Task One:
Review BizOps Vision, mission and values, company business plan and continuous improvement procedures.
Vision. mission and values:
A review of the case study on BizOps reveals several salient aspects about the Australian firm. The vision of BizOps is to provide customers with superior quality and innovative goods, contribute towards environmental sustainability of Australia and create value to its stakeholders including customers.
The mission of the company is to market high quality and environment friendly good to customers and generate high revenue. It stands on three pillars namely, financial stability, market position and right people. As far as the financial stability is concerned, the company aims to enhance revenue by 15%, achieve an annual profit margin at 15% and reinvest 75% of the net profit into its business operations.
As far as market position is concerned, the firm aims to retain its high market position and launch superior quality high customer products to stay ahead of the competitors. The company in order to maintain skilled and knowledgeable manpower, its third business objective aims to its employees and provide them with professional developmental opportunities.
It can be established from the review of the case study that business values of BizOps stand on superior customer service, maximization of profits, environmental sustainability, ethical compliance, legal compliance and protection of the interests of the stakeholders. Thus, in order words it could be established that legal compliance an extremely important position in the operations of BizOps.
Business plan:
A review of the business plan of BizOps shows that the firm markets high quality consumer products which are environmentally sustainable. BizOps also participates in trade fairs to get access to customers who seek premium products which are in general expensive.
The review of the business plan of BizOps shows that the unique selling proposition of the company lies in that it offers products which satisfy the needs of the customers to the minutest degree to the extent possible through its chain of outlets all across Australia. The customers in addition to purchase products from the brick and mortar outlets of the company can also purchase them at the online stores of the company. The company has state specific online platforms which serve the customers in the respective states.
The business plan of the company shows that most of the products it market are low priced. The average prices of these products range from $500 to $750. The company sells around 16000 products within the price range. The company sells some high end products to its VIP customers as well who spend around $10000 annually to buy its products. This means that price strategy of the company incorporates both economic pricing and premium pricing. BizOps aims to gain 15% annual growth. The growth of the company is driven by factors like technological advancements, innovation, increase in population of Australia and growing environmental consciousness among the Australians.
A review of the insurance investments and risk management once again hint at the high level of corporate governance prevailing in the company with the apex management at its helm. The company has invested in insurance plans to cover its workers, products and business revenue. The company aims to comply with the laws in power in Australia like anti-discrimination laws.
An analysis of the continuous improvement procedure of BizOps shows that it adopts continuous improvement as its core policies and business philosophies. The continuous improvement plan takes into its ambit all the employees across designations and the entire operation of the company. The continuous improvement plan of BizOps stands on the DMAIC which stands for define, measure, analyse, improve and control.
Development of strategies:
The management of BizOps should development strategies to encourage the employees embrace continuous improvement plan. The two main strategies which the management of the company should take into account would be a communication plan and a training plan.
