Business Operations and the Environment |
Operations flexibilityIn addition to this, managers should always address the questions with regard to operations flexibility such as; Do our operations have the flexibility of to introduce new products without disrupting what works well for us? Should we come to a point where we need to produce a mixed set of products and services, can we do that without negatively affecting current operations? Can we increase or reduce production volume without running into financial trouble? To this date, it is still surprising to see businesses that make allowance for operations expansion, but hardly ever think about what happens when the market hits a downturn? Most of them ask the question of what do we need to do to fulfill the expanding market demand? And many businesses answer that question pretty well. Unfortunately very few are able to answer the question of How do we make sure that we can still operate profitably when we hit an economic downturn or a drop in product or service demand Business Operations and environmental implicationsNo business operates in a vacuum, it has to operate in an environment that is conducive enough for its survival. That environment includes the communities that the business serve, interest groups or stakeholders and government regulatory institutions. Both the business and its operating environment have an impact on each other. For example a business that degrades its Natural environment inflicts harm on its surrounding community and thus negatively affect its own productivity. A business that discriminates against segments of it community (HIV/AIDS victims, people of different races, certain illnesses, etc) will suffer from resentment of that same community and may jeopardize the demand of its products and services in such communities. This implies that operations managers or business owners should take as much responsibility for their operating environment as they do for the operations of their businesses to be sustainable. |
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