Owning_a_Business

Developing Good Business Sense Jeff Vories BUS/210 The first company I chose to observe was an automotive dealership service department. Owning both an American made vehicle and a foreign made vehicle, I can truly say there is a big difference when it comes to customer service and how their employees do their task. One of the things I noticed when I took my ford in for a tune-up was how laid back the service advisors where, my advisor never greeted me, for the most part he never left his desk, compared to the Honda service department. The advisor greeted me at my car and took all my information down before I could get out of my car. There were computers outside as well as inside of the service department, I also compared the prices, as well as to the customers coming and going and yes there were happier and regular Honda customers then ford. I think that was because of the different kinds of systems they use, but I think the bottom line is I found that fords systems are all not linked together like Honda’s and that to me makes a big different when it comes to servicing a customer’s vehicle, for example I serviced my vehicle in one city that gave me certain points for every time I bring my vehicle in and I took my vehicle to a closer service department and the would not honor the points because ford has not updated all of their service departments at that time. I am a little confused though, when it came to having the parts on hand ford did a better job at keeping their inventory stocked, although having a busy service department and keeping your customers happy I would think that would keep their inventory low. My second company I observed was Costco. I have to say I think Costco has the best system I have seen. The employees are all very professional. I can remember when Costco first opened and how there was one person calling out the sku numbers while the other person was typing the numbers in as fast as they could, and then when scanners where develop and the company was able to really grow and to keep their prices lower than most other stores that might sell the same products. The third company I chose is Wal-mart. I’m in this store at least three times a week. I have watched our wal-mart go from 24hrs to closing at11pm to going back to 24hrs again. One thing that didn’t change in the company was have the employees stock the shelves every night even if there open or not. That is one of the things that keep customers coming back, and having the lowest prices would be another. I feel in order to beat the competition you have to be able to satisfy the customer by having good input, a good operation, and a good output. That is what keeps a company going and customers coming. In all three of the company’s I chose the input, operations, and the output are pretty similar, they all depend on an IT system to help run the company which makes it a little easier to keep inventory right. The employees have all had training to respond and to deal with customers. I find that training is one of the most important tools a successful company can have. One of the main kinds of OMM cost would be the inventory of having what the customer needs and it being priced right, right now with the economy being the way it is pricing and inventory are a very important cost of OMM. This effects their OMM operation a great deal, if a company can’t keep their inventory stocked for the customer and the prices are not right that company will no longer be in business if there’s another company that can beat their prices. Also having customer’s scanning and bagging their own groceries, as well as pump their own gas. There are several ways companies have found to design their operating systems to give them the competitive edge. Depending on the company such as a manufacture, they might depend on mass production might be one way. Standard operating procedure (SOPs) is a very effective and easy way that won’t take much time and most employees can handle on a day-to-day basis. Flexible production would be another way. Using flexible production can help companies cut cost to a minimum by customizing there product Or their own brand such as Costco and there brand that is Kirkland. These are just some of the different types of operating systems that most companies can and do use to keep them competitive.