Part a. Communication plan:
| Communication plan | |
| Objective: | The aim of the communication plan is to educate the staff members of the company about the continuous initiatives and their results |
| Relevant stakeholders (managers, clients, teams, etc.) | The stakeholder groups which would be directly into the communication plan would be the apex managers, the middle level managers, the floor managers, the team leaders, the sales staff members and the back office employees. The plan would also take into account the external stakeholders like the customers, the employees f the logistics firms which deliver goods to the outlets of BizOps and outsource employees |
| Required resources (location, equipment, etc.) | The communication plan would be implemented at the workplaces of BizOps, owned and leased, if any. The plan would be applicable for any subsidiary acquired by BizOps in the future both with Australia as well as overseas. The equipment which would be used to implement the communication would include both hardware and software. The hardware would consist of computer as well as computer peripherals. The software would consists of Google platforms which would be used to communicate all the information on continuous improvement plan among the employees. The firm may use software to remote train the employees of the logistics firms and supplier firms which participate in the regular operations of the firm. |
| Method (slideshow presentation, video conferencing, etc.) | The communication plan would be delivered to the stakeholders using different methods as deemed appropriate. For example, the in-house employees would be provided with the trainings on continuous planning using PPT presentations. The representatives of the stakeholders like suppliers and logistics firms may participate in the training on video conferencing. The employees of the company deployed at the outlets where PPT sessions would not be possible, may participate in the training on the video-conferencing. |
| Schedule/delivery date | 9-Nov-21 |
| Relevant policies/procedures | 1. The communication plan would aim to achieve continuous communication the employees so as to educate on the need of implementing the continuous improvement in its operations. 2. The communication plan would be part of the business strategies of the firm and would essentially be helmed by the apex management. 3. The communication plan would include verbal communication and written communication. 4. The communication plan would include virtual platforms like emails. 5. The employees should use their respective official email ids to communicate business related information. 6. Email ids and passwords should not be shared. 7. Employees below the designation of assistant mangers would be required to obtain consent of their respective reporting managers or skip level managers if the reporting managers are not available for consenting to accede to the business data data. |
| Security/confidentiality status | The feedback obtained from the stakeholders like participating employees would be kept confidential. |
| Strategy for all team member to provide feedback | The team members would be able to provide their feedback on the communication plan on the official emial ids to their respective reporting managers |
| Outcomes/follow-up actions | The managers would follow-up with the employees by either interviewing them or obtaining their feedback on the communication plan on their respective email ids. |
| Documentation (hand-outs, presentation slides, statistical analysis, etc.) | The documents like PPT would be retained by the company for future references. |
| Nos | Activities | Days |
| Strategy to form a communication strategy to educate employees on continuous improvement at BizOps, Australia | 267 | |
| 1 | Management of BizOps, Australia holds meeting the departmental heads to discuss the communication plan. | 5 |
| 2 | Communication plan formation | 34 |
| 2.1 | The management holds meeting with the departmental heads | 2 |
| 2.2 | The departmental heads obtain feedbacks from the stakeholders like customers, employees and finance partners on the communication strategy | 30 |
| 2.3 | The departmental heads present the stakeholders’ feedbacks before the management. The initial communication plan is amended as per the feedbacks to the feasible extent to form final strategy | 2 |
| 3 | Resources acquired | 7 |
| 4 | Employees intimated about communication plan training | 5 |
| 5 | Training of employees | 6 |
| Employees would be provided with training on communication plan using PPT | 3 | |
| Employees of suppliers and logistics partners would be provided training on video conferencing | 3 | |
| 4 | Communication plan implemented | 30 |
| 6 | Monitoring of the business outcomes by the management based on minimum increase in profit (KPI). | 90 |
| 7 | Further actions | 90 |
Part b. Training plan:
| Name: | Name of the employee | |||
| Job/position description: | To be filled by the HR/employee/reporting manager | |||
| Major duties: | The major duties would be filled as per the job description of the employee | |||
| Date of plan: | 9-Nov-21 | |||
| Approval of plan: | The plan would be approved by the reporting manager and the apex manager designated to approve it | |||
| Training and development needs | Details of training required | Cost of training | Time allocation | Training dates and locations |
| The employees should be trained to communicate with the customers, representatives of the suppliers and other business partners to gain feedback from them. | Communication training, supplier management training, decision making training etc | $1,000 | 1 week | 10-Nov-21 |
| The employees should identify the risks and inform their respective managers promptly. | Communication training, supplier management training, decision making training etc | 11-Nov-21 | ||
| Participate in the continuous improvement plans by undergoing training and mentoring | Communication training, supplier management training, decision making training etc | 12-Nov-21 | ||
| Give feedbacks whenever deemed necessary | Communication training, supplier management training, decision making training etc | 15-Nov-21 |
Task Two:
How continuous improvement processes can be used to help BizOps achieve its sustainability and financial targets:
Continuous improvement can enable BizOps to achieve sustainability and financial strength in several ways. The following are the ways in which continuous improvement can enable the company achieve sustainability and profitability:
1. Continuous improvement would enable the company improve its different operational aspects. For example, the company would bring about improvements in its finished products. This means that the company would offer more superior quality products to its customers. This means that the company would be able to generate more revenue.
