Q&A - What factors does a business need to consider when deciding whether to outsource?
There are several factors that a business needs to take into account in deciding whether to do something “in-house” or whether to outsource. These relate to the corporate and functional objectives of a business and can be summarised as follows:
read more...»Q&A - Explain what is meant by outsourcing
A business does not have to do everything that is required to produce its products and services. For example:
- A retailer rarely designs and makes the fixtures and fittings that create the shop interior
- A large consumer products business will not do all its own primary market research
- A local baker will not grow wheat or even mill it into flour
Why don’t these businesses do these things? Because there are other businesses that are specialised in the tasks required and can do it better and cheaper. This process is called outsourcing.
read more...»Q&A - What is the difference between outsourcing and offshoring?
Although the two terms sound similar, and are connected, offshoring” is is not the same as outsourcing! Here is a simple way to remember the difference between these two terms:
read more...»Q&A - What are the main issues in operating a multi-site business?
Many businesses start and continue to trade from just one business location. However, for others, the growth of the business necessitates the opening of locations on more than one site…
read more...»Q&A - Explain what is meant by industrial inertia
A business, once established, will often decide to stay in its original location even if other factors suggest a new location would be beneficial. The term for this is “industrial inertia”. Why does this happen?
read more...»Q&A - How important is location in determining business success?
For businesses in some sectors, location really is important. For others, it is a relatively minor decision. The key is to consider the main issues faced by a business choosing a business location and to address the most appropriate way of making a choice.
read more...»Q&A - Outline some ways in which a business might improve its labour productivity
How can a business improve its labour productivity? Here are some possible approaches;
read more...»Q&A - Explain what is meant by labour productivity and how it can be measured?
Labour productivity is concerned with the amount (volume) of output that is obtained from each employee. It is a key measure of business efficiency, particularly for firms in which the production process is labour-intensive.
read more...»Q&A - Which is best - quality control or quality assurance?
Which approach to managing quality is best? The answer is that both can play an important role in managing quality. Here is a summary of the main considerations:
read more...»Q&A - How can benchmarking help with managing quality?
Done properly, benchmarking can provide a useful quality improvement target for a business.
read more...»Q&A - What is involved in quality assurance
A definition of quality assurance is: “the processes that ensure production quality meets the requirements of customers”.
This is an approach that aims to achieve quality by organising every process to get the product ‘right first time’ and prevent mistakes ever happening. This is also known as a ‘zero defect’ approach.
read more...»Q&A - Explain what is involved in quality control
A good definition of quality control is: “the process of inspecting products to ensure that they meet the required quality standards”
This method checks the quality of completed products for faults. Quality inspectors measure or test every product, samples from each batch, or random samples – as appropriate to the kind of product produced.
read more...»Q&A - Can quality be measured?
Given the importance of achieving the right level of quality, a key question is how a business can measure the effectiveness of its quality performance.
read more...»Q&A - What are the costs of poor quality?
You can probably come up with several examples from your own experience of when you have come across poor quality. Here are some examples:
read more...»Q&A - Why is quality so important in business?
Quality helps determine a firm’s success in a number of ways:
read more...»Q&A - Define what is meant by quality
Quality is important to businesses but can be quite hard to define. A good definition of quality is:
“Quality is about meeting the needs and expectations of customers”
read more...»Q&A - What is meant by production capacity?
Capacity can be defined as: the maximum output that a business can produce in a given period with the available resources
read more...»Q&A - What is capacity utilisation and why is it important?
Capacity utilisation measures the extent to which a business is using its production potential.
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