Hayes and Wheelwright Strategic Model Essay

In their four- degree model, Hayes and Wheelwright (1984) categorize distinguishable types of agreements establish on their attitude towards their trading trading operations. The four stage model is underpinned by their judgment that an organizations operations can cater a line of competitive advantage. It can only do this if the operations function is managed strategically.A stage 1 organization finds it impossible to manage its operations strategically, as its operations military operation objectives are continually changing between show conviction cost, increased flexibility, improved quality, etc. Because operations managers never have the time to focus on a consistent set of objectives, a stage 1 organization is characterized by a reactive approach to operations management. In such an organization, operations can never provide a source of competitive advantage. A stage 2 organization manages its operations by seeking to emulate those of its competitors. It is belike to copy the prevailing stovepipe(p) intrusts of its industry, such as JIT (just-in-time), TQM (total quality management), BPO (business process outsourcing) etc. However, as they eternally adopt these techniques in the wake of industry leaders, they are never likely to have let oned the same level of expertise in their application.The best that such an approach can achieve is to match the operations performance of its competitors. Although the combination of operations course sessions adopted by a stage 2 organization may be considered by some as amounting to an operations system in that they are consistent, they will not be overtly linked to business dodging. Indeed, it may be that such an operations strategy is inappropriate for the organizations business strategy. In any event, a stage 2 organizations operations cannot provide the pedestal for competitive advantage.A stage 3 organization has an operations strategy that is linked to and derived from its business strategy. T his means that its operations performance objectives are line up with, and supportive of, its business objectives, offering the possibility that operations can provide the means of achieving a competitive advantage. The chances of achieving competitive advantage will be considerably increased if the organization has adopted industry best practice in its operations.A stage 4 organization is radically different to one at any of the other stages. It uses its operations excellence as the basis for its business strategy an  perations-based strategy. The operations of a stage 4 organization are at the forefront of developments in best practice in that they set industry standards in ways that delight customers. Thus, the organizations operations enable it to retain its existing customers and attract radical ones. For an operations-based competitive advantage to be sustainable, the organization must continually develop its operations, as any source of advantage is liable to be imitat ed by competitors.To remain at stage 4, an organization needs to learn how to advance the most of its existing resources and competences to learn how to develop new capabilities. Recent advances in the understanding of organizational performance have emphasized the importance of bridle-path dependency (i.e. how organizations got to their present position), the dynamic nature of the capabilities on which organizational triumph ultimately depends and the role of organizational learning.