Service Management and Analytics (OPNS-912-0)
The service sector accounts for approximately 80% of GDP and employment in the US. Worldwide, services account for 65% of GDP and 49% of employment; in the United States the numbers are 77% and 79%, respectively (World Bank 2019). It is therefore imperative to develop efficient and effective operations of services. The management of service operations can require quite different constraints and objectives than manufacturing operations. The course examines both traditional and new approaches for achieving operational competitiveness in service businesses including (online) marketplaces. It covers service processes at both the strategic and operational decision-making levels, with an emphasis on the latter. At the strategic level, we will examine the interaction between firm strategy and service process- design, the drivers of effective service delivery. At the decision-making level we will explore traditional and new approaches for achieving operational competitiveness in service businesses.
The first part of the course will include the following topics: the service concept and operations strategy, the design of effective service delivery systems, capacity management, queuing and quality. The second part of the course will include topics in revenue management as well as concepts from the design of marketplaces such as matching, and auctions.
Through lectures, case studies and in-class discussion we will study specific examples from healthcare, retail, and hospitality and cove cover conceptual and analytical frameworks for service management and design. We will apply these to various cases, underscoring also the importance (and increased availability) of data in supporting strategic and tactical decisions.
The course is intended for students interested in general management, analytical consulting, financial services, or operations.
Field Study (OPNS-498-0)
Field Studies include those opportunities outside of the regular curriculum in which a student is working with an outside company or non-profit organization to address a real-world business challenge for course credit under the oversight of a faculty member.
Designing and Managing Business Processes (OPNS-440-0)
The course focuses on designing and managing business processes to best support the strategic objectives of the organization and the needs of the market segments being served. We will first develop a strategic framework that allows a process designer to understand what the process needs to do particularly well (process competence) based on the needs of the customer being served. We then define key operational metrics - flow time, throughput, inventory, cost and quality - and link them to financial measures of performance. Such a linkage allows a manager to identify operational metrics along which a process needs to excel or improve. We then discuss how various operational metrics can be tracked and measured. The rest of the course then focuses on identifying design and management levers that allow a manager to improve process performance along each of the key operational metrics.
Prerequisites: Student must be part of the MMM Program.
Operations Management (OPNS-430-0)
1Ys: This course is typically waived through the admissions process or the equivalent course Operations Management (Turbo) (OPNS-438A) was completed during the Summer term.
MMMs: This course is equivalent to the MMM core course Designing and Managing Business Processes (OPNS-440)
Operations management is the management of business processes--that is, the management of the recurring activities of a firm. This course aims to familiarize students with the problems and issues confronting operations managers, and to provide the language, concepts, insights and tools to deal with these issues to gain competitive advantage through operations. We examine how different business strategies require different business processes and how different operational capabilities allow and support different strategies to gain competitive advantage. A process view of operations is used to analyze different key operational dimensions such as capacity management, cycle time management, supply chain and logistics management, and quality management. Finally, we connect to recent developments such as lean or world-class manufacturing, just-in-time operations, time-based competition and business re-engineering.
