Business Managing Operations and Supply Chain

Question: Discuss about the Business Managing Operations and Supply Chain. Answer: Introduction Xu and Gursoy (2015) stated that an organizational process of controlling, ensuring, and improvingquality in context of both the business approach and its productivity is known as quality management. The organization that is considered in this business report is LUX* Resorts Hotels, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of LUX* Hospitality Ltd. and also is a major hotel operator based in Mauritius and also involves in management services, operations, design, sales and marketing (Luxresorts.com 2017). The major facility that LUX* Resorts Hotels is providing is staying in hotel facility and a combination of hotel and flight facility (Luxresorts.com 2017). The booking of the room is available through their home page of the website. In order to attract more employee, the concerned organization also provide services like discount and combo offers, kids stay free offer and honeymoon offers. Thus, their major customers are especially the tourists and celebrities, who desires to spend a significant amount of money for exotic services of scenic beauty and premium hospitality (Xu and Gursoy 2015). In this business report, two operational process of the considered organization in support with the ITO framework will be describes. Moreover, a literature review of relationship between quality management and customer expectations will be illustrated along with the identification of potential quality problems in the operational delivery and challenges faced by the LUX* Resorts Hotels. Lastly, recommendation to overcome those difficulties and a conclusion of the overall discussion will be illustrated. Two operational processes that are needed to deliver those products and services to the customers The two operations that is taken into consideration for assessing the supply chain management and logistics of the LUX* Resorts Hotels are procurement management and service distribution management. Shi and Liao (2013) depicts that procurement management refers to the situation of planning and directing the activities of purchasing agents, who are liable to buy materials needed for the operations for an organization. On the other hand, a service distribution management is a process that delivers the services of the organization to their customers for better profitability. Procurement management focuses on how purchasing is done, how the product is received from suppliers, building relationships with vendors and managing internal operations (Christopher 2016). LUX resorts and hotel recognizes rewards and celebrate excellence of the supplier of the community, who has flourished over the last 12 months (Luxresorts.com 2017). They also associates with the Mauritiuss travel agents in order to fulfill their services of Hotel + Flights for their customers (Luxresorts.com 2017). Moreover, they also emphasizes on making their procurement strategy transparent by communicating with the suppliers in order to better understand their price structure for getting objects like interiors of the hotel, food supply for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the guests and Product and Service distribution management In the products and service distribution, there are different sectors for maintaining the quality of the organizational process. Stadtler (2015) suggested that in hospitality industry there are food banquets services, travelling servicing, holiday and side tour facility and offers like discount and free stay on some packages. LUX* Resorts Hotels has separate areas for full pallets and showcases for food orders to the guests, flight services for the international tourist and guests and other travel facilities for the tourist to provide them a tour package so that they can face no difficulty in their stay. Moreover, online service distribution in one of the recent initiatives that is taken by every organization (Wisner et al. 2014). In context of the technological advances, LUX* Resorts Hotels also adopted like online booking of the hotel by mentioning criteria like number of rooms, number of days for staying, number of people coming to stay so that estimation can be illustrated in r eal-time (Mangan et al. 2016). LUX* Resorts Hotels utilizes their capital, raw material, equipment, suppliers labour and implementation of new technology to formulates the final products like extraordinary facilities and services. This transformation is occurred by improving the strategic sourcing processes, and aligning the category management, strategic sourcing and supplier relationship management. There suppliers are majorly the travel agents that associates with their organization that provides travel facility to the guests. The transformation process shoes the development in the Information technology so that luxurious experience can be provided to the guests (Crandall et al. 2014). In the year 2012, LUX* Resorts Hotels also got Luxury Travel Supplier of the Year, TTG Travel Awards (Luxresorts.com 2017). Product and Service distribution management The input in this context is the service and the details of the services that are provided to the tourist regarding their hotel expenses and other facilities. The transformation process is used by giving all the availability of the details through their website buy using digital technology. The output is that the information can be delivered to the tourist in real-time with accurate information. Moreover, LUX* Resorts Hotels also have