Operational Performance Objectives - Case Study Example

Operational Performance Objectives Name: Institution: Course: Lecturer: Date: Introduction While different set of business functions have their own prudent set of goals, it is quite often that they overlap. The main reason behind this is that each business aims at maximizing its own profits. The other supplementary goals work in line with the overarching goal (profit maximization). For instance, the marketing goal towards consumer’s loyalty acts as an expression of financial goal in a number of reasons. First, it is always less costly to retain existing consumers than gain new ones. Secondly, loyal customers appraise the firm and spread the word verbally. Thirdly, loyal customers do not like purchasing from the competitors in order to make the business grow and add more value to them (Mackelprang & Alan 2014, 47). In this context, this paper analyses and observes each goal individually which contributes to the performance objectives of Sharaf DG and Eros Digital Home. The two companies are based in the United Arabs Emirates. Sharaf DG Sharaf DG is a leading conglomerate in the United Arab Emirates. Initially, the company was established to be a shipping agency but now consists of more than 60 companies engaged in 6 business sectors; that is, Information Technology, Travel and Tourism, Consumer Products, Real Estate, Construction as well as Financial Services. The company deals with different brand of products and operates consumer stores in UAE, parts of Middle East and Africa. Eros Digital Home Eros group operates in the United Arab Emirates as well as in some of the selected markets within the Middle East and Mena region. The company distributes and retails different global products such as Samsung, Sonos and Linksys. The company works in conjunction with global giants in consumer electronics such as Telecom and handles allied multi-products. Performance Objectives Quality This analyses quality of products as well as the overall processes. What is implied is that quality related to input, processes as well as output get assessed with an aim of continued improvements. It is paramount to note that price and quality are related. The focus on quality within the two firms is bound to be a focus related to profit maximization (Slack & Nigel 2015, 56). Sharaf DG incorporates customers’ success, focus and care as part of her vision statement. The company strives to provide innovative solutions to her clientele. During her operations, Sharaf DG assists the customers in identifying the gaps as well as provides alternative options related to products and services. Moreover, Sharaf DG operates with experts, technical workers and internal team towards providing ready-to-use products that solves customer’s business challenges. The firm also trades re-usable components that offer benefits to consumers. All of the products are developed with stringent quality adherence as well as testing processes. The concept of economies of scale coupled with high product quality makes Sharaf DG get a competitive edge leading to reduction of cost of production. Eros Digital Home continues to improve her products with an aim of gaining a leadership role in the consumer electronics, lighting equipment, engineering appliances, and telecom as well as home appliances. The company enhances the satisfaction of consumers across the market via delivery of quality products as well as services. Eros Group applies Management-system and compliance in tandem with applicable regulatory customer requirements (Krajewski, Lee, Larry & Manoj 2013, 123). The company treats quality as an intrinsic aspect related to product design as well as production. In the year 2015, customers’ complaints in the company reduced by 10 percent compared to previous year whilst issues related to market quality reduced by over 30 percent. While quantifying, this demonstrates that focus on quality minimises the overall cost (Slack & Nigel 2015, 87). Speed The other reference of speed is lead time. It signifies the extent of duration in which it takes for consumers’ orders to be satisfied. There is an interrelation of speed to cost as well as cash flows. This is because as time of the chain is reduced, it leads to reduction of cost. In addition to that precept, the time it takes for the product to be manufactured up-to the time it reaches the consumer is highly related to the speed in which the goods will ultimately generate the cash flow. The overall speed is improved through elimination of bottlenecks (Slack & Nigel 2015, 56). At Sharaf DG, one of the key differentiator is where the customer is given a chance to lodge a claim in case the product is not available on store. The company give assurance about the products availability at all the retail stores ensuring that consumers’ needs are met. Sharaf DG ensures that her products are authorised. This eliminates post purchase challenges faced by consumers. Sharaf DG is also credited with the rapid space of introducing different brands of products in the new markets. In the year 2015, the company launched over 50 innovations within markets at the Middle East and the Mena region. In 2015, Sharaf DG introduced shopping through automated vending machine. The company announced the launch of a mobile application that could invoice and collect payment of products giving consumer convenience of speedy service (Oakland & John 2014, 98). Eros Group operates an innovative retail approach. The approach necessitates the company to offer speed services as well as convenience to consumers at Eros Digital Point. These are kiosks that showcase wide assortment of handheld appliances, electronic gadgets as well as other accessories. The company’s digital points have been installed at different malls in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah as well as Al Ain (Krajewski, Lee, Larry & Manoj 2013, 123). In the recent times, Eros Digital has launched a unique after sale service. The services oversees 3.5 tonnes branded motor vehicles that are equipped with the necessary equipments as well as electronic fittings offering services at the customers’ doorsteps once they file a complaint. Any defective unit of product is repaired inside the vehicle and returned to the consumer within limited duration (Krajewski, Lee, Larry & Manoj 2013, 123). Dependability This is a quality feature and is related to reliability, feeling of certainty as well as consistency regarding the products and services that are been traded, together with processes of production. Dependability leads to the firm’s reputation. In finance and business, reputation of a firm is an intangible asset within the firm that creates and add value to it. Therefore, focus on dependability means focus on quality. This generates wealth for the firm since it impacts on both cash flow and profitability (Slack & Nigel 2015, 66). While fulfilling the objective of dependability, Eros Digital Home ensures that quality is never compromised. The company is the leading distributor of world-renowned brands of Samsung, TCL, Hitachi, electronic products as well as telecom products. The firm conducts sales promotions across all its 33 outlets in