time span of upto one year, but is generally less than three months. It can be even for monthly or weekly forecasts. It is used for planning purchasing, job scheduling, workforce levels, job assignments and production levels. 2. Medium range forecast or intermediate range: A medium range or intermediate range forecast generally spans from 3 months to 3 years. It is used in sales planning, production planning and budgeting, cash budgeting and analysing various operating plans. 3. Long range forecast: Generally 3 years or more in time span, long range forecasts are used in new product planning and development, capital expenditure planning and planning for facility location or expansion and research and development. Write a short note on Operations strategy Operations strategy is a long range game plan for the production of a company's products/services and provides a road map for what the production or operations function must do if business strategies are to be achieved. Operations strategies include decisions on such issues as what new products or services must be developed and when they must be introduced into production, what new facilities are required and when they are needed, what new technologies and processes must be developed and when they are needed, and what production schemes will be followed to produce products/services. The elements of operations strategy are: 1)Positioning the production system 2)Product/service plans 3)Outsourcing plans 4)Process and technology plans 5)Strategic allocation of resources and 6)Facility plans: capacity, location and layout

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Enumerate the four steps in location selection The four steps in location selection are: 1. Within the country or outside: The first step in plant location is to decide whether the facility should be located domestically or internationally. Globalisation is the key catalyst making such decisions crtical. The next step once going international is decided will be which country should it be. The following are few considerations a. Political stabilty export and import b. Currency and import c. Cultural and economic peculiarities d. Natural environment 2. Selection of the region: The second step is the selection of particular region out of the many natural regions of a country . The following factors influence such selection a. Availability of raw materials b. Nearness to the market c. Availability of power d. Transport facilities e. Suitability of climate f. Government policy g. Competition between states 3. Selection of the locality or community: selecting a particular locality or community in a region is the third step in plant location. The selection of a locality in a particular region is influenced by the following factors: a. Availability of labour b. Civic amenities for workers c. Existence of complementary and competing industries d. Finance and research facilities e. Availability of water and fire fighting facilities f. Local taxes and restrictions g. Momentum of an early start h. Personal factors 4. Selection of the exact site: The selection of an exact site in a chosen locality is the fourth step. The following considerations influence the same: a. Soil, size and topography b. Disposal of waste

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How do you classify forecasting based on the subject of forecast Based on the subject of forecast, the following are different types of forecast 1. Technological forecasts are concerned with rates of technological progress. Technological changes will provide many companies with new products and materials to offer for sale. Even if the products remain unchanged, a new process using new or improved technology can improve the efficiencies 2. Economic forecasts: These are statements of expected future business conditions published by governmental agencies. These forecasts address business cycle by predicting inflation rates, money supplies, level of employment, gnp etc. These forecasts give ideas about long range and intermediate range business growth to business organisations. 3. Demand forecasts are projections of demand for a company's products or services. These forecasts are also called as sales forecasts give the expected level of demand for a company's goods or services through out some future period and usually provide the basis for the company's planning and control decisions. Write a brief note on tracking signal. Once a forecast has been completed, it needs to be monitored and corrected periodically by determining why actual demand differed from the projected. One way to monitor forecasts to ensure that they are performing well is to use a tracking signal. A tracking signal is a measurement of how well the forecast is predicting actual values. Tracking signal = Running sum of forecast errors/ Mean absolute deviation Where RSFE is the sum of the difference between the actual demand in period I and forecast demand in period I and mean absolute deviation is given by dividing forecast errors by n

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