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What is operations management and why is it important
What is operations management and why is it important
Operation management nature and role
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Operations Management of the Kroger Company
Operations management is essential for the survival and success of any organization. According to Heizer & Render (2011), operations management (OM) is the set of activities that creates value in the form of goods and services by transforming inputs into outputs. Operations managers today contend with competition, globalization, inflation, consumer demand, and consistent change in technology. Managers must focus on the efficiency and effectiveness of processes such as cost, dependability, distribution, flexibility, and speed. The intent of this paper is to discuss the processes and operations management of the Kroger Company.
History and Background
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, The Kroger Company is one of the largest supermarket retailers across the United States. Founded in 1883, Barney Kroger invested his life savings of $372 to open his first grocery store at 66 Pearl Street in downtown Cincinnati. (Kroger, 2011). Barney was quite proud. He was the first grocer ever to have a bakery, to sell meat, and to sell other groceries all in one store. From the start, Barney operated his business with a simple motto: “Be particular. Never sell anything you would not want yourself.” (Kroger, 2011). Today, one hundred and twenty-eight years later, the Kroger Company is still following Barney’s motto.
With consistent growth to accommodate more variety, more merchandise, and the convenience of one-stop shopping, Mr. Kroger may not recognize the Kroger Company today. Under two dozen banners such as City Market, Dillon’s, King Soopers, Kroger, Fry’s and Ralphs the Kroger Company operates 2,439 supermarkets in 31 states, 788 convenience stores under six banners in 18 states, a...
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...n Education, Inc.
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Operations refers to the transformation of raw materials(inputs) into finished products(outputs). The operations process is one of the key business functions and is a crucial component to business success. Like every business, Qantas is affected by many internal and external influences requiring it to have effective strategies to respond to these influences. Businesses that are able to adopt and utilise effective operational strategies are able to quickly adapt and either reduce or take advantage of these influences that impact the business. The effectiveness of these strategies can measured by Qantas’ performance and whether or not it is able to hold it’s competitive advantage. How well these strategies respond to the influences on operations will determine the level of success that Qantas achieves.
The framework that will compare Publix Super Markets and its competitors is the Five Forces Model of Competition. The five aspects that will be discussed are the threat of new entrants into the market, the bargaining power of suppliers and buyers, threat of substitute products and rivalry among competing firms. Striving for the optimal position in each of these categories has given Publix Super Markets the reputation it has pride towards earning. It is important to every compa...
You are a management consultant for Kroger to analyze communications and leadership. You have been asked to submit a final report to the executive team with UR findings including the following USE terms Communications and culture:
Publix Super Markets, Inc. is a Florida-based grocery chain that has flourished since its inception in 1930. The first store opened in Winter Haven, Florida and to this day Publix has expanded to well over 1,000 stores in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. The supermarket chain now boasts over $25 billion in sales annually (Mujtaba and Johnson, 2012). To withstand the test of time and develop such a stronghold on the market, Publix has excelled in its global business community or macroenvironment, as well as its market environment or microenvironment.
Over one hundred years ago, an entrepreneur named Sebastian Spering Kresge opens his first retail store in 1899. The store was named Five-and-Dime and was located in downtown Detroit. The store was named Five-and-Dime because everything in the store was priced at either five cents or ten cents. This low price gained him a lot of customers and a lot of publicity. With this new found publicity, in 1912, he opened 85 more stores with annual sales of $10 million. As time went on, the prices have changed to $1 or less, but the business philosophy has remained the same. Around this time, the retail environment was getting very competitive, and the company needed to make some changes to keep up. In 1959, Kresge hired Harry B. Cunningham to become the president of the company. Under Cunningham leadership, the first Kmart store was opened in 1962 in Garden City, Michigan. In 1966, sales in 162 Kmart stores and Kresge stores topped the $1 billion mark and in 1968, the S. S. Kresge aired its first T.V. commercial. In 1976, Kresge made history by opening 271 Kmart stores in 1 year and becoming the first ever retailer to launch 17 million square feet of sales space in a single year. By 1977, nearly 95% of the S. S. Kresge sales were generated by Kmart so the company officially decided to change its name to Kmart Corporations. In 1991, Kmart opened the first supercenter in Medina, Ohio offering a full-service grocery area. In 1996, a complete redesign of Kmart was launched, changing its name to Big Kmart [or BigK] and in 1999, Kmart launch a new internet presence, named bluelight.com [now known as kmart.com]. In 2002, Kmart filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. (Corpor...
Jalexson states that in 2003 Edward Lambert rescued Kmart from bankruptcy. Lambert wanted to attract customer’s back, but the closing of 28% of Kmarts over the last two years hurts the chains ability to attract customers and forced the remaining stores to pay a higher portion of advertising costs. Then, in January of 2003 CEO Julian Day said that when a company exits bankruptcy it should emphasize the exclusive brands like; Joe Boxer, Sesame Street and of course Martha Stewart (2003). As mentioned by Karush, starting in October of 2004 Aylwin Lewis was named CEO of Kmart and will be involved in merging Kmart with Sears (2005). With inconsistent management and objectives, Kmart has been struggling to create concrete guidelines necessary to improve store performance.
In the Grocery industry today there are 4 major companies that dominate the United States market share; Kroger, Safeway, Super value and Publix. With the competitive advantage of being the largest stores in the industry these retail giants should have competition at a minimum and should be thriving (Farfan, US Largest Retail Supermarkets - Complete List). The application of Porter’s Five Forces that influence an industry shows that these retailers do have many advantages but being vulnerable in even one of the areas can make a significant difference in market share and profitability.
The Kroger Co has had an intensive background in retail customer services throughout American Culture. The moving force behind the company has been contributed to Bernard Henry Barney, who invested $372 and
Analyze effects of the democratic approach to store operation and hiring new associates on store performance. (Ch. 13)
The first Walmart was located in Rogers, Arkansas, it was founded in 1962, by Sam Walton, he called it simply “Walton’s”. At first it started as a small town mom & pop store, and then it grew, the original store is actually now the location for The Walmart Museum.
Operations management focuses on carefully managing the processes to reduce and distribute products and services. Related activities include managing purchases, inventory control, quality control, storages, logistics and evaluations. A great deal of focus is on efficiency and effectiveness of processes. Therefore, operations management often includes substantial measurement and analysis of internal processes. Ultimately, the nature of how the operations management is carried out in an organisation depends very much on the nature of products or services in the organisation, for example, retail, manufacturing, wholesale and etcetera.
Operations management strategies play an important role in any organization to achieve organizational goals. An organization uses these operations strategies to maintain and control all its operations...
Schonberger, R.J. and E.M. Knod Jr. Operations Management: Continuous Improvement. Richard D. Irwin, 1994, p. 44. 16. Selto, F.H. and D.W. Jasinski. "
In every organization, different operational functions exist to ensure the smooth learning of the organization. In order for an individual to have the knowhow on how to operate the functions delegated to them they must have implicit knowledge on the functionalities themselves. Understanding markets, customers and the company goals has always proven to be a core starting point for individuals who ply their trade in the organization. The essence of the skills is evident in globalization, cooperate social responsibility and risk management issues. In operations management, the basic principles of operations should be followed to ensure that the profitability of the organization ensures the operation of the organization is
University of Phoenix(Ed.).(2003) Operations management for competitive advantage[University of Phoenix custom edition e-text]. New York: McGraw-Hill. Retrieved February 01, 2005, from university of phoenix, Resource, MGT554- operations management website: https://mycampus.phoenix.edu/secure/resource/resource.asp