Contrast Toshiba’s Business Strategy in Notebook Computers and the Operation Strategy in the Plant

Contrast Toshiba’s business strategy in notebook computers and the operation strategy in the plant.

Toshiba’s business strategy-

1. Technologically superior products

2. Aggressive pricing

Their operations strategy has many positives which complement their business strategy. The most salient ones are as follows-

1. Toshiba has superior display technology (TFT), hard disks, optical drives, Lithium Ion batteries etc and highly capable R&D facilities in their factory premises.

2. Toshiba has a sophisticated communication network which helps in coordination amongst different manufacturing facilities and the Parts collection & distribution centre, hence reducing process time.

3. Proximity of R&D labs to manufacturing helped in continuous improvement of assembly line processes.

4. Toshiba has part time works, workers from affiliates and an extra assembly line to accommodate a spurt in demand.

5. Workers at Toshiba possess flexible skill set and are capable of working at different positions in the line.

6. High degree of focus on quality assurance to ensure highly reliable products.

Apart from the positives, there are a few lacunae in the operations strategy of Toshiba which are not in sync with their business strategy-

1. Inventory levels at Toshiba’s OME facility as well as at Fujihashi Parts Collection and Distribution Centre can be optimized to lower levels to achieve better cost efficiency. Specially at OME inventory is of 2 weeks, which is too high for products with life time of only 6 months.

2. Toshiba invests in expensive technologies to come up with new products.