2. The company by adopting continuous improvement approaches like total quality management and six sigma would able to bring about improvement in its manufacturing processes. This means that the company would generate less waste and would be able to utilize its materials more optimally to manufacture finished goods. This means that the company would be able to lower the financial losses it incurs owing to wastage of raw materials.
3. The company by producing less waste would cause less harm to the environment. This means that company by adopting continuous improvement would be able to gain higher level of environmental sustainability.
4. BizOps by satisfying its customers by marketing more superior quality products would be able to cause more satisfaction to them and retain them. This means that the company would be able to generate repeat business by offering products to them, thereby generating more revenue.
5. The competitors firms would less likely to able to poach the customers of BizOps owing their loyal towards the latter. This means that firm would be able to gain higher levels of stability in the market.
Thus, it can be established on the basis of the above discussion that continuous improvement would enable BizOps gain higher levels of financial strength and environmental sustainability.
Task Three:
The management of BizOps should use DMAIC or define, measure, analyse, improve and control to obtain feedback from the retail employees to implement continuous feedback in the organisation. The organisation should apply several tools for quality management like quality assurance, TQM and six sigma. The following are the steps which the employees of BizOps can adopt to give feedbacks and contribute ideas for continuous improvement:
1. The retail staff identifies and defines the information which they provide to their senior managers in form of feedbacks which could be incorporated in the CI strategies of BizOps. For example, the customers have expressed needs of new products which the firm can develop to improve its customer service.
2. The management of BizOps should measure the current capabilities of the company like revenue generation capability. It should also measure the expected profits implementation of the feedbacks would bring in and whether the implementation is feasible.
3. The management should analyse the situation and identify the issues and/or the opportunities. These would enable developing the problem statement.
4. The management should improve further on the CI area identified. It should conduct cost benefit analysis and project planning. This step would result in actually identify the benefits which would be generated by implementing the CI strategies and the costs they would attract. The management would be able to take decisions on whether to actually proceed with the strategies or not.
5. Finally, it should use the PDCA (plan, do, check and act) tool to control the CI.
Task Four:
Part a. Development of a step by step procedure for monitoring store performance:
The following are the steps which the managers should adopt to monitor the store performance:
1. The management should identify the KPIs on the basis of which the outcomes of the continuous improvement would be judged.
2. The KPIs should include different aspects like revenue generation, customer escalations, and sales returns. For example, increase in sales return would show positive performance as far as CI is concerned. Similarly, increasing customer escalations and sales returns would negative performance of the company.
3. The managers should record the business outcomes based on the KPIs like sales returns, revenue generation and customer escalations.
4. The managers should compare these outcomes on monthly basis. For example, if the numbers of customer escalations received in May compared to April is less, it would mean that the firm has cleared this parameter of CI. This would be regarded as a strong performance.
5. The managers would give feedbacks to the employees on daily basis. The employees would undergo trainings based on the feedbacks of the managers.
Part b. Development of a strategy to ensure all managers follow the procedure to monitor performance and productivity in their areas so that opportunities for improvement can be identified.
| Continuous improvement plan and innovation plan for BizOps | 252 |
| Description of actions | Time (Days) |
| The management of BizOps meets the depratmental heads to discuss the issues mentioned in the scope of the plan chaired the CEO. They form strategies to regarding solving the issues | 1 |
| The finance departmental head forms the budget to implement the strategies. | 2 |
| The finance departmental head presents the budget before the management and the depratmental heads. | 2 |
| Funds approved and released. | 2 |
| Management sets KPIs which should be achieved post training | 2 |
| External trainer hired, training venue book, resoucres like projecter acquired for employee training | 5 |
| Employees trained | 13 |
| Supply chain training | 4 |
| Social media training | 3 |
| Service delivery training | 2 |
| Sustainability training | 4 |
| Implementation of the plan | 90 |
| Monitoring by management. Defaulting managers would be asked for justification | 90 |
| Appraisal of employees based on achievement of KPIs | 30 |
| Further training of employees on further improvement | 15 |
Task Five:
Develop a Continuous Improvement Policy to ensure that continuous improvement is at the forefront of future planning at BizOps.