vendors and suppliers in Mauritius, Maldives, Reunion, China, Turkey, U.A.E Vietnam that also provides in-house products like customized towels, shampoo and soaps for every room is shipped directly to in-house property warehouses (Luxresorts.com 2017). Improvisation in the technology also helps in help reducing touches in the warehouse, as well as its picking operations that results in fast services. In food banquets services also, customer can place orders from their room and they an avail the service fast by the staffs of the hotel (Luxresorts.com 2 017). LUX* Resorts and Hotel also organizes painting events, yoga events, fitness classes, aqua therapy and wild-out outings in order to maintain quality of their hospitality services by selecting premium suppliers who can organize these vents with premium quality equipment (Luxresorts.com 2017). Literature review- Quality Management as a reflection of customer expectations Mitra (2016) depicts that quality management can be assesses by evaluating four factors- quality planning, quality assurance, quality control and quality improvement. Thus, an organization must have to work for the betterment of the company and adopt new technologies that can provide them a competitive advantage with respect to other companies. Trkman et al. (2015) on the other hand argues that an organization develops its organizational policies and procedures in order to fulfil the customer expectation. However, Raake and Egger (2014) portrays that managing authorities of an organization have to considers customer requirements for fulfilling their expectation and these requirements is comprised of- reliability of the products and services, responsiveness of the customers, quality assurance, empathy and tangibles. Stadtler (2015) defines that the values in management is based on two factors- stakeholder value and customer value. It is evident that in context of the stakeholder value, an organization has to emphasis on the demands and needs of their stakeholders that are- customers, employees, and society. Wisner et al. (2014) also depicts that the prime reason for considering their demands is that they are these stakeholders provide the opportunities to determine the future direction of a company by suggesting their concern. LUX* Resorts and Hotels also provide training to their staffs and suppliers so that they can satisfy the customer demands by serving them with quality services. Additionally, in terms of customers value, managing authorities of the company evaluates the eight types of customer values- efficiency, aesthetics, esteem, excellence, spirituality, status, play and ethics. Whereas Dhar (2015) argues that in contemporary organization, they have to focus majorly on four types of customer value- functional (instrumental) value, symbolic (expressive) value, experiential (hedonic) value and cost (sacrifice) value. Fawcett et al. (2014) also highlight the dimension of customer value for hospitality industry. He stated in his work that resorts managers focuses majorly on intrinsic dimension that is the enjoyment of an experience like providing exotic scenic beauty with resort. Beske and Seuring (2014) also depicts that the fulfillment of the intrinsic dimension ensures the attainment of the extrinsic dimension of the customer value. Extrinsic dimension of customer value is the accomplishment of the business objectives that is to provide facility that can meet up to the customer expectation. Additionally, dimension of self-oriented value should also consider by the managing authorities of the organization (Beske et al. 2014). In terms of the hospitality industry this self-oriented value can be created by providing customised facility to the guests like offering room of their choice or premium services within their budget. Travel agents also offer packages for the places a customer desire to visit from all the option a travelling agent shows to them. All these factors fulfill the customer expectation and enhance the quality of the service the organization is providing to their customers. Quality management Schonsleben (2016) explains that quality management is a people-focused management system that comprise of methods and tools along with the intention to adopt new technology aiming for continual increase in customer satisfaction. Krajewski et al. (2013) on the other hand, portrays that there are eight principles for quality management that an organization have to adhere. The first principle emphasizes on customer focus that is to cover both customer needs and customer service. Kuei and Lu (2013) furthermore stated another principle that plays a crucial role in the quality management is the people involvement. Every organization should focus on employee motivation, providing additional benefits and makes the employees responsible and accountable for their actions (Griffin 2016). Systematic approach to management is another important principle for quality management that ensures the alignment of complementary processes with the organizational procedure for better efficiency that result in other principle of continual improvement of the services and the organization (Goetsch and Davis 2014). Quality Management and Supply Chain Management Integration It is evident that customer always prefer to opt for the services that provides premium services in affordable cost. Surez-Barraza and Ablanedo-Rosas (2014) illustrates that customer prefers value for money. In addition to that, Gorny (2015) highlights that improving quality of the supply chain processes is equivalent to improved