Course-PM

Operations Strategy, TEK 156

Spring 2021

 

Examiner:

Dan Paulin. Phone: 031-772 8413. E-mail: dan.paulin at chalmers.se

 

Teachers:  

Dan Paulin. Phone: 031-772 8413. E-mail: dan.paulin at chalmers.se

Yasmeen Jaghbeer. Phone: 031-772 6869. E-mail: yasmeen.jaghbeer at chalmers.se

Peter Almström.   Phone: 031-772 1283. E-mail: peter.almstrom at chalmers.se

David Bennett.  E-mail: david.bennett at chalmers.se

 

COURSE GOALS AND AIMS

The main aim of the course is to provide you, the students, the opportunity to develop your knowledge of how to design, manage and improve operations processes.

The starting point will be to analyze operations by means of its operations strategies. Having done that, possible differences between the present status of operations and the intended status can be detected. Finally, different improvement approaches will be discussed.

Having successfully completed the course, each of you students, should be able to:

• Understand how to use operations strategy as a guidance for the organization's operational activities and business strategy improvement.
• Apply conceptual tools and models for analysing operations’ strategy and enhancing the operations performance.
• Recognize the impact of operations on sustainability and how operations can contribute to a sustainable society 
• Understand how digitalisation, in the context of Industry 4.0, may influence the operations strategy and processes.
• Formulate an improvement plan for strategic operations strategy alignment.

 

SCHEDULE

The detailed schedule is available on the course webpage in Canvas under “Modules/Schedule” and in the course calendar.

Please note that possible changes to the preliminary schedule will only be made on the course webpage, not in TimeEdit.

Please note that all teacher led course activities are subject for change (both in time and place) due to the development of the COVID-19 pandemic. The intention is to run seminars and presentations as campus-situated sessions, as soon as the authorities allow us to do so.

 

EXAMINATION

You can obtain a maximum of 50 points from examination activities.

To pass the course:

• A total minimum of 25 points is necessary.
• A minimum of 15 points obtained from the individual written exam is necessary.
• A minimum of 10 points obtained from the project (written material + oral presentations) is necessary.
• Active attendance in mandatory activities (seminars and guest sessions) is necessary.

A total score of 25-33 points will result in grade Pass (3).

A total score of 34-42 points will result in grade Pass with credits (4).

A total score of more than 42 points will result in grade Pass with distinction (5).

 

The following four parts are included in the examination:

Individual written exam (max 30 points)

• The exam will be run as an individual home exam, consisting of essay questions.
• The deadline for the individual home exam will be March 18^th, 2021 at 18.00.
• You need to obtain at least 15 points on the written exam to pass the course.

• Examples of exam questions will be uploaded in Canvas. More information about the exam will be provided during the course and in the closing lecture.

Group project (max 20 points)

• You will, in groups of 6 students, conduct a project assignment.
• You should report the project both in writing (executive summary + final report) and through oral presentations.
• Each group needs to obtain at least 10 points on the project to pass the course.

Details of the project assignment, will be presented during the project introduction session.

Guest sessions (active participation is compulsory)

There are some guest sessions in the course, and they are all compulsory. These lectures are indicated in the schedule. Missing a compulsory lecture needs to be compensated by interviewing classmates and writing two pages about the topic of that lecture to be handed in via Canvas before the exam week.

Literature seminars (active participation is compulsory)

The course includes five compulsory seminars, where relevant research articles are being presented and discussed. The articles should be studied by everyone in advance to enhance a good discussion around the material. Missing a compulsory seminar needs to be compensated by interviewing classmates, and writing an extended seminar reflection (1000-1200 words) to be handed in via Canvas before the exam week. Missing a compulsory seminar will also result in a lost opportunity to gain a bonus point from that seminar (for more details on bonus points, see next section).

Each group is responsible for leading one literature seminar each. If the leading group perform well in this task, they will be rewarded with one bonus point. The seminars are recommended to be run as discussions around a few questions (but not limited to):

• Capture the topic and content
• Choose a case for the seminar to show the practical application of the topic
• Lead a good discussion

Methods that have proven to be quite successful is to arrange the seminar as follows:

• Group discussions around 2-3 important questions on the material, followed by summing up for the whole class
• Quiz competitions
• Going beyond the articles and discuss more recent problems and what will happen in the future

As there are several articles for each seminar, the responsible group can arrange the discussion around the total picture provided by all the articles instead of one discussion on each article. Often there are different methods being used, which can make the overall results more relevant.

 

Bonus opportunity: Seminar reflections (max 4 bonus points (max 1 bonus point per seminar))

Following each seminar (no later than 3 days after the seminar is held), every student can upload individual personal reflections on the content on Canvas (400-600 words).

The personal reflections should be reflections, and not just summaries. They should demonstrate that you have understood the content in each article, but focus mainly on combined reflections on all articles including own thoughts on the topic! Good reflections, well developed, and clearly providing own thoughts will be rewarded with one bonus point (per seminar).

These seminar reflections are not intended for the groups leading each seminar.

