Production planning, scheduling, and control involve the identification of the time and volume of production, to ensure that the items of interest and produced at optimal costs. The artifact that is relevant to this area of knowledge is optimization modeling and solution techniques. The president of Southwestern University has noticed the increasing capacity of the stadium, hence forming a strategy to ensure that the number is accommodated. The leader of the university has two options – to build a new stadium or to enlarge the capacity of the existing one.
The selection of a better option depends on the optimal levels of service associated with the option (Gnonlonfoun & Szymczyk, 2018). This is a strategic planning level since the president is not only considering the fitness of the stadium to accommodate the existing capacity, but also the expected traffic.
Customer relationship management is a matter of importance to the president of Southwestern University, hence he suggests that the stadium should be expanded to avoid the complaints of clients regarding seating, parking, long lines, and concession stand fines. CRM considers the sentiments of clients regarding a product or service, hence necessitating the adoption of strategies for the improvement of customer experience (Mangla, et. al., 2019).
This avoids the risks such as the impact of client complaints about the quality of services. Poor customer experience may force them to shift to other providers. CRM is relevant to both tactical and strategic planning levels. The desire to have a good customer experience is the tactic for the retention or enhancement of customer loyalty towards the services provided by Southwestern University. CRM is also an appropriate strategy for improving the public image of the university, hence making it possible to increase the number of clients.
Performance measurement (KPIs) is a major matter for the president of Southwestern University. Due to the expected high performance in the games, and the resultant high ranking, the president contracted a specialized coach to train the school team. The university leader hopes that with the hiring of the top coach, the performance of the school team would improve, and ultimately achieve the desired first rank. The special training led to enhanced performance and provided high attendance of five Saturday home games. Therefore, the recruitment of the new coach was aimed at the optimization of the performance of the school team.
Performance management is relevant both to operational, tactical, and strategic planning levels. Operational planning is aimed at improving the functions of functions within a particular entity (Harsha, Submanian, & Ettl, 2019). Tactical planning involves the application of techniques for the achievement of a specific aim, while strategic planning focuses on the attainment of a specific target.
The president of Southwestern University is concerned about the management of finances – the cost of expanding the existing stadium compared to that of building a new one. The request for the development of a break-even point for each of the centers and the consequent determination of the selling prices of the items is a strategy for the optimization of the associated costs and profits from the sales of the items. The adjustment of expenditure and revenues is operational planning since it aims at optimizing the costs and profits generated from the sales of the products (Mangla, et. al., 2019). Cost optimization is also a strategic planning technique to adjust variable costs and salaries.
Summary for Case Study 2: Martin-Pullin Bicycle Corporation
The facility location of the retail outlets is a strategy applied by the management of Martin-Pullin Bicycle Corporation, to optimize delivery time. This is relevant to the strategic and operational planning levels, to ensure that the retail outlet receives the orders within the shortest time. Inventory management is also the crucial parameter for the company – to ensure that the outlets have enough products in stock, the firm makes arrangements to source for the bicycles from other distributors (Deque-Uribe, Sarache, & Gutierrez, 2019).
This optimizes the levels of stock at any time and is relevant to the operational and tactical levels of planning. The strategies applied to ensure that the inventory is not depleted enhances the efficiency of operations. Procurement, sourcing, and outsourcing are also application areas that are observed by the firm. The company considers the outsourcing, in case the production plant cannot deliver the required stock to the outlets. This is relevant to the operational planning level since this decision ensures that the sales operations at the retail outlets performed steadily.
Customer relationship management is enhanced by a 95% service level. A company’s reputation depends on the sentiments of clients regarding how it handles all the operations, and the general efficiency of services (Harsha, Submanian, & Ettl, 2019). The improvement of customer relations optimizes the levels of procedures and also reduces the risk of making losses on the missed orders. Customer relationship management is relevant at the operational planning level since, at this stage, an organization upgrade all the activities to achieve the highest operational efficiencies. Moreover, CRM is also appropriate for strategic planning, which incorporates the adoption of techniques for the minimization of chances of making losses.
International logistics involves the sourcing of goods from different regions of the globe. Martin-Pullin Bicycle Corporation sources its products from a company located in another country. However, the processes involved in the procurement of goods from an external manufacturer should be optimized. This is related to the operational planning level, since the decision to outsource may be aimed at reducing some of the costs associated with local production (Deque-Uribe, Sarache, & Gutierrez, 2019).
Moreover, stocking the items may be a strategy for conducting sales for the producer company, hence relevant to the tactical planning level. The decision to outsource products from an external supplier may also be a strategic plan by Martin-Pullin Bicycle Corporation, to gain adequate knowledge about the products and start their production within the existing facility (PWC, 2019). International logistics can also be a strategy to improve the corporate image of the firm.
The activities of Martin-Pullin Bicycle Corporation are related to the area of financial management. The company is concerned about the cost of communication, paperwork, and customs clearance, in the process of conducting international logistics. The firm is also observant of the costs incurred per order, the prices paid per bicycle in relation to the selling price, and the expenditure in carrying the inventory.
Therefore, the need to prepare an inventory plan is aimed at the optimization of the costs associated with the sourcing and sales of bicycles. The most relevant methodology for this case is optimization, modeling, and solution techniques (United Nations, 2019). The optimization of costs occurs at the operational level since, at this stage, the levels of expenditure in conducting the procurement activities are adjusted. Moreover, cost analysis is relevant to the strategic planning level, since it is crucial in forecasting the future costs of business.
References
- Deque-Uribe, V., Sarache, W., & Gutierrez, E. (2019). Sustainable supply chain management practices and sustainable performance in hospitals: A systematic review and integrative framework. Universidad Nacional de Colombia.
- Gnonlonfoun, M., & Szymczyk, K. (2018). Measures of cost optimization based on the examples of French Companies. Czestochowa University of Technology.
- Harsha, P., Submanian, S., & Ettl, M. (2019). A practical price optimization approach for omni-channel retailing. IBM.
- Mangla, S., Luthra, S., Jakhar, S., Kumar, A., & Rana, N. (2019). Sustainable procurement in supply chain operations. CRC Press Taylor and Francis Group.
- PWC. (2019). More for less: Five steps to strategic cost reduction. Author.
- United Nations. (2019). Procurement management manual. United Nations. Web.