QuickTrip Analysis

Answer

QuickTrip Analysis

            QuickTrip is a chain of convenience stores located in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which primarily operates in the Southern, Midwestern, and Southeastern United States and Arizona. The first QuickTrip convenience store was opened by Chester Cadieux and Burt Holmes in 1958 (Ton, 2011). The purpose of this essay is to provide an analysis of QuickTrip’s operations strategy management activities, value chain, performance measurements, and technology utilized to support the value chain processes.

QuickTrip’s Operations Strategy

            QuickTrip’s operations strategy revolves around the high performance of the members of the workforce. Evidently, the business has strongly invested in its workforce members which provide them with increased responsibilities in the workforce. According to Hanna (2011), QuickTrip is listed as among the best companies that one should consider working for since it shows a great value for the employees. Notably, the firm invests in its employees and expects them to deliver quality services which further results to increased revenue generation. The company’s culture provides an indication that the employees are an important asset of the business. The firm has established effective means of employee promotion, performance evaluation and desirable compensation packages to ensure that the employees are motivated to offer desirable performance in the workplace for an improved customer experience.

            QuickTrip is focused on gaining a competitive advantage by opening at least ten convenience stores yearly and ensuring that the new outlets are operated by presentable and competent employees. The major aim of this move is to ensure that the customers are attracted quickly to the new outlets. Through this strategy, QuickTrip has established loyalty among the consumers and also maintained a sustainable growth within the newly established markets. With an aim of transferring most of its culture within the new market segments, the firm has also focused on hiring at least 50% of the members of its workforce from the local community. The presented move enables the business to nurse the talent of the employees within the region to ensure that they are in a position to offer effective services. Notably, the company also believes that the fundamental determinant of consumer satisfaction is associated with having a happy employee base (Ton, 2011). Satisfied customers mean an increased rate of come-back customers and the firm’s competitiveness.

Operation Management Activities and Customer Experience

            Operations management directly influences the supply chain process which is inclusive of consumer sustainability and experience. Taking into consideration the sentiments of Cordon, Sundtoft and Seifert (2013), capacity management, resource planning, quality control, inventory control, and service design are the primary activities of capacity management. The outlined activities influence how the customers relate with the firm which is directly tied to the outcomes of the business.

            The processes of operation management are focused on effective delivery of products and services to the customers. The operations management activities at QuickTrip have influenced the quality of the services offered based on the perspective of the consumers. Globalization and sustainability are some of the common operations management challenges evident in the presented case. Globalization is regarded as a challenge since it increases the rate of competition a firm experiences in the market, both locally and internationally. To address the issue of globalization, players such as QuickTrip should improve on the quality of its products and services to ensure that it remains competitive in the market. One of the ways that the quality of the products can be enhanced is by investing even more on the workforce through activities such as training and development to enhance their skills and performance (Cordon, Hald & Seifert, 2013). The sustainability challenge is also common in this case. Evidently, maintaining the existing business practices without exposing the firm’s resources at risk is a sustainability challenge related with operations management. The presented challenge can be addressed through the implementation of best practices which considers the social, economic and environmental challenges to prevent them from becoming jeopardized (Cordon, Hald & Seifert, 2013).

Value Chain Analysis

            QuickTrip value chain activities includes several processes which range from establishing QuickTrip Kitchens, the preparation and delivery of fresh foods, labeling the company’s products, consulting with relevant stakeholders, and extending to a wide range of activities which supports the store’s activities. The major aim of the presented activities is to convert the available information and raw materials to generate outputs which provide solutions to match the needs of the customers. The final outputs are highly valued in comparison to the process of production. As a result, the company generates profits from the value chain processes.

            In its value chain processes, QuickTrip focuses on ensuring that all the stakeholders to in a positive contribution to ensure that a final value is offered to the clients. In this case, the business integrates the efforts of the people within its value chain processes and activities. The heavy investment on the members of the workforce is to ensure that the employees remain competent in their effective service delivery to guarantee customer satisfaction. This is a means of creating value to the members of the workforce. With this, it is evident that the firm has paid attention towards integrating all the members of its workforce within the value chain processes and activities. Additionally, the heavy investment to the employees is believed to be an act which improves the competence of the members of the workforce to ensure the delivery of quality products to consumers (Ton, 2011).

            The major focus of the essential activities of the value chain management such as obtaining raw materials and converting them into goods and services and ensuring that they effectively reach the market to counteract the customer’s needs. Evidently, the company’s products such as the gasoline and food commodities are effective in ensuring an improved customer satisfaction through a better experience.

Performance Measurement Types

            Different types of performance measurements can be implemented to evaluate the service delivery system of a firm. A balances scorecard is one of the form of performance measures which can be considered. The proposed method of measuring performance implements aspects such as internal process metrics, customer perspective metrics, financial metrics, financial performance metrics and customer management metrics. The financial measures of service delivery can also be considered as it may include aspects such as the shareholder value and system cost structure among others. Metrics focused on measuring the internal perspective such as demand flexibility, productivity, and the flow of time can also be considered in this case.

            QuickTrip should implement the use of a balanced scorecard and internal processes and customer perspective measures. Through the implementation of the balanced scorecard as a means of measurement, it is effective to assess the wider view of the performance of the organization in various perspective such as the quality of the products delivered to the consumers in the market, timely delivery, safety of the processes, service efficiency, and work environment among others (Cordon, Hald & Seifert, 2013). The internal processes metrics are considered as effective measures to be implemented by the business based on the fact that the business relies majorly on internal business aspects to ensure adequate service delivery to the consumers. Evidently, the internal view is associated with aspects such as the production of goods and services. With the internal measures, the company will be able to establish areas which need improvement to ensure that the level of customer retention, service and loyalty is enhanced within the firm.

Effective Technologies to be Applied

            QuickTrip has focused on the use of different technologies focused on supporting its value chain processes and performance in the market. The digital app utilized on smartphones is one of the technologies utilized by the business. The digital application can be downloaded by consumers at their convenience. The application enables the consumers to access the features of the firm easily without having to show up physically at the store. With the application, the consumers can view product prices and any available offers as well as food menu options among others (Ton, 2011). Additionally, QuickTrip has also relied on the use of social media technology whereby the business has opened pages on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. In this case, the firm can upload details about the products and services offered by the firm.

            The outlined technologies are effective for the business since they assist in boosting the experiences of the firm by offering a timely and instance response to the needs of the consumers. With technology comes effectiveness and efficiency in that the firm can easily establish a long-lasting relationship with the customers by making the value chain activities more flexible.  Moreover, the technology is also effective in reducing waste and enhancing the quality of the services offered by the business through an effective time saving process. Therefore, the use of the technology minimizes the high costs of production while maximizing the value of the business and its processes.