Operation management is a key area of management in any successful organization. The management ensures business operations use the available resources in an organization effectively to meet dynamic consumer needs (Lewis, & Slack, 2003, p.11).
Nike, a market leader in the sports shoes and apparel has a commanding thirty two percent of the global market share. The success in Nike is because the company ensures that estimates of how well the product will sell are pertinent prior to manufacturing a product. In addition, Nike ensures that the right product gets to the right consumer at the right time.
Consumers’ fashions and tastes are highly dynamic, thus an organization must keep up with fashion trends in order to remain competitive. For the success of Nike, it is imperative that all the businesses operations get quality information. Quality information ensures that the various departments in an organization, which include sales delivery to retailers around the world, factory orders, and sales forecasting coordinate to keep up with changing consumer needs.
Quality information helps Nike to coordinate with its manufacturing operations to avoid the accumulation of stock that could cause losses if not sold and/or consumer tastes change. Timeliness ensures that Nike reduces the period it takes to design and launch its products into the market. Moreover, timeliness and quality information ensures that Nike responds to consumer needs promptly thus avoiding delays, which could cause the organization to be in fashion lag.
When designing any information system, information security is an inherent factor to the success of the organization. Secure information system maintains information confidentiality, availability requirements, and integrity (Trček, 2006, p.18).
Unfortunately, information systems face significant threats from access by unauthorized personnel, which could be detrimental to the organization if for instance, competitors access such information. Nike should ensure the information for sale forecasting and factory upholds information integrity and confidentiality.
In its never-ending race for high sales and profits, Nike uses the World Wide Web to brand royalty and stimulate demand for its products. However, Nike can use the World Wide Web for a variety of other functions to ensure that it achieves its goal of increasing its global market share to forty-three per cent.
Nike should use the internet to develop a personal relationship with its consumers. In the advent of technology, organizations are using the internet to develop a personal relationship with consumers and using it as a marketing tool and for carrying out market surveys.
When an organization uses online marketing, it reduces the cost of advertising and increases consumer loyalty. In addition, using the internet to carry out market surveys is cheaper and ensures that organizations reduce time spent in the design phase of product development. In addition, Nike should use the World Wide Web to carry out corporate social responsibility thus garnering positive publicity from potential consumers and its stakeholders.
By adapting integrated information system, Nike will ensure quality information thus reducing time spent from product design to delivery to consumers. An integrated information system will ensure reduced inventory, which could be detrimental to the organization profitability in case of fashion lag.
However, Nike should ensure that its information system is secure to ensure information integrity and confidentiality. In addition to building product brand and stimulating product demand, Nike should use the internet for market surveys and building personal relationship with its consumers.
References
Lewis, M., & Slack, N. (2003). Operations Management: Critical Perspectives on Business and Management. USA: Routledge.
Trček, D. (2006). Managing information systems security and privacy. Germany: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg Publishers.