Operational effectiveness vs. Strategy

Total management of quality. Benchmarking. Competition based on time. Reengineering. Management of change. The pursuit of productivity, quality, and speed has led to many tools and strategies for project management.

The operational improvements that resulted were often substantial. But many companies have not succeeded in translating these benefits into sustainable profitability. It simply does not bring a real competitive advantage to improve operational efficiency because “best practice” benefits are rarely sustained.

And it is the key to the advantage of competitiveness.

What Is The Effectiveness of Operations?

Operational efficiency means obtaining or extending best practices. Always look at what you cost money and discover ways to accomplish it more efficiently. Anything that costs your company can be examined.

And it’s related to your competition, of course. To look at how, why, and what they do to identify better methods to do it.

What is Strategy, and How Does It Benefit Organizations?

The art of strategic development or effective strategic placement creates a unique and sustained competitive edge. You aim to make clients eager to spend as you are different from your competition and offer an extraordinary value combination that is more appealing.

Strategy is the background to why you do what you do. And all too frequently, you encounter cases where this context is lacking and isn’t very sensible. You know the kind. You know the type. A luxury apartment crosses the best features of a hotel. Except it wasn’t like any of the apartments in which we had before been. Some aspects are as you would expect — beautiful bed, nice shower, etc. But as we checked closer, we noticed that the kitchen had only cupboards. With nothing in them! With nothing! No cooker, no refrigerator, no sink, and no vault. The individuals who designed it were never at an apart-hotel in the US or the United Kingdom — they just copied the images.

This keeps us chuckling today. But replicating something and not knowing the strategic context is a perfect case.

Effectiveness Without Plan

It is pretty usual for companies to see and replicate others in their industry. Like the Bulgarian designers, however, the strategic context behind their economic decisions is not understood. You see a new method, and you think, ‘Great! Let’s introduce it without regard to its primary client or brand identity. Take Continental Lite’s unfortunate introduction by Continental Airlines. The expansion of the budget-focused South West Airlines challenged them. They, therefore, duplicated their approach without knowing that it was an integrated system built on a different set of core clients.

Continental aimed to bring its competitors in the rapid turnaround times, point-to-point model and single aircraft model. However, because Continental Lite was not entirely separated from its leading brand, some key business strategies were broken. For example, they had to adjust what they paid in commission to travel agents and lost a lot of money by continuing with the baggage management.

They were primarily aimed at very distinct core clients. When Continental Lite was debuted, it did not meet customers who expected a particular degree of service. It’s hardly the only airline that makes this mistake. British Airways suffered a similar catastrophe with their unfortunate low-cost ‘Go’ trial.