Operations Management and Implementation Plan for Cost Efficiency and Product Quality at Apple Inc
Operation Management and Implementation Plan
Goals and objectives
The administration of business practices to create the highest efficiency level in Apple Inc. has several objectives to ensure it remains competitive. These goals are classified into two primary categories, namely, performance and cost objectives.
Performance objective
One of the ideas behind controlling the production process and marketing operations at Apple Inc. is to increase the quality of products and customer awareness. The method will provide iPhones and computer products with a perfect balance of function and design, along with services tailored to customers’ tastes and preferences. Wolniak (2020) observes that efficient operations attempt to maximize a company’s competitiveness through continual improvement in the quality of its products. Performance objective also focuses on increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the firm’s products. This concept calls for the optimum utilization of the input resources to effectively achieve the organization’s business goals.
Cost objective
Another objective of operation management at the company is to minimize costs. Lowering production costs is an ongoing effort for Apple Inc. In this sense, managing business operations at the firm involves controlling the resources directly used in the production process while ensuring that products conform to pre-set quality specifications (Wolniak, 2020). Therefore, the strategic decision involved in setting up business processes at the company aims to minimize the cost related to labor, facility, and materials to ultimately offset the high prices of Apple products.
Assigning of Responsibilities
Successful completion of the marketing plan involves assigning various activities to different team members to ensure the process is run in an efficient and timely manner. Key members in the project will include the project manager, team members, project sponsor, executive sponsor, and business analyst.
The project manager
The manager will be primarily responsible for the successful completion of the marketing strategy by meeting the cost, schedule, functionality, and quality targets of the marketing campaigns. In essence, the managers will develop the appropriate marketing plan while managing deliverables per the plan (Oh & Choi, 2020). The manager’s role will extend to recruiting team members, scheduling staff, and establishing the project timeline for each project’s phase. Additionally, part of the manager’s responsibilities will include running the project efficiently while acting as the arbiter of differing objectives across the team (Berry, 2014). The manager will be accountable for providing a tangible return to Apple Inc. in the same extensiveness. Overall, the project manager will spearhead the successful completion of the project by proactively keeping operational management informed of the process’ status and forecasts.
Project team members
Project team members will also be instrumental in the successful execution of the marketing project. Team members will contribute to the overall project objectives by documenting the marketing process, providing expertise, and completing individual expertise and deliverables (Oh & Choi, 2020). Team members will also be expected to perform additional activities essential for redesigning Apple’s products and services, such as providing customer service, performing quality control, conducting data processing, and determining resource capacity planning. Team members will further be expected to design new functionalities, perform back-office activities, control the firm’s inventory, manage technology during the marketing initiative, and forecast demands and trends (Berry, 2014). In this way, project team members will contribute to the overall project objectives and team deliverables.
Project Sponsor
The project sponsor is also an important driver and in-house champion of the project. Ideally, the project sponsor will work closely with Apple Inc.’s management to endorse and defend the marketing plan as a viable investment that will serve the organizational objective (Oh & Choi, 2020). The project sponsor will achieve these roles by continuously participating in high-level meetings to legitimize the project’s objectives while ensuring resource availability.
Executive Sponsor
The marketing project will also consist of an executive sponsor. The major role of the sponsor will be to act as a visible champion of the marketing plan and the ultimate decision-maker concerning the project’s approvals, deliverables in every phase, and necessary changes to the project (Oh & Choi, 2020). As such, the executive sponsor will approve all changes in the project, approve project deliverables based on critical success factors, and provide additional resources for the change of the project’s scope.
Marketing Specialist
The technical advisor will provide strategic consultancy services necessary for creating a detailed marketing plan. Notably, this individual will determine the most appropriate marketing messages for the company, in addition to identifying the effective marketing mix to disseminate the information to the target customer segments (Oh & Choi, 2020). The advisor will also determine the marketing needs based on the firm’s profile and business operations. These activities will help identify and monitor the project’s results and tweak marketing campaigns per the market demands.
Developers
The developer will be responsible for the project’s lifecycle, starting from creating awareness to driving adoption.
IT specialist
IT specialists will perform technology support for the project. Particularly, the IT guru will be concerned with establishing project support and technology standards, assisting team members in using project support technology; and ensuring that the technical environment is up-to-date and operational throughout the project.
Resource allocation
Optimum resource allocation is necessary to ensure the company comes up with products and services that match consumers’ wants and needs at the lowest possible cost of production. Typically, the resource allocation approach will be based on Apple Inc.’s strategic objective of becoming the market leader in smartphones, computer tablets, and online digital services (Maritan & Lee, 2017). A sufficient amount of money will go to market research to establish unmet consumer needs for the firm’s products. The company will also allocate money for product design and development. Another crucial area in which financial resources will be allocated is the production process. Money will also be allocated to marketing activities, such as advertising, to impact customer behavior and purchase behavior (Maritan & Lee, 2017). In the same vein, the human resource (HR) department will use its budgeted funds to hire employees, commission marketing studies, and purchase various product components and new raw materials.
