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Business Operations in My Organization: Strategies for Achieving Competitive Advantage

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Business Operations In My Organization: Strategies for Achieving Competitive Advantage
Lionel Bryan Small
Walden University

Business Operations in Your Organization: Strategies for Achieving Competitive Advantage
Introduction
This Praxis paper focuses on four areas that can improve Royal Dutch Shell Group’s (Shell) ability to be more competitive with other integrated oil majors in the global supply chain. Shell’s goal is to be “the world’s most competitive and innovative energy company” (Shell 2013). First, the macro-processes involved in the supply chain of Shell are introduced. Forecasting techniques were researched to see how these can be applied to demand management in Shell. Third, business process integration was investigated to improve the supply chain in Shell. Finally, operations and production strategy was synthesized to respond to the changing demands in the modern global environment.
Discussion
The Macro-processes Involved in the Supply Chain of Shell Company Chosen and the Reason. The company I chose for this assignment is Shell. The key reason is I work for Shell. I have access to global supply chain managers who will help with this assignment. I contribute to the planning operations in the global supply chain. My contribution is the production of petroleum liquids for refinery processing. Gas produced is sold directly to customers as fuel. I believe a lot was learned during the review and analysis of Shell’s global supply chain.
Shell’s Problem. Shell uses a global scorecard to monitor its yearly success. Figure 1 shows the scorecard for 2012. As a global energy company, Shell did not perform well in delivering the oil and gas required to fuel its refineries or supply raw gas to its customers. As a result, their total shareholder return (TSR) was below target. The two red arrows in the figure indicate low performance in these

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