-A Quest into MBA course Operationalising and Communiating Value

This Tuesday evening, Doctor Paulraj, who leads our Operationalising and Communicating Value workshop delivered a Taster Session to our aspiring MBA-to-bes.

Operationalising and Communicating Value course is a complulsory element on the Manchester Global MBA programme, it is essentially an umbrella course covering both Operations Management and Marketing.

“Why do we put the two elements in one ‘bracket’?” The sesssion was started by this question from Doctor Paulraj, “We often have managers on both sides complaining about each other.”

Conflict of interest?

With customers in mind, marketing people would always want a desirable product before competitors tucking into this section of the market – essentially a better product with shorter response time. However, the operations philosophy follows the actual production – quality, speed, reliability, flexibility and cost - a better projection of the market makes more sense compared to frequent product updates. Marketing people are customer and market oriented; Operations people are often production and process driven.

There comes the conflict, arising from two distinct perspectives.

Who makes the decision? - Strategy decides the priorities

“Of course in reality, there will also be overlaps of joint interests and responsibilities. Companies’ strategy overwrites such conflicts.”

For example, if the strategy is to launch a low cost product affordable by a large segmant of the market, then operation’s cost reduction and production reliability criteria will correspond with marketing’s sufficient quantity supply requirement.

The Market and Operations shape Strategy

On the other hand if the market desires innovative design, then strategy and hence operations’ focus’ will need to shift to R&D and product development. Yet the best quality and design is not often feasible. The feedback from market determines how much we can charge – the most amazing product might not have the market if its not affordable. The capability of design and production will determine what the company can make – the capability might not support making the product market wants.

The interplay

The reality of the market and capabilities of operations drive company strategies. Most important, they do so together. Doctor Paulraj concluded the session that it is the interplay of Operations and Marketing that together shape companies strategies, at the same time respond to and are restricted by such interplay.

Manchester 2-year part-time Global MBA course structure:

The MBA taster session was a mini class of Global MBA’s 3-day intensive and interactive workshop experience. You will study core business and management courses, choose specialist electives and take on two practical business projects. It all adds up to as much face-face teaching as most full-time MBAs and the same qualification. For each course, there will be a 3-day interactive workshop per semester.

The 4 core areas will be covered in the 1st year to buid a solid fundation. Managing and Leading in a Global Environment will provide you with analytical tools to critically evaluate the globalised economy from a cultural, political and economic perspective; Operationalising and Communiating Value  encourage you to consider the interactions and potential tensions between the two areas; Accounting and Finance lays practical analytical foundation for you to understand financial information; Strategy and Competition helps you develop a cutting-edge approach to strategy and competition that is fit for purpose in today’s changing business environment.  From day one, you will learn skills and knowledge you can apply immediately to help you stand out.

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