Implementation Schedule
The marketing project is expected to run for 13 months, with the start date and completion date of February 5, 2022, and March 6, 2023, respectively. The first month of the project’s lifecycle will involve assessing the current state of the firm’s business operations. Ideally, the assessment will pay attention to the strengths and weaknesses of Apple’s current approach to production, marketing, and service offerings. The next month will involve a data review whereby financial and activity-based information will be organized, interpreted, and analyzed. After that, the next phase will be concerned with building the initial model of the project, which will run for two months. In this phase, the marketing plan’s guiding principles, model framework, and structure will be developed. The project’s next milestone will focus on engaging stakeholders, including customers, suppliers, and executive members. The goal will be to seek their input during the formulation of the marketing framework.
The subsequent phase of the project will involve refining the model. Particularly, this phase will pay much attention to reviewing feedback from stakeholders, discussing the results with the marketing team, and determining the necessary refinements to the projects. The last stage of the project will involve testing the model before its official launch. Specifically, model training will encompass reviewing the model framework, design, functionality, and calculations. These activities are considered vital and must be completed exactly on schedule to ensure timely project completion. The schedules are an important part of the project planning as they will become the tool for monitoring and evaluating the project’s phases.
Figure 1: project activities
| Project Activities | Start date | End date | Days complete |
| Assessing the current state of the firm’s business operations | 5-Feb-22 | 5-Mar-22 | 30 |
| Review of financial and activity-based information | 6-Mar-22 | 6-Mar-22 | 30 |
| Initial model building | 6-Mar-22 | 6-Apr-22 | 60 |
| Guiding principles | 6-Mar-22 | 6-Apr-22 | 30 |
| Model framework | 6-Mar-22 | 6-Apr-22 | 30 |
| Structure of the marketing | 6-Mar-22 | 6-Apr-22 | 30 |
| Engaging stakeholders | 6-Apr-22 | 6-May-22 | 30 |
| Refining the model | 6-May-22 | 6-Jun-22 | 30 |
| Testing the model | 6-Jun-22 | 6-Jul-22 | 30 |
Evaluation Plan
Define metrics
A rigorous analysis of the completed activities will be conducted to determine whether the project meets the intended goals. Key data for evaluation will include changes in sales, progress toward strategic business goals, differences in strategies between Apple Inc. and competitors, and return on investment. Evaluating these components will provide valuable insights into the firm’s product design and marketing campaigns effective for attracting more customers and, ultimately, the highest return on investment (Genchev, 2015). Therefore, efficient monitoring of the project will ensure that the company streamlines its business strategies and ends up with an efficient production process and powerful marketing system that does not waste investment.
Contingency plan
Establishing a disaster recovery plan is necessary to address the identified risks in the production and marketing approaches. The measure in place will reduce the risks of not meeting the pre-set targets (Genchev, 2015). In the company’s case, one of the measures is to define each task properly to avoid the risk of not meeting deadlines. At the same time, it is imperative to utilize resources assigned to each task to allow full completion of the project. Another measure will involve monitoring the project processes closely to ensure that everything is going on the right track. Additionally, developing an incentive plan for taking unscheduled shifts will be necessary to ensure sufficient allocation of human resources to every phase of the project.
References
Berry, J. (2014). Time to take control? How to manage your own marketing resource allocation? Journal of Direct, Data and Digital Marketing Practice, 16(2), 80-85. https://doi.org/10.1057/dddmp.2014.56
Genchev, E. (2015). Assessment of strategic marketing planning. Trakia Journal of Sciences, 13(Suppl.1), 323-326. https://doi.org/10.15547/tjs.2015.s.01.054
Maritan, C., & Lee, G. (2017). Resource allocation and strategy. Journal Of Management, 43(8), 2411-2420. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206317729738
Oh, M., & Choi, S. (2020). The competence of project team members and success factors with open innovation. Journal Of Open Innovation: Technology, Market, And Complexity, 6(3), 51. https://doi.org/10.3390/joitmc6030051
Wolniak, R. (2020). Main functions of operation management. Production Engineering Archives, 26(1), 11-14. https://doi.org/10.30657/pea.2020.26.03
ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE
We’ll write everything from scratch
Question 
Operations Management and Implementation Plan
The operations and implementation departments would like you to go over the following sections of the business plan:
Operations Management and Implementation Plan
Evaluation Plan
Based on your research, write a succinct analysis of each of the following items:
F. Operations Management and Implementation Plan
1. Outline Goals and Objectives
2. Assign Responsibilities
3, Implementation Schedule
4. Resource Allocation
G. Evaluation Plan
1. Define Metrics
2. Contingency Plan
(Note to Writer: I have enclosed a copy of a previous essay written for this class regarding the business plan for the company I chose for this unit, namely Apple INC. Please use it as a reference to assist with the completion of my essay request. Thank you)
The submission details are as follows:
Present your analysis as a 5-page report in a Microsoft Word document formatted in APA style.
Cite any sources in APA format.