“BUILDING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE THROUGH OPERATIONS”
Once in a small village near Kolkata a fair was going on, as usual there were many balloon sellers selling balloons, competition was high everyone wanted to sell their balloons to as many people as possible. One seller amongst them saw that however he tried he could never cover the whole ground and it was not possible for him to sell his balloons to all the customers as long as there were others selling balloons. He came up with a brilliant idea every now and then he filled a colourful balloon with air and left it, the balloon would rise up and every person inside the fair would see it. Seeing the rising balloons the children’s would beg their parents to buy them one and the balloon sellers sales would go up. One of the children asked the seller whether different colour balloons rose to different heights. The seller replied that it isn’t the colour of the balloon that made it rise but what’s inside it. Operations is something like that it is like the women behind every successful man. Name one company that has reached the top without properly managing its operations.
Arsenal, Mc Donalds,......to .......,Dell, Maruti Suzuki these are names that are recognised all around the world all over India. These are brands that have been able to differentiate themselves from others in their respective industries. Isn’t this what competitive advantage is all about creating differentiation. These brands have been able to reach the top solely on the basis of their competence to manage their operations. In this era of competition where everyone wants a piece of the pie, its very important to develop long lasting advantages to help you survive. Companies should look at developing core competence that will launch them toward success. We as managers are increasingly told to develop core competence in specific areas where no one