Operational Strategy: A Quick Guide

Operational Strategy: A Quick Guide

Operational strategy is how an organization decides how to produce and deliver its goods or services. It is made up of various smaller operations that feed into whatever the company is producing, such as procurement of raw materials, working relationships with vendors and suppliers, design goals, manufacturing processes, packaging and delivery. There are many types of organizations that use operational strategies to boost efficiency, capabilities and stay competitive. Corporate strategy is a larger system made up of interconnected departments that work together to achieve a shared goal. Organizations can use Customer-Driven Operational Strategy, Core Competencies Strategy, Competitive Priorities Strategy and Product/Service Development Strategy to meet customer needs.

Customer-Driven Strategy focuses on identifying trends in the marketplace and understanding customer preferences and demographics. Core Competencies Strategy focuses on an organization's key strengths, resources and capabilities to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. Competitive Priorities Strategy focuses on a marketing-based corporate strategy and production processes to differentiate their brand, product or service. The most important details in this text are the operational strategies used to improve innovation, cost-driven strategies, outsourcing strategies, and flexibility strategies. Cost-driven strategies involve designing a product or service to exploit a niche in the market and providing customers with a wider range of products and services.

Outsourcing strategies involve outsourcing vendors, quality control, and logistics. Flexibility strategies involve having the flexibility to change quickly to respond to customer preferences.