UAE. Moreover, sales promotions and advanced marketing is spread across the Middle East and Mena region. This ensures that customers are sensitized about the availability of products at all time (Krajewski, Lee, Larry & Manoj 2013, 143). Moreover, the company in collaboration with her partners offers exclusive offers to the consumers on a regular basis. For instance, Samsung is accustomed to giving customers offer during selected festivals. The offers normally consist of phone cases, SIM cards and discounts. These offers are also attributable to the other category of products which are showcased during the annual festival. The quality, availability as well as product offers make consumers get attached and rely more on the company’s products (Oakland & John 2014, 98). Sharaf DG just like Eros Group never comprise on quality of products and services. The company perceives dependability as quality aspect. In this regard, it embraces continuous improvement of her products as a philosophy aimed at managing consistency in overall quality. Continuous improvement is a unique statement for Sharaf DG bearing unique meaning of ‘bettering things everyday’. The statement acts the key for sustainable growth. From the year 2010 up-to now, Sharaf DG has been engaged on improving the speed as well as agility within the supply chain. The company is also geared at keeping competiveness in her products and services (Mackelprang & Alan 2014, 47). Flexibility This is an intuition on the speed in which the firm is ready to adapt to variations in both demand and the environment. In regard to demand, there are instances when the demand of products will increase, coupled with duration of low demand. Flexibility objective works with both predictable and unpredictable cycles (Slack & Nigel 2015, 87). Moreover, flexibility concerns itself with overall adaptability of products in meeting the different consumer demands. What this entails is how the product is improved to meet the needs of consumers. Where a product is changed either in shape, form or design geared at meeting the consumers needs, such flexibility is referenced to mix flexibility and or product diversity. In this context, the products are standardised while the services offered are customised (Krajewski, Lee, Larry & Manoj 2013, 129). Sharaf DG operates a flexible configurable country inclusion that assists the company to extend product solutions to different countries with just simple configuration change. The company also operates a multi-lingual support system. This system not only incorporates Arabic language but other languages can be added in future by simple configurations. This enables Sharaf DG to operate her electronic retail business in different countries far beyond United Arab Emirates. Moreover, the company operates an extended STR (stock transfer request) that prompts the stores to initiate transfer based on order requests making fulfilment simpler and faster. This includes business operational features like acceptance and rejection whilst stock gets updated using the STR (Oakland & John 2014, 103). Eros Digital Home operates within the same markets operated by Sharaf DG. The company operates a flexible configurable inclusion to make her products acceptable in other countries. The main flexible and unique feature embraced by the firm is her ability to deal with different categories of products. The firm exercises different offers ranging from new arrivals, exclusive offers, seasonal offers, DSF offers as well as other categories of electronic products ranging from mobiles, computers and accessories. Eros Digital also uses a multilingual support system to break the language barriers while operating in different countries. The company has tremendous capacity to upscale quickly. It managed to go through the economic downturn experienced in 2009 to 2011 to emerge among the best companies dealing with different categories of products (Krajewski, Lee, Larry & Manoj 2013, 79). Delivery This entails prompt and successful delivery of products and services. The company ensures that customer get that right product at the right place and at the right or anticipated time. The above requirements (of time and place) are also concerned with services. The success related to delivery of products and services is related to how the company exercises consumers’ feedback. The aim of the firm is always to seek prompt and fast service-delivery capability aimed at satisfying the needs of consumers (Oakland & John 2014, 68). Both Sharaf DG and Eros Digital Home operates an excellent product-service delivery model that aims at winning the trust of consumers. The key element is delivery quality of products at all the selected stores. There is always uniformity of products across all the retail stores operated by the companies (Krajewski, Lee, Larry & Manoj 2013, 84). This means a product a product that is being displayed at the Dubai Mall contains that same quality features as a product that is being traded at a retail store in Egypt or at a mall in Al Ain. Product-service delivery model of the companies ensures that what is delivered is what the customer wants (Mackelprang & Alan 2014, 77). The two companies offer service guarantees while delivering customers’ products. Service guarantees quantify products description. The companies ensure that the guarantee is followed to the latter. This is because failure to deliver the product as per the implied promises may make the customer lose trust and moves on to another company. Sharaf DG and Eros group maintains customers trust and confidence in order to breed loyalty. The companies ensure that that guarantee as well as properly delivery mechanisms are fulfilled by the employees at any given time (Slack & Nigel 2015, 87). Generally, service guarantees are determined from product description. They act as the critical quality factor as well as service standard that the company must achieve on a consistent basis in order to go in line with product description. For instance, service guarantees within Sharaf DG and Eros group requires that the retail stores to be clean, safe, quiet, conducive and fully functional. The consumers want all these deliverables to be present at all time. If the consumer finds the retail store unclean or without operational lighting system, the customer is likely to lose confidence of the company (Oakland & John 2014,67). The consumer may then moves on to the competitor who upholds cleanliness, comfort, safety as well as functionality required in the store. Sharaf DG and Eros Digital apply service guarantees as the measurable standards pertaining to employees’ productivity. They ensure that employees deliver consistent product, they use the guarantee as critical indicators of whether the staffs are either losing or winning. The guarantees act as the scorecard as well as measurement of the company productivity (Mackelprang & Alan 2014, 34). Works Cited Slack, Nigel. Operations strategy. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2015. Krajewski, Lee J., Larry P. Ritzman, and Manoj K. Malhotra. Operations management: Processes and supply chains. Vol. 1. New York: Pearson, 2013. 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