Investigating the Coordination Between Operations and Sales in an Industrial Environment - a Case Study at Tetra Pak
(2012) In Master Thesis, Technology Management FEKP02 20121Department 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:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/2862524
- author
- Hultqvist, Danielle LU and Wahlgren, Filippa
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- FEKP02 20121
- year
- 2012
- 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}}, }