Operations Management in small businesses: key techniques

Name: Operations Management in small businesses: key techniques
Rating: 4.6 (4013 reviews)

A toolkit for making small business operations effective and efficient

Created byChris West

Last updated 3/2024

English

What you'll learn

Successfully apply operations management techniques in a small business
Develop and implement operations that can deliver business strategy
Evaluate and select an operations management technique to deliver a specific need
Manage others to implement an operations management technique
Gain an understanding of the key elements of Artificial Intelligence
Gain an awareness of how Artificial Intelligence can be applied to Business Operations to good effect
Be able to converse and work effectively with AI specialists to Business Operations work together effectively to apply AI to

Course content

7 sections • 66 lectures • 7h 22m total length

Introduction4:41
Explore how operations management drives small business success, from scheduling and stock control to layout decisions, with practical activities, mini case studies, and forums to apply techniques.
What is Operations Management?7:05
After completing this lecture you should:

Have a good idea of what Operations Management is

Appreciate that every small business is engaged in transformation processes

Have a clear overview of our course structure and understand the rationale for this.
Introducing NEW lectures on Artificial Intelligence in Operations Management2:40
Introduce two new sections on artificial intelligence in operations management, covering AI basics and its application to the design, planning, and development of operations.
How every small business is engaged in transformation.8:43
On completion of this lecture and the activity , which is associated with it, you should:

Understand the Input-Output-Transformation process

Be able to distinguish between transformed and transforming resources

Appreciate that small businesses may involve a number of Input-Output-Transformation processes, which might be in sequence or in parallel

Be able to describe how the Input-Output -Transformation process applies in your business or one with which you are familiar.
The basic building blocks of operations management3:00
After reading this document, you should

Understand the concepts of PROCESS, OPERATION & SUPPLY NETWORK as the three main building blocks of operations management

Be able to relate these concepts to your own business, or one with which you are familiar

Appreciate the hierarchical relationships between these concepts.
The characteristics of operations8:27
On completion of this lecture and the activity which is associated with it, you should:

Understand the meaning of the four characteristics of operations (volume, variety, variation & visibility)

Be able to analyse a small business to determine which of these these characteristics is HIGH or LOW

Be able to interpret this analysis to determine its effect on the business's processing costs.
End of Section Quiz: What is operations management?

The purpose of operations management5:11
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the role of operations in delivering business strategy to meet stakeholder need

Understand the different types of stakeholders

Understand the importance of identifying stakeholders and their needs from the business

Be able to analyse your and other business to identify stakeholders and their specific needs.
The relationship between business strategy and operations5:20
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand that operations can deliver, support or drive business strategy

Understand that operations strategy, along with other sub-strategies, is a sub-strategy of business strategy

Be able to analyse and act on the relationship between operations and strategy in your business.
Approaches to setting business strategy7:22
On completion of this lecture and the associated activities, you should:

Understand the concepts of the 5 performance objectives and the triple bottom line, as approaches to setting business strategy

Be able to analyse your business and others in terms of the relative importance of the 5 performance objectives

Be able to analyse your business and others in terms of the three elemnts of the triple bottom line.
The contribution of operations4:47
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the four stages of contribution of operations to a business, as identified in the Hayes and Wheelwright model

Be able to analyse your and other businesses to identify which stage of contribution applies

Be able to identify if there is value in moving to the next stage and what this would entail.
Four perspectives on operations strategy4:50
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the meaning of the four different perspectives on operations strategy

Be able to analyse your business and others to identify which of the four perspectives apply

Evaluate the value to the business of these perspectives.
What should an operations strategy contain?6:22
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the two main types of operations strategy

Understand the two main sets of elements of structural elements and operational systems, in operations strtaegy

Be able to analyses your and other businesses to identify which type asnd elements of operations strtaegy apply and how these are applied
End of Section Quiz: Operations management delivers and influences strategy

Product and service design8:07
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the relationship between Product & Service Design and Process Design

Understand the three components of design

Understand the six stages involved in designing a product or a service

Be able to relate the three components of design to your own products or services

Be able to apply the six design stages to designing your own product or service.
Process design7:35
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the relationship between product and service design and process design

Understand the different types of process associated with product and service design

Understand the volume-variety characteristics of these products and processes.
The product-process matrix and the product-service matrix3:49
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand what the product process matrix and service process matrix are and their potential to help a business optimise flexibility and cost

Be able to apply either the product process or service process matrix to operations in your and other businesses to identify if costs and flexibility can be optimised
Process mapping2:00
On completion of this lecture you should:

Understand what a process map is and the symbols used within it

Be able to draw a process map for an operation or set of operations in your business or other businesses.
Supply network design8:32
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand what a Supply Network is

Understand the differences between the Supply Side and Demand Side elements of a Supply Network

Appreciate why it is important that small businesses understand their supply networks and the design of these

Understand a number of ways in which the shape of a supply network can change

Be able to represent the design of the supply network for your own or other businesses

