Developing Good Business Sense - Essay Example

McDonalds is one of those organizations that are known for continuous development in their systems. Employees at McDonalds are not only involved in manufacturing of food and different aspects of operations management, they are also well-supported by automated system, hi-tech equipments and effective supply chain management system (McDonalds-UK, 2013). A critical analysis of McDonalds’ operations helped in understanding that minimum wastage, customer-oriented approach and environmental considerations are main features that govern the performance of its employees.

Hence, effective cold chain, customer services and just-in time delivery by the supplier are the main features of McDonald’s operations that also govern the task performance of its employees. Like McDonalds, KFC is also supported with highly skilled labor and automation in its system. However, there is limited attention paid to materials management in terms of supplier’s selection and waste management. Where McDonalds has strategic alliances to limited suppliers, KFC has a rather extensive pool of suppliers.

Yearly assessment of suppliers helps in selection for the next year. Unlike KFC and McDonalds, Amazon chose to identify the top selling items and have a readily available stock of such items. It is important to note that more than warehouse management; Amazon relies on its alliances with suppliers in different regions of the world and courier services. Therefore, employees working with Amazon are more supported with IT-based interventions than the actual manufacturing processes. McDonalds and KFC use flexible operating system when it comes to operations and materials management.

They have computer-aided manufacturing programs with human intervention in a supervisory role than direct involvement in production. However, as far as delivery of ready-to-cook items and real-time cooking is concerned, it is performed through their employees. Such practice helps in ensuring that a suitable quantity of finish product is available to meet the demands of consumers without incurring actual wastages. On the other hand, Amazon focuses on small-batch production when it comes to selection of operations and materials management.

The storing capacity of Amazon is rather limited and it focuses on having strategic alliances in different regions for catering customers all around the world instead of having physical facilities across the globe. Only limited items are stored based on their past selling patterns and consumers’ demands. As far as their operations and materials management costs are concerned, McDonalds and KFC incur costs in terms of raw materials purchase, plant management and basic manufacturing, labor, inventory management and distribution (Jones, 2007).

All these components are inevitable to incur as these fast food chains cannot outsource manufacturing processes. On the other hand, Amazon incurs costs because of products’ purchase, warehousing and distribution along with human resource management. Since it does not perform direct manufacturing i.e. publishing, CD burning etc, itself, therefore it purchases ready products from publishers and vendors in different regions and deliver them to customers accordingly. Main source of costs is expected to be warehousing and d