Operations Management (OPMG-UB)

Designed to give students a better understanding of how firms can gain competitive advantage from their operations function. Typically this requires the firm to achieve, at a minimum, cost, quality, and ecological parity; responsiveness and adaptability to customer needs and desires; rapid time to market; process technology leadership; and sufficient and responsive capacity. A problem-solving framework is developed that enables students to undertake managerial and technical analysis that should result in the desired comparative advantage. Both service and manufacturing case examples are utilized.

IThe function of supply chain management is to design and manage the flow of material and information, starting from the raw materials until finished goods reach customers. Typically, logistics-related costs account for 20 to 25 percent of firms total costs. On the revenue side, the supply chain decisions have a direct impact on market penetration and customer service. With the globalization of the economy and advances in information technology, supply chain design and coordination have become important tools for gaining competitive advantage. Therefore, the objectives of the course are to (1) develop an understanding of individual components of the supply chain (such as order management, transportation, network design, distribution channel management, after-sales service, and customer service strategy) and their interrelationships with other functions of firms, such as marketing, manufacturing, and accounting (2) impart analytical and problem-solving skills necessary to develop solutions for a variety of logistics problems (3) understand the complexity of interfirm and intrafirm coordination in implementing programs such as quick response and vendor-managed inventories and (4) develop the ability to design logistics systems and formulate integrated supply chain strategy, so that all components are not only internally synchronized but also tuned to fit corporate strategy, competitive realities, and market needs.

This course focuses on products and processes in financial services. It analyzes the design and the operations of the different distribution channels (branch, ATMs, call center, www, etc.) and considers productivity measurements as well as performance measurements. It goes into quality control issues and analyzes operational risk. It concludes with the design and implementation of decision support systems in practice. This course should be a very useful course for a student who will end up working somewhere in the finance world.

In recent decades, more and more sports organizations have reached out to the application of advanced management methods, in particular statistical, data analysis and operations research/management science techniques. This course is an examination of the most advanced applications of those techniques. The structure of the course is to examine the use of them to four main areas of interest: player performance measurement, in-game decision-making, player selection/team building, and general administration such as marketing, pricing, contracts, stadium management etc. Emphasis will be place on not only how the application of Analytics has improved each of these situations, but how those decisions relate to business decisions in any other field of commerce. For example all businesses have to evaluate employees, make tactical and strategic decisions about how they operate, must maintain a good portfolio of assets in particular recruit and retain quality employees, and have to be good at administering the overall business.

This course will introduce students to the operating process of real estate development from an entrepreneurial perspective. It is directed to students interested in real estate development from the point of view of three classes of investors: 1. an entrepreneurial investor, looking to buy a coop, condo or small property for individual use or rental 2. a working general partner of a small group of investors, who will actually manage and/or be responsible for overseeing the property after purchase 3. a passive outside investor, who may be searching for an investment that is limited in liability to the original investment.

Companies seek to gain and then maintain competitive advantage so that they can maximize the wealth of their stakeholders. They use their operations to gain competitive advantage by obtaining cost leadership or parity; consistent quality superiority; shorter time to market; responsiveness and adaptability to customer needs and desires; sufficient capacity; utilization of innovative process and product technology; and ensuring environmental neutrality. This course touches briefly on all of the above competitive advantages whilst consistently stressing a problem-solving approach.