resource utilization and cost reductions and improved process efficiency. Bassi (2015) on the other hand argue that lower in cost investment in quality of the results in less customer satisfaction as the quality is depreciated. However, in recent times, from many researches it has been found that people prefers to get premium quality products and services irrespective of their prices. Oakland (2014) on the other hand depict that supply chin quality management refers to the study of integration between quality management and supply chain management. Thus, if great services can be available in greater price, customer will opt for the quality products. Thus, co nsidering principle of quality management that are management and strategic planning, personnel involvement, information accuracy, good supplier relations, leadership and continuous innovation, the procedure of supply chain can be enhanced that results in high satisfied customers (Goetsch and Davis 2014). Identification of potential quality problems One of the major problems is the risks management in the supply chain. Griffin (2016) depicted that an organization spend an average 50-80% of the total product cost on developing products for their organization. LUX* Resorts and Hotels also spend a portion of their annual revenue on their travel agents and local suppliers for interior decorative items. Risk like country of origin (for the organization to be operated in many nations) and shipment accuracy along with the internal process can be a challenge for an organization. Risk for visibility and mutual communication gap between the suppliers and the organization is another that should be taken into consideration. Schonsleben (2016) highlighted that only 30% of the companies have limitedvisibility to tier-1 partners while there are no company in the market havinglimited visibilitytotier-2andtier-3 partners. This leads to the risk of low quality management processes. Another problem that is faced by the organization is the assessment of the effective suppliers among the many that can align their working procedure with the culture and business approach of the organization (Dhar 2015). Thus, managing supplier related corrective actions and non-conformances is a key challenge for manufacturer. Recommendation for implementation of suggested improvements Selecting efficient supply chain partner- It is crucial for an organization to not only select the right supply chain partner but more importantly monitor and proactively manage quality in the supply chain in order to minimize the risk. Utilization of modern communication tools- Communication tools like e-mail, messages, document exchange and digital interface can ensure the mutual communication between the supplier and the organization. The mismatch in alignment issue can be resolved by using leveraging technology to connect and integrate suppliers into quality management processes. Broaden supplier assessments- Organization should assess the suppliers that have largest portion of the resources spend by the organization, their competencies and the strategic relationship with regard to a key product and client companies. This assessment allows the organization to find the most effective supplier for their organization. Establishing Clear Measurement Programs- An organization is liable for measuring supply chain partner performance in specific areas of their service quality, pricing for services, their contractor compliances and responsiveness. Conclusion Thus, it can be concluded that effective quality management ensures the reduction of waste and inventory along with the enhancement in the business activities for achieving the business objectives for every organization. The organization that is considered for this assignment is LUX* Resorts Hotels, whose major business is provide hospitality services, travel services along with facility like wild-out option, aqua therapy, fitness classes for guests. However, there hotels are placed at Mauritius, Maldives, Reunion, China, Turkey, U.A.E Vietnam and in order to maintain a same organizational culture, supply chain process have to be managed with quality. However, some of the problem that is identified in this assessment is the risks management in the supply chain; maintain cultures in all country of origin, shipment accuracy along with visibility and mutual communication gap. Though these risks can be overcome by implementing assessment of the effective suppliers, selecting efficient supply chain partner, utilizing modern communication tools, broaden supplier assessments and establishment of clear measurement programs. These outputs can be achieved by using ITO framework that is illustrated in this assessment for maintaining quality in the supply chain that results in fulfilling of customer expectation. Implementation of the modern technology and taking regular surveys from stakeholders for knowing competencies of the organization is accomplished through the transformation process for better output. Reference List Bassi, A., 2015. General Management Principles in the Project Management Context. In Managing Intellectual Capital and Innovation for Sustainable and Inclusive Society: Managing Intellectual Capital and Innovation; Proceedings of the MakeLearn and TIIM Joint International Conference 2015. ToKnowPress. Beske, P. and Seuring, S., 2014. Putting sustainability into supply chain management. Supply Chain Management: an international journal, 19(3), pp.322-331. Beske, P., Land, A. and Seuring, S., 2014. 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