Effects of Quality Management on Domestic and Global Competition Essay

Effects of Quality Management on Domestic and Global Competition - Essay Example 2. Quality Management at Nokia Quality is at the heart of Nokia’s operations. Quality has been embedded into every aspect of the products in order to achieve the goal of continuous improvement. Quality Management at Nokia starts right at the top management level and flows from top to bottom. There is a ‘Self-Regulating Management System’ at Nokia which charts out the framework for management practices. The customer needs are the most important input in Nokia’s quest for continuous improvement. Therefore, Nokia makes it a point to thoroughly analyze the lifestyles and needs of its target customers (10 Operations Management Decisions). Nokia lays a great amount of stress on Research and Development. More than 30% of Nokia’s workforce is deployed in Research and Development across geographies. The company strives to maintain a balance between the technological design and user friendly layout. Special fashion designers are deployed for the later (10 Oper ation Management Decisions). 3. Quality Management at Micromax Quality management at Micromax is driven totally by customers. According to Vikas Jain, one of the co-founders of Micromax, Micromax is not a poor cousin of Nokia. Micromax has two important success criteria – perfect assessment of the customer needs and the ability to adapt their supply chain to those needs. The company was a pioneer in initiating dual sim phones in India and challenged Nokia’s supremacy with its innovations. The company realized that a large number of customers were willing to use more than 1 sim cards for various reasons. However, not many were willing to carry 2 or more mobile phones in their pockets. This latent need led to the development of mobile phones with dual sim cards which have become a norm today (Dharmakumar, 2010). 4. Common process between the two organizations and its impact The product design process of the two organizations is quite similar. Both organizations consider assessing customer needs as the most important and preliminary stage of product design. In Nokia, this research is done very methodologically by specialists across various geographies and cultures. At Micromax, the market research is not very structured and the focus is more on identifying the latent needs and to target niche segments of the market. The next step is to choose the theme and develop the product. While Nokia believes in designing an experience rather than a product, Micromax considers a theme such as dual sim and develops and markets its product around that theme. The next step is to test the prototype on a selected group of customers. While this step is a must for Nokia, Micromax may actually skip it and go ahead with judgment of its management. After the product is developed, the supply chain management is very important for both the firms. Nokia maintains a set of requirements for its suppliers. Nokia makes efforts in maintaining a sustainable e-supply chain. The su pply chain management at Micromax is less structured but also less complicated. This enables the company to easily swing the supply chain making it more agile. The product design process has a significant positive impact on their competitive position in the market. By focusing on customer needs, these companies win half the battle. This helps them in efficient planning and execution. By maintaining an effective and agile supply chain, these companies are better equipped to manage change in customer needs, market conditions, global economic

Sustainable Supply Chain Management Assignment Discussion Essay

Sustainable Supply Chain Management Assignment Discussion - Essay Example Furthermore, there have been increasing concerns over the long-term effects of these processed foods such as diabetes and obesity and a myriad of other dangerous health conditions. According to research by Oxform, none of the top 10 big multinationals has registered a positive overall rating in their public health policies or commitments especially as pertains to their supply chain. This is probably why in recently millions of packaged food products containing horsemeat instead of beef were distributed in America and Europe; that a firm with such a wide scope could make a great error in their supply chain is evidence that they were not taking their corporate social responsibility very seriously. The aim of this paper is to discusscorporate social responsibilities concerning global supply chains and the development of shared values within the corporates. The Oxform report, â€Å"Title Behind the Brands† goes on to place the multination to task for their extreme secrecy in opera tions, which makes it difficult for sustain and verify their claims of social corporate responsibility (Cofino, 2013). According to this report, despite the fact that 80% of the global populace is perennially hungry; enormous tracts of land are used in the production of unhealthy foods and snacks which in no way address the problem. There is a direct connection, according to oxform, between the global poverty endemic and the food and beverage industry, this is because the sourcing strategy for the fast food industry. Poor nations have supplied the multinationals; most of which are located in the West with products such as tomatoes, soy, coffee, tea, corn and so on; the final products of their exports are fast foods retailed in the west and are of little use in dealing with the hunger issues. In this nations there are a myriad issues ranging from child labour, unfair wages and poor working conditions, as a result firms sourcing their supply from these countries often be highly critic ized for profiting from the problems therein (Schlegelmilch and Obersede 2007, p.14). The report is highly critical of the corporates actions since in their attempt to assist the farmers who produce these raw materials, they focus on superficial aspects such as training farmers on matters, such as irrigation. However, they fail to address the underlying problem of poverty and in a way of their help, they are actually just enhancing their supply base as opposed to actually, assisting people solve the underlying problems(Agbonifo, 2011). In case they were willing, the corporates can ensure workers earn decent pay, asses and eliminate the root cause of hunger and poverty from the areas where they get their supplies. Nevertheless, majority choose to do nothing significant in those respects and do not feel obligated since they lack proper polices for guiding their supply chain operations. The study involved some of the leading food producers in the world such as coca cola, Unilever assoc iated British foods and nestle; these firms were judged based on their standards in several areas such as transparency and their consideration for the rights of workers and food safety. Sadly, very few were able to give a substantiated account of how they deal with suppliers and how they ensure that ethical practices are maintained throughout the supply chain. Associated British foods were ranked last with 19%; its transparency was the lowest, among other things it was discovered that much of the sugar