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Investigating the Coordination Between Operations and Sales in an Industrial Environment - a Case Study at Tetra Pak

Hultqvist, Danielle LU and Wahlgren, Filippa (2012) In Master Thesis, Technology Management FEKP02 20121
Department of Business Administration
Abstract
Misaligned strategies that are developed within different units in a company is unfortunately a common occurrence. Generally, operations strategy and marketing strategy are difficult to align; the operations unit and the sales unit often have troubles understanding each other. If adding a capacity planning perspective to this issue, it is obvious that the two units need a full understanding for each other to be able to work cooperatively with the capacity planning and make joint decisions that support the actual needs of the customer. As a result of strategic misalignment, the operations unit struggles to make a strategic decision regarding the balancing of capacity levels and costs. By conducting a case study at Tetra Pak Sweden, the... (More)
Misaligned strategies that are developed within different units in a company is unfortunately a common occurrence. Generally, operations strategy and marketing strategy are difficult to align; the operations unit and the sales unit often have troubles understanding each other. If adding a capacity planning perspective to this issue, it is obvious that the two units need a full understanding for each other to be able to work cooperatively with the capacity planning and make joint decisions that support the actual needs of the customer. As a result of strategic misalignment, the operations unit struggles to make a strategic decision regarding the balancing of capacity levels and costs. By conducting a case study at Tetra Pak Sweden, the complex issue of coordinating the operations unit and sales unit was investigated further. A theoretical framework, the ICOS-framework, was developed to visualize the areas of importance to understand the issue. A complex situation was then described at Tetra Pak in order to show how the issue can present itself in reality. In parallel, a capacity planning tool was designed in Excel to support capacity planning decisions and visualise how the decisions taken in the operations unit affect customer satisfaction in the end. In conclusion, a joint measurement in terms of a service level (based on actual expectations from customers) could be the first step towards finding a solution to the misalignment between operations and sales. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Hultqvist, Danielle LU and Wahlgren, Filippa
supervisor
organization
course
FEKP02 20121
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
organisational success, strategic alignment, key performance indicators, capacity planning, operations strategy, marketing strategy, make-to-order, low-volume, lead-times, forecasts
publication/series
Master Thesis, Technology Management
report number
No 228/2012
ISSN
1651-0100
language
English
id
2862524
date added to LUP
2014-12-22 11:01:22
date last changed
2014-12-22 11:01:22
@misc{2862524,
  abstract     = {{Misaligned strategies that are developed within different units in a company is unfortunately a common occurrence. Generally, operations strategy and marketing strategy are difficult to align; the operations unit and the sales unit often have troubles understanding each other. If adding a capacity planning perspective to this issue, it is obvious that the two units need a full understanding for each other to be able to work cooperatively with the capacity planning and make joint decisions that support the actual needs of the customer. As a result of strategic misalignment, the operations unit struggles to make a strategic decision regarding the balancing of capacity levels and costs. By conducting a case study at Tetra Pak Sweden, the complex issue of coordinating the operations unit and sales unit was investigated further. A theoretical framework, the ICOS-framework, was developed to visualize the areas of importance to understand the issue. A complex situation was then described at Tetra Pak in order to show how the issue can present itself in reality. In parallel, a capacity planning tool was designed in Excel to support capacity planning decisions and visualise how the decisions taken in the operations unit affect customer satisfaction in the end. In conclusion, a joint measurement in terms of a service level (based on actual expectations from customers) could be the first step towards finding a solution to the misalignment between operations and sales.}},
  author       = {{Hultqvist, Danielle and Wahlgren, Filippa}},
  issn         = {{1651-0100}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  series       = {{Master Thesis, Technology Management}},
  title        = {{Investigating the Coordination Between Operations and Sales in an Industrial Environment - a Case Study at Tetra Pak}},
  year         = {{2012}},
}