The purpose of this discussion exercise is to provide you with a forum to discuss your newly
discovered production and operations management concepts considering current issues and real
business situations. This is a practice ground for ensuring that your reasoning and foundation of
these concepts are secure. This portion of the course requires you to interact with your fellow
classmates and critique their submissions.
Note that all these topics refer to the Operations function of a business, to manufacture a product or create a service. We all know that these topics may be used in other business functions, such
as in marketing or finance, but for the discussions in this course, please focus on Operations
examples and articles.
See the Assignments and Grading page for more grading information.
Resources
Refer to this sample format for an article analysisPreview the document. Follow this format to
ensure that you include both information about the situation within the article, as well as concepts
from our readings that explain it.
Directions
Select one of these concepts
Competitive Dimensions (select one) and Operations strategy:
Cost –Make the product or deliver the service at the lowest cost.
Delivery Speed (Time)–Make the product or deliver the service quickly
Flexibility (change it) –Produce a wide range of products.
Differences between manufacturing and service operations.
Sustainability and Green Management (triple bottom line) decisions in Operations.
Measuring efficiency or effectiveness in the Operations function.
Then find a current event in an article from the resources below to illustrate that concept.
Library Resources

Industry Week (Links to an external site.)
Wall Street Journal (Links to an external site.)
Industry Week (Links to an external site.)
Logistics World (Links to an external site.)
Global Manufacturing (Links to an external site.)
Analysis Post
After reviewing and analyzing at least one of the current events articles, compose an analysis of
that event or situation using the unit operations concept that you selected.
Note: Remember to focus upon your selected operations concept in your analysis.
Response Posts
Respond to at least three classmates’ posts or your Instructor’s responses.
Note: If your instructor asks you a question about your analysis, you must respond to them to
receive full credit.