Operations Management

Operations management is defined as the management of systems or processes that create goods and/or provide services. It is vital for a person like myself who is studying Marketing to understand the importance of operations management as it relates to the field of Marketing. The operations function aims to add value during the transformation process from inputs to outputs. The greater the value-added in the production of a good or service, the greater the effectiveness of the operation. Marketing a product/ service is similar in that the overall goal of any marketing campaign is to deliver a product/service that adds value to a consumer and meets some previous unsatisfied need. When the operations function produces a good/service that adds extreme value it is easier for a marketer to sell that product to a consumer. Customers can have a direct impact on the operations system just as customers are key figures in the creation and success of any marketing project or campaign. The greater the customer involvement in an operations system, the more difficult it becomes to design and manage and effective system. This is similar to any market researcher or product manager who through the use of surveys and market testing must take into account the demands of a customer in the creation of a marketing project or campaign.

Supply chain management is a good example for the need of the operations and marketing functions to work together to satisfy consumer demand. It is the job of the marketer to determine what a customer wants and they can do this by forecasting the level and timing of consumer demand. Product/service design must match customer demands before the marketing of the product/service can even begin, which will then have a domino effect that will impact capacity planning and distribution among other areas in the supply chain. Forecasting is a key tool in operations management and learning and understanding the concept will be an asset if I were to ever find myself in the role of a market researcher or product manager.

Memorandum

Productivity is vital to the success of our organization both presently and in the long-run. Productivity is the measure of the effective use of an organization's resources compared to the output produced. In a time where it is more important than ever to minimize costs and remain viable, productivity seems to be the best route for our organization. The current economic crisis is forcing the business world to search for methods of survival. Productivity has been proven