The following are the constituents of the continuous improvement policy of BizOps:
Aim of the continuous improvement policy:
The aim of the continuous improvement policy would be bringing about continuous improvement in the operations of BizOps, the firm under question. The continuous improvement would target all the areas of operations of the firm namely, Biz Ops. The areas which would be targeted would include and not be limited to financial management, people management, legal compliance, production of goods, procurement of raw materials from suppliers and waste management.
Scope of the continuous improvement policy:
The scope of the continuous improvement policy would take into account the business outcomes of BizOps, which would include but not be limited to revenue generation, waste management, sales returns and employee turnover. The scope of the continuous improvement would embrace both the internal business environment and the external business environment of BizOps, to be referred to as the firm in the policy.
Continuous improvement policies of BizOps:
1. The continuous improvement policy would be aligned with the mission, vision and business objectives of the company.
2. The continuous improvement policy should be applicable to all the employees. The continuous improve
3. The continuous improvement policy should include adoption of ideas like six sigma and lean manufacturing.
4. The continuous improvement policy would require the company to conduct market research using frameworks like PESTEL and Porter’s Five Forces. The market researches would enable the company identify new business opportunities as well as business risks which the firm may encounter in the future.
5. The management of the firm may consider the identified market opportunities for its subsequent future business expansion strategies. Thus, in other words the continuous improvement strategies should not only take care of the present business operations but future business operations.
6. The management of BizOps upon identified threats and risks which may impact its achievement of continuous improvement negatively should have risk analysis conducted according to its risk management policies. The management in consultation with the stakeholders like managers and employees should identify strategies which could be identified to manage the risks identified and analysed to the feasible extent. Risk management should be an integral part of the continuous improvement policies.
7. The continuous improvement strategies of the company should exhibit corporate governance, stakeholder engagement, customer retention, legal compliance and environment sustainability.
8. The management should arrange for training and mentoring of employees as and when deemed necessary while implementing continuous improvement strategies.
9. The management should identify the KPIs on whose basis the outcomes of the continuous improvement would be judged and monitored.
Key performance indicators:
The following would be the key performance indicators which the management would take into while judging the outcomes of the continuous improvement:
Key performance indicator 1. Revenue generation:
As already mentioned in the business plan of BizOps, the firm should aim to boost its revenue generation by at least 15%. This means that the firm should aim to generate the maximum possible sale of goods both in its low priced product range and premium product range.
Key performance indicator 2. Profit generation:
As already mentioned in the business plan of BizOps, the implementation of the CI strategies should generate a net income margin of at least 15%. The company would then tentatively be able to reinvest minimum 75% of its income after paying of the taxes and dividends to the shareholders.
Key performance indicator 3. Customer escalations:
BizOps in order to achieve KPIs 1 and 2 needs to ensure maximum customer satisfaction and minimum customer escalations. Minimum customer escalations would mean that the customers are less likely to return products sold, which means the firm would have minimum sales returns. The escalations received from the customers should be dealt promptly and strategically so as to prevent them to taking legal actions against the company to the feasible extent.
Key performance indicator 3. Waste management:
The firm should measure the waste generated as the outcomes of its operations. For example, the firm must measure the numbers and values of goods which could be sold owing to quality issues and/or breakages. The company should try to reduce the amount of wastes it generates and the losses it suffer thereby.
