Businesses that produce goods and services often rely on a system that optimizes the use of resources, people and processes. Ensuring the system works efficiently and toward the organization’s overall goals is a priority for many businesses. Having an operations strategy in place can be helpful in the planning of processes and tasks and aligning them with the larger goals of your organization. In this article, we discuss what an operations strategy is along with the benefits of having one and key success factors.
What is an operations strategy?
An operations strategy is a set of decisions an organization makes regarding the production and delivery of its goods. Organizations may consider each step they take toward manufacturing or delivering a product an operation, and all decisions regarding these various operations are the operations strategy. An organization’s operations strategy works in tandem with its overall business strategy, helping the organization to achieve its long-term goals and improve competitiveness in the marketplace.
For example, a company that produces and sells computers may have the following operations:
Obtaining materials
Working with suppliers
Designing new computers
Manufacturing computer designs
Managing employees
Delivering finished computers to sellers or consumers