Many business firms are now turning to Substitute strategies to manage their operations. You as an Operations Strategist have been assigned a task involving a review of one of the Fast Food (FF) outlets dotted around Lusaka, with regard to application of these strategies.Six (6)Fast Food (FF) Outlets have been identified, namely,Hungry Lion, Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC), Nandos, Chicken inn, Food Fare and Galitos(You will only be allocated one). Attend to the following as you undertake the review;

1.(a) Briefly define, describe and explain the 'Substitute strategies, Lean, TQM, BPR and Six Sigma'.How are these strategies(Lean, TQM, BPR and Six Sigma)currently being employed in the FF Outlet under your review? [7.5 Marks]

1. (b) By employing theFive (5) Performance Objectives and Four (4) Decision areaselucidate howLean, TQM, BPR and Six Sigmaare fitted in Operations Strategy for the FF Outlet you are studying. You have to demonstrate how the elements of each strategy are interacting with Five (5)Performance Objectives and Four (4) Decision areas [7.5 Marks]

1. (c) State and briefly describe someFour (4)common threads of the above mentioned Substitute strategies and suggest ways and means of dealing with them to enhance competitiveness and performance for FF outlet under your review [5 Marks]

QUESTION TWO

Operations Strategy is all about marshaling and developing resources for strategic impact;

2.(a)Mention and explain in detailFour (4)Perspectives that the Operations Strategy must reflect and why is Operations excellence fundamental to strategic success? [7.5 Marks]

2.(b)Operations and Process Management requireThree (3)levels of analysis; list them and briefly explain why such a case [7.5 Marks]

2.(c)Compare and contrast Business strategy and Operations strategy in terms of 'Business Model' and 'Operations Model' [5 Marks]

QUESTION THREE

Operations Strategy aims at reconciling the Operations resources and the Market requirements for strategic fruition;

3.(a)Describe the Content and the Process of the Operations strategy by highlighting the Performance Objectives and Decision areas for which reconciliation is carried out through operations strategic matrix [7.5 Marks]

3.(b)Explain briefly why Operation strategy requires leadership for it to be successful. What kind of leadership do you envisage that it will champion better competitiveness and performance for a business entity? [5 Marks]

3.(c)Why should Operations Strategy reflect overall strategy and how and why should it learn from operational experience? What are 'Emergent' and 'Realized' strategies as they pertain to Operations strategy and why are they important for Business entities competitiveness and performance [7.5 Marks]

QUESTION FOUR

All strategies including operations strategies are analyzed, formulated/developed, implemented and evaluated ;

4.(a)By use of a flow diagram state and explain the states of Operations strategy formulation to implementation and briefly explain the role of alignment, the direction of alignment, Time and timing of the Operations strategy [6 Marks]

4.(b)Why is sustainability of Operations strategy a critical issue and why is analysis necessary when formulating an Operations strategies? What challenges are you likely to encounter at Operations strategy formulation stage and how will you know that the Operations strategy is complete? Demonstrate this through 'FIT' stating and explaining the 4Cs and how they are employed [7.5 Marks]

4.(c)What is Operations strategy implementation, who is responsible for the implementation, what are the four types central operations function as they relate to Operations strategy implementation? What is the role of central operations function in Operations strategy implementation and what will be the nature of participation in the Operations Strategy implementation process? [6.5 Marks]

QUESTION FIVE

No operation works in isolation-it is always, directly or indirectly, part of larger value network. As a result, no Operations strategy can work in isolation-it must always consider the role of Supply networks.

5.(a)What is Purchasing and Supply Strategy and how does it deal with Supply networks in terms of Operations relationships and interconnections? [7.5 Marks]

5.(b)Explain why Organisations would opt to adopt a network perspective in fulfilling Purchasing and Supply strategy [5 Marks]

5.(c)Briefly describe Globalisation and sourcing in terms of Purchasing and Supply Strategy, further, discuss the inter-operations arrangements in supply networks, the 'Do or Buy', Vertical Integration decisions, Contracting and Partnership Supply relationships. [7.5 Marks]