MIS 373 WEEK 2 BLOG

The week 2 of MIS 373 introduced some topics of reliability, strategic capacity planning, and quality control in the process of producing a product or service. Those concepts are all important for companies to maintain competitiveness in today’s market. Especially, the topic of strategic capacity planning was covered extensively in this week’s lectures. According to the lectures, strategic capacity planning helps to achieve a match between the long-term supply capabilities and the predicted level of long-term demand for a company to gain profit. Here, the instructor indicates that capacity decisions are strategic because capacity decisions impact many crucial components of a company. It could affect the ability of the organization to meet future customer demands and operating costs, and finally it could impact the competitiveness of the company.

After learning the importance of capacity planning, I have found that this concept can be related to the current event in the world. In the article titled “The iPad Continues to Struggle, and a New iPhone Could Make It Worse” from businessweek.com, the content emphasizes how important and meaningful a good capacity planning is, and how it influences a company’s growing. According to this reading, Apple is facing inventory issues of iPads.  Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook told investors that “IPad sales met our expectations, but we realize they didn't meet many of yours”.

Tim Cook focused on the enterprise market to sell iPads. Although Apple has a big proportion of that market, Apple isn"t satisfied with how many businesses are adopting tablets. This problem is due to the wrong capacity planning. They neglect the impact of smartphones. Many people believe that smartphones have more powerful processors, and bigger screens make them seem less necessary. Also, whenever Apple does release its new iPhones, they will likely be both bigger and more powerful than the iPhone 5S. 

The improper capacity planning gets the company in trouble. The over-capacity planning causes many inventory issues to Apple, which can dramatically increase its operating costs. In today’s world, the business environment is changing all the time. Companies should recognize those changes and make new capacity plans adjust to those changes.

References:

(1) Srikar Velichety Eller MIS 373 Summer Session 2, 2014 slides, CH 5,

(2) http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-07-22/the-ipad-continues-to-struggle-and-a-new-iphone-could-make-it-worse

MIS 373 Week 1 blog

The first week of MIS 373 taught by Srikar Velichety introduced some basic concepts of operations management. This course emphasizes how operations management plays an important role in today’s business. The instructor covered topics such as operations strategies, effective planning and decision-making process, and goods/service design, and etc. Operations management helps all operators and managers in the company make better decisions, and it supports the whole company run well.

My knowledge about operations management from MIS 373 so far can be related to the current event in the world. In the article titled “Why MBAs Should Consider Operations Management” from businessweek.com, the author mentions, “Operations may not have the immediately obvious career appeal of finance or strategy. But anyone who makes it their focus will have an enormous advantage when they graduate”. It concentrates on the importance of operations for a company, even like a so successful company like Apple.

This article gives the case of Apple as an example. The new Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook made his name under Steve Jobs by doing excellent operations management. According to the report, Apple employees give the new CEO a 97% approval rating.  Apple follows the model of building international supply chains while keeping top management, marketing, and design in their home market. In this case, operation drives everything. Mr. Cook is concerned about the mission of the company and Apple’s impact on society. As we have learned in class, mission gives the company ideas on how you serve your company and the reason for a company’s existence. Apple has done a great job so far.

On an operational level in the organization, understanding and applying concepts of operations management is necessary. In the process of producing and designing goods and service, operations management becomes the most crucial step to maintain the competitiveness in today’s business environment.

References:

(1) Srikar Velichety Eller MIS 373 Summer Session 2, 2014 slides, CH 1,2,4

(2) http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-04-02/why-mbas-should-consider-operations-management

(3) http://www.businessweek.com/videos/2012-03-30/97-percent-employee-approval-rate-for-apple-ceo