Operations Management In Small Businesses: Key Techniques

A toolkit for making small business operations effective and efficient

What you'll learn
Successfully apply operations management techniques in a small business
Develop and implement operations that can deliver business strategy
Evaluate and select an operations management technique to deliver a specific need
Manage others to implement an operations management technique
Requirements
There is no requirement for prior theoretical knowledge
To provide a meaningful context to apply the techniques, students should either be working in a small business or be familiar with a small businesss
Description
Small business operations are often developed informally and by trial and error. Operations management can make or break a business. As your business grows there will be a need to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of its operations. Operations management techniques, which have their origins in large organisations, can be applied with great results in small businesses. This course is a practical guide to how these proven techniques can be used in small businesses.This course will take you on a journey through:Learning the key concepts of operations management Exploring how operations management can deliver your business strategyLearning how to design products, services, operations and processesExploring how operations can be planned and delivered Learning how operations can always be improvedThe course is aimed at owners and managers of small businesses. It is also suitable for business studies students, at any level, who are keen to run or work in a small business. You do not need any prior theoretical knowledge to take this course. You will need to have a passion for running a successful business, whether now or in the future. Practical experience of small business management or a general overview of the way a particular small business works will help you to relate these techniques directly to real situations. The course comprises 40 lectures in the form of video presentations and includes:4 quizzes to confirm your understanding of the course sectionsMini case studies of the applications of these techniques in a range of small business sectorsSuggestions for activities for you to apply specific techniques to your own business or a business you are familiar withDiscussions where we can share experiences of applying these techniques We will be learning a myriad of techniques including: fitting operations to strategy, optimising flexibility and cost, designing layouts, maximising yield, supply chain management, lean approaches, project planning and control, risk management and quality improvement.

Overview

Section 1: What is operations management? An introduction to the basic concepts.

Lecture 1 Introduction

Lecture 2 What is Operations Management?

Lecture 3 How every small business is engaged in transformation.

Lecture 4 The basic building blocks of operations management

Lecture 5 The characteristics of operations

Section 2: Operations management delivers and influences business strategy and performance

Lecture 6 The purpose of operations management

Lecture 7 The relationship between business strategy and operations

Lecture 8 Approaches to setting business strategy

Lecture 9 The contribution of operations

Lecture 10 Four perspectives on operations strategy

Lecture 11 What should an operations strategy contain?

Section 3: Design of of processes, operations, products and services.

Lecture 12 Product and service design

Lecture 13 Process design

Lecture 14 The product-process matrix and the product-service matrix

Lecture 15 Process mapping

Lecture 16 Supply network design

Lecture 17 The location of operations

Lecture 18 Layout and flow

Lecture 19 Process technology

Lecture 20 Innovation

Section 4: Planning and delivering operations

Lecture 21 The key building blocks of planning and control

Lecture 22 Planning activities

Lecture 23 Planning to meet demand

Lecture 24 Yield management

Lecture 25 Managing stock

Lecture 26 Supply chain performance

Lecture 27 Supply chain activities, relationships and behaviour

Lecture 28 Customer relationship management

Lecture 29 Streamlining your business with the LEAN approach

Lecture 30 The LEAN approach to small business set up and growth

Lecture 31 Materials requirements planning

Lecture 32 Enterprise resource planning

Lecture 33 Planning and controlling your projects - the "waterfall " approach

Lecture 34 Planning and controlling your projects - the agile approach

Section 5: Improving operations

Lecture 35 What is quality?

Lecture 36 Quality management approaches

Lecture 37 Quality improvement approaches - Total quality management

Lecture 38 Quality improvement approaches - Improvement cycles

Lecture 39 Quality improvement approaches - Statistical process control

Lecture 40 Quality improvement approaches - Six Sigma

Lecture 41 Managing risk - Identifying the causes of risk

Lecture 42 Preventing failure

Lecture 43 Mitigating the effects of failure

Lecture 44 Recovering from the effects of failure

Lecture 45 Conclusion and next steps

Small business owners and managers,Business studies students, at all levels, who plan to set up or work in a small business