 

Regular lectures

Regular lectures are voluntary. They will be organized as a traditional overview of the lecture topic interweaved with group discussions on the topic. It is highly recommended that each participant has studied the material in advance to be able to contribute to the group discussions, and to enhance the opportunity for learning.

 

COURSE LITERATURE

The course literature consists of a textbook (to be used throughout this course), lecture articles, project material, and seminar articles.

To complement the course book, articles will be used on certain occasions (see under “Lecture articles”). These can be accessed through Chalmers Library.

Additional literature may be used and will be announced at Canvas in due time.

 

Textbook

The main course book is available at Cremona/Store:

• Slack, Nigel & Lewis, Michael (2020), Operations Strategy 6^th ed, Pearson Education, UK, ISBN: 978-1-292-31784-7

 

Lecture articles

Strategic consensus (To be studied before the guest session on Strategic Alignment)

• Edh Mirzaei, N., Fredriksson, A., & Winroth, M. (2016), Strategic consensus on manufacturing strategy content: Including the operators’ perceptions, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 36, No. 4, pp. 429-466.

 

Setting-up an International Production System (to be studied prior to Lecture 7)

• Ferdows, K. (1997), Making the Most of Foreign Factories, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 75, Mar/Apr, pp. 73-88
• Miltenburg, J. (2009), Setting Manufacturing Strategy for a Company’s International Manufacturing Network, International Journal of Production Research, Vol. 47, No. 22, pp. 6179-6203
• Bennett D.J. (2008), Global Logistics Concerns, Chapter 26 in Taylor G D (ed) Logistics Engineering Handbook, CRC Press / Taylor and Francis, Boca Raton FL, USA.http://www.crcpress.com/product/isbn/9780849330537

 

 Servitization (to be studied prior to Lecture 10)

• Baines, T., Lightfoot, H., Peppard, J., Johnson, M., Tiwari, A., Shehab, E. and Swink, M. (2008), Towards an operations strategy for product-centric servitization, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 29, No. 5, pp. 494-519

  

Seminar articles (all available through Chalmers Library)

Seminar 1: Operations Strategy

• Skinner, W. (1969), Manufacturing - Missing link in corporate strategy, Harvard Business Review, Vol. 47. No.3, pp-136-145.
• Boyer, K.K., Lewis, M.W.  (2002). Competitive priorities: investigating the need for trade-offs in operations strategy. Production and Operations Management, 11 (1) (2002), pp. 9-20.
• Sull, D., Sull, C., Yoder, J. (2018). No one knows your strategy - not even your top leaders. MITSloan Management Review, Research Highlight, February. available at: https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/no-one-knows-your-strategy-not-even-your-top-leaders/

 

Seminar 2: Strategic alignment

• Hudson Smith, M., and Smith, D. (2007), Implementing strategically aligned performance measurement in small firms, International Journal of Production Economics, Vol. 106, pp. 393-408
• Melander, A., Löfving, M., Andersson, D., Elgh, F., & Thulin, M. (2016). Introducing the Hoshin Kanri strategic management system in manufacturing SMEs. Management Decision, 54(10), 2507–2523. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-03-2016-0148 (Links to an external site.)
• Trevor, J., Varcoe, B. (2017) How aligned is your organization? Harvard Business Review Digital Articles, p2-6. Available: https://hbr.org/2017/02/how-aligned-is-your-organization

 

Seminar 3: Operations’ Systems Improvement

• Krafcik, J.F. (1988), Triumph of the Lean Production System, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 41-52.
• Timenes Laugen, B., Acur, N., Boer, H. and Frick, J. (2005), Best manufacturing practices – What do the best-performing companies do? International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 131-150
• Netland, T. H., & Aspelund, A. (2013). Company-specific production systems and competitive advantage: A resource-based view on the Volvo production system. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 33, No. 11/12, 1511–1531. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-07-2010-0171

 

Seminar 4: Business Process Outsourcing

• McIvor, R. (2008), What is the right outsourcing strategy for your process? European management Journal,6, No.1, pp. 24-34.
• Weimer, G. and Seuring, S. (2009), Performance measurement in business process outsourcing decisions, Strategic Outsourcing: An International Journal, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 275-292.
• Grössler, A., Timenes Laugen, B., Arkader, R. and Fleury, A. (2013), Differences in outsourcing strategies between firms in emerging and in developed markets, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 49, No. 3, pp. 296-321.

 

Seminar 5: Servitization

• Pawar, K.S., Beltagui, A. and Riedel, J.C.K.H. (2008), The PSO triangle: designing product, service and organization to create value, International Journal of Operations & Production Management, Vol. 29, No. 5, pp.468-493.
• Lerch, C.,  Gotsch M. (2015) Digitalized Product-Service Systems in Manufacturing Firms: A Case Study Analysis.Research-Technology Management, Vol. 58, No. 5, pp.45-52, DOI: 10.5437/08956308X5805357
• Chase, R.B., Erikson, W.J. (1989). The Service Factory. Harvard Business Review, July–August. Available: https://hbr.org/1989/07/the-service-factory