Select two companies that operate in the same industry, but compete very differe

Question

Select two companies that operate in the same industry, but compete very differently from each other. Compare and contrast in detail how and why the four V’s affect their operations. (17 points) [DO NOT TAKE THESE COMPANIES: AMAZON, APPLE, MC DONALD, WALMART, SOUTH WEST AIRLINE, STARBUCKS]

Note: Describe how their position on the Volume, Variety, Variability, and Visibility scales (ranging from low to high) affect their operations, NOT how their operations affect their position on each of these Vs. Also, focus on operations implications, not marketing or customer implications.

How your response will be graded:

Categorize each company’s relative position on each V: 1 point

List at least one ops implication for each firm for each V given their relative position on that V: 8 points

Explain at least one ops implication for each firm for each V: 8 points

Bad quality of writing (unstructured response, spelling and grammar mistakes and typos): -2 points

Company 1 name:

Company 2 name:

Volume high/medium/low relative to company 2?

One Ops Implication:

Explain the implication:

Volume high/medium/low relative to company 1?

One Ops Implication:

Explain the implication:

Variety high/medium/low relative to company 2?

One Ops Implication:

Explain the implication:

Variety high/medium/low relative to company 1?

One Ops Implication:

Explain the implication:

Variation high/medium/low relative to company 2?

One Ops Implication:

Explain the implication:

Variation high/medium/low relative to company 1?

One Ops Implication:

Explain the implication:

Visibility high/medium/low relative to company 2?

One Ops Implication:

Explain the implication:

Visibility high/medium/low relative to company 1?

One Ops Implication:

Explain the implication:

Company 1 name:

Company 2 name:

Volume high/medium/low relative to company 2?

One Ops Implication:

Explain the implication:

Volume high/medium/low relative to company 1?

One Ops Implication:

Explain the implication:

Variety high/medium/low relative to company 2?

One Ops Implication:

Explain the implication:

Variety high/medium/low relative to company 1?

One Ops Implication:

Explain the implication:

Variation high/medium/low relative to company 2?

One Ops Implication:

Explain the implication:

Variation high/medium/low relative to company 1?

One Ops Implication:

Explain the implication:

Visibility high/medium/low relative to company 2?

One Ops Implication:

Explain the implication:

Visibility high/medium/low relative to company 1?

One Ops Implication:

Explain the implication:

Explanation / Answer

Volume: Low

Operation Implication: As low volume production generally prevalent in premium or customization industry, it requires highly skilled professionals.

Volume: High

Operation Implication: High volume production in Toyota pressures the manufacturing to be fast and speedy which led them to adopt just-in-time manufacturing

Variety: Low

Operations implication: Ferrari has a low variety of cars resulting in low variations for production methods and lesser unit costs

Variety: High

Operations implication: Toyota has a high variety of cars resulting in higher unit costs and demanding varied production methods for each variation

Variation: Low

Operation Implication: Low variation in demand helps the manufacturers to produce a predictable number of cars lowering their inventory costs

Variation: High

Operation Implication: Toyota has a higher variation in demand depending on the economic conditions which makes predictability for production difficult and can result in higher inventory costs. Adopting just-in-time manufacturing helps to control this cost.

Visibility:Medium

Operations implication: Ferrari partially includes consumers in the process of customizing their car which makes the need for highly skilled professional critical

Visibility: Low

Operations implication: Toyota has lower visibility of processes to the consumer which can result in a time lag between production and consumption but enables the company standardized models

Ferrari Toyota

Volume: Low

Operation Implication: As low volume production generally prevalent in premium or customization industry, it requires highly skilled professionals.

Volume: High

Operation Implication: High volume production in Toyota pressures the manufacturing to be fast and speedy which led them to adopt just-in-time manufacturing

Variety: Low

Operations implication: Ferrari has a low variety of cars resulting in low variations for production methods and lesser unit costs

Variety: High

Operations implication: Toyota has a high variety of cars resulting in higher unit costs and demanding varied production methods for each variation

Variation: Low

Operation Implication: Low variation in demand helps the manufacturers to produce a predictable number of cars lowering their inventory costs

Variation: High

Operation Implication: Toyota has a higher variation in demand depending on the economic conditions which makes predictability for production difficult and can result in higher inventory costs. Adopting just-in-time manufacturing helps to control this cost.

Visibility:Medium

Operations implication: Ferrari partially includes consumers in the process of customizing their car which makes the need for highly skilled professional critical

Visibility: Low

Operations implication: Toyota has lower visibility of processes to the consumer which can result in a time lag between production and consumption but enables the company standardized models

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