Identify the business, strategic framework of the Essays - Economy

Identify the business, strategic framework of the Essays - Economy Identify the business, strategic framework of the business, the operations and explain why operations management is important for the organization. (10 Marks) Trendy Connections Pvt Ltd is a knitted apparel manufacturing business that was founded in June 1992 and has been operating in the industry for more than two decades. The business's primary goal was to produce high quality T-shirts at an affordable price, because at the time most people would wear very formal attire but by the early 2000's this trend began to decline as comfortable clothing became more desirable to the eyes of consumers. So Trendy seeing a potentially growing market started manufacturing T-shirts and comfort wear. Their most popular products are children's clothing under their Disney Collection. And due to changing market trends, Trendy has now taken up a variety of apparel such as sports clothing, which is manufactured under a new brand. (trendyconnections.lk) Strategic framework of Trendy The direction and scope of an organization over the long term, which achieves advantage in a changing environment through its configuration of resources with the aim of fulfilling stakeholder's expectations. (Johnson et al, 2007) Trendy is now currently following McKinney's Strategic horizons (business strategy level). This is mainly focused on the growth and innovation of the business as whole by adopting new ideas and processes. This strategy requires a business to categorize their goals into 3 different horizons (segments). Horizon 1: Core business This encompasses the activities that are more closely aligned with the current goals of the business. Most of the activities that contribute to the overall revenue of the business will belong to this category. For Trendy this would be the manufacturing of their brands which include the following processes: stitching, dying, printing, embroidery, cutting, sublimation etc. Supplying and delivering to the current stores and outlets is also very important, as well as advertising and promotional orders for other organizations. Horizon 2: Emerging Opportunities Emerging opportunities are all about taking what a business already has and extending it out into new areas of revenue. For Trendy this could be increasing marketing and brand awareness by effectively advertising their current sports brand, as it is highly demanded by customers. This could be done by making the product more available in more stores by having exclusive partnerships with certain stores, having promotional deals. Or by offering unique designs and features which could be devised by the design team and production team to create a unique identity (unique selling point) for the product. Horizon 3: Blue Sky The Blue sky horizon is all about taking the business into different ventures or directions. For Trendy this would be setting up their own retail business which would give them total control over how they can market their products. Or they can enter the e-commerce market by setting up their own online store or partnering with existing online businesses such as Wow.lk, Mydeals.lk etc. As online shopping is becoming increasingly common due to the fact that it is convenient and cheaper for customers rather than traveling to a regular store which is more costly (travel expense). (www.executestrategy.net, 2017) The day to day operations of Trendy (Batch Processing: no. 2017) Trendy operations consist of manufacturing a variety of apparel in batches according to the year, but the product that is produced the most often and has the highest volume is the T-shirt. The manufacturing of T-shirts is a largely labour intensive process. Employees operate specialised machines which are designed for: cutting, assembling, and stitching for the most efficient operations. The most commonly used seams for T-shirts are narrow, superimposed seams, which are usually made by placing one piece of fabric on to another and lining up the seam edges. There are various stages in the manufacturing process of t-shirts and some businesses differ from others due to the variations and quality of machinery. 1) Design department: Before the garment can go into production it must be designed by a team of designers and approved by the marketing department. First a rough sketch is made by a designer then a colorist matches the appropriate colors with the design. Then a graphic or CAD designer will use these ideas to come up with a better design consisting of different prints using computer software. 2) Marketing department: After the