Identify and analyse whether using any of the supply network modification techniques studied would improve the business in terms of the customer experience or profitability
The location of operations5:28
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand how the location of a business's operations are influenced by sets of Supply Side and Demand Side factors

Understand the importance of considering all of these factors when locating a business

Understand the concept of a gravity model for advising the location of businesses which are heavily reliant on transportation

Be able to analyse the Supply and Demand side factors which relate to the location of your own business or another business

Identify from this analysis whether tere is scope for any improvement
Layout and flow8:54
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the four main types of layout and the different process type and volume-variety contexts in which they apply

Understand the two sets of criteria which can be used to evaluate a layout

Be able to analyse your business and others to identify the type(s) of layout used, evaluate the performace of the layouts and suggest any potential improvements.
Innovation4:37
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the two main types of innovation - incremental and radical

Understand Henderson-Clark's extended classification of types of innovation

Be able to relate and apply these classifications to innovation in the context or your own or other businesses.
Process technology5:53
On completion of this lecture, reading the mini case study and engaging in the activity associated with the lecture, you should:

Understand the three main types of process technology which can support a small business

Know the extent that a small business owner or manager should be involved in the process technology

Be able to evaluate the performance of the process technology in your own or another business and identify any potential improvements.
End of Section Quiz: Design of processes, operations, products and services

The key building blocks of planning and control5:14
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the meaning of planning and control and the difference between planning and control

Appreciate the purpose of planning

Understand the three main types of plan

Be able to review the plans in your and other business in terms of their types and purposes
Planning activities8:03
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the four main planning activities of scheduling, sequencing, loading and monitoring/controlling

Understand the detailed approaches which can be used for each of these four activities

Be able to analyse an activity in your or another business to identify the type of sequencing and control used and if there is any scope for improving efficiency by using alternative approaches
Planning to meet demand9:44
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the difference between dependent and independent demand

Have an overview of a range of quantitative and qualitative methods of forecasting demand and their applicability to different concepts

Understand the three approaches to capacity planning

Be able to analyse demand in your business or others, the forecasting approach(es) used and their relative merits

Be able to analyse how capacity planning is managed in your business or others and identify any potential improvements
Yield management5:49
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Be able to identify the characteristics of a business which would make Yield Management an appropriate technique to use

Understand the main techniques that can be used to manage yield

Appreciate the pitfalls of specific yield management techniques

Be able to apply Yield Management, when appropriate, to your business or others
Managing stock6:55
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the purpose of stock or inventory management to reconcile supply and demand

Understand the purposes of different types of inventory, including buffer, cycle, anticipatory and pipeline inventory

Appreciate the three main challenges of inventory management as the volume, timing and quantity decisions

Appreciate the factors which influence these decisions

Be aware of methods to support these decisions

Be able to analyse how inventory is being managed in a particular business and to identify potential efficiency improvements
Supply chain performance6:03
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand what Supply Chain Management is

Appreciate the critical nature of Supply Chain Management as a business activity

Understand how Supply Chain Performance can be measured in terms of the achievement of the 5 performance objectives

Be able to use the 5 performance objectives to assess the performance of a particular supply chain and identify any potential improvements.
Supply chain activities, relationships and behaviour7:52
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the full range of supply chain activities

Be able to judge when to use specific supply chain activities

Understand the range of supply chain relationships and where these apply

Understand the meaning of the bull-whip effect

Understand how supply chains can be improved

Be able to analyse a particular supply chain to identify which supply chain relationships apply and whether there is any presence of the bull-whip effect.
Customer relationship management8:42
On completion of this activity and the associated lecture , you should:

Understand the use of a customer relationship management system to operate and record a business's engagement with its customers

Understand how a customer relationship management system can be used to analyse a business's interaction with its customers

Understand how this analysis can be used tactically and strategically to gain further business

Appreciate the pitfalls that might be encountered in using a customer relationship management system

Be able to analyse the current use of a customer relationship management system in a small business to see whether further gains can be made from its use

Be able to evaluate whether a particular small business situation would benefit from use of a customer relationship management system

Be able to consider how a small business might use Social Media as part of its customer relationships management
Streamlining your business with the LEAN approach9:51
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the general purpose of the LEAN approach to business

Understand the key people based principles embodied by the LEAN approach

Understand the three types and seven causes of waste

Be able to identify, analyse and eliminate specific instances of waste in a small business

Be able to evaluate a business to gauge its current use of LEAN methods and identify any further potential use of these methods.
The LEAN approach to small business set up and growth5:23
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the three key elements of the LEAN approach to business start-ups

Understand the six key principles of the LEAN approach to business growth

Be able to analyse how LEAN principles are being used to grow a particular business

Be able to identify further potential use and value of using LEAN principles to grow this business.
Materials requirements planning9:19
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the function of materials requirements planning, its inputs and outputs

Understand the function and purpose of the Master Production Schedule

Understand the function and purpose of the Bill of Materials

Understand the relationship between materials requirements planning and inventory management

Be able to judge whether it might be appropriate to use materials requirements planning in aparticular small business context.
Enterprise resource planning8:04
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the general function and purpose of enterprise resource planning

Be aware of the advantages of using enterprise resource planning

Be aware of the pitfalls that can be encountered in using enterprise resource planning

Be able to systematically evaluate whether it is appropriate to use resource planning in a particular small business situation.
Planning and controlling your projects - the "waterfall " approach10:18
On completion of this lecture, you should:

Understand the basic definition of a project and how it differs from a programme

Understand the steps of the project planning and control cycle as used in the traditional or "waterfall" approach to project planning

Understand and be able to apply the techniques that can be used at each stage of the project planning and control cycle

Be able to select appropriate techniques for specific project related situations

Understand and be able to carry out an analysis of stakeholders and their needs.
Planning and controlling your projects - the agile approach8:40
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the key principles and elements of agile project planning methodology

Understand the people management elements of agile project planning methodology

Understand the metrics used within agile project planning methodology

Be able to evaluate situations to judge when it is suitable to use the waterfall. method, agile method or a hybrid approach

Be able to apply these project planning and control methodologies in a small business context.
End of Section Quiz: Planning and delivering operations

What is quality?7:13
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Be able to define quality

Appreciate the critical nature of quality in a small business

Understand what quality means to the customer in specific small business situations

Understand the meaning of the four types of quality gap that can occur

Be able to analyses a small business situation to identify, i detail, what quality means for the customer and to identify any quality gaps.
Quality management approaches7:23
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the meaning of the 5 main approaches to managing quality of inspection, audit, quality control, quality assurance and quality improvement

Be able to differentiate between these approaches to quality management

Appreciate how these quality management approaches apply in specific situations

Be able to analyses a business to identify which quality management approaches are being used and which approaches could potentially be used.
Quality improvement approaches - Total quality management4:31
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the elements and advantages of Total Quality Management

Understand the conditions that are necessary in a business to introduce Total Quality Management

Understand what is involved in introducing and implementing Total quality management in a small business

Be able to analyse a small business to assess whether it is ready for the introduction of Total Quality Management and to plan and implement its use.
Quality improvement approaches - Improvement cycles3:20
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the meaning of the Deming - Plan-do-check-act cycle as a method of quality improvement

Understand the meaning of each stage of the cycle

Appreciate how these stages can apply, in detail, to a small business situation

Be able to apply the Deming Cycle to a small business improvement that you have identified.
Quality improvement approaches - Statistical process control7:35
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the main principles of Statistical Process Control

Understand the general purpose of Control Charts

Understand the three main types of service provision

Appreciate why it is more challenging to apply Statistical Process Control to a service than a production situation

Understand how the principles of Statistical Process Control can be applied to small business service and production contexts

Be able to apply the principles of Statistical Process Control to an improvement in a small business.
Quality improvement approaches - Six Sigma6:48
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the evolution and key principles of the Six Sigma approach to quality improvement

Understand the meaning and key purpose of the DMAIC - Define- Measure-Act- Improve-Control cycle

Understand the detailed meaning of each stage within this cycle and how these stages can be applied in a small business context

Appreciate the conditions necessary to introduce and implement Six Sigma in a business as a means of qualioty improvement

Be able to apply the DMAIC cycle to a particular small business improvement.
Managing risk - Identifying the causes of risk7:22
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the meaning of risk and the four main elements of risk management

identify the five types of risk that can occur in a small business and elate these to particular situations

Understand the key elements involved in a standard risk assessment

Appreciate the different metrics used to measure failure and how these apply in different contexts

Understand the types and purposes and value of post failure analysis

Be able to identify the key risks in a particular business, the type of risk, the likelihood of the failures occurring and their potential impact on the business and the customer.
Preventing failure4:37
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the two main factors involved in preventing service failure and be able to relate these to specific businesses

Understand the three factors involved in preventing production failure and be able to relate these to specific businesses

Understand the different type s of maintenance and contexts in which these apply

Be able to identify failure prevention activities for the key risks in a particular business
Mitigating the effects of failure4:38
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the need to mitigate failure in businesses

Understand the five main strategies that can be used to mitigate failure and the business contexts in which they apply

Be able to apply strategies to mitigate failure in a particular business situation
Recovering from the effects of failure2:43
On completion of this lecture and the associated activity, you should:

Understand the importance of planning and implementing recovery from failure

Understand the four main steps involved in failure recovery and how these apply in business situations

Be able to plan and recover from failure in a particular business situation.
End of Section Quiz: Improving operations
Conclusion and next steps2:13
Learn how operations management helps small businesses save costs, increase profits, and avoid failures, while applying these approaches to strategic goals.
Introducing NEW lectures on Artificial Intelligence in Operations Management2:40
Explore artificial intelligence in operations management for small businesses, with two new sections: understanding artificial intelligence and applying it to design, planning, and development of operations.

Artificial Intelligence in Operations Management - Introduction3:16
Explore how artificial intelligence drives operations management, covering neural networks and applications across design, planning, and improvement, including supervised, unsupervised, semi-supervised, reinforcement learning, and natural language processing.
Using AI in Operations Management6:06
Explore how AI enhances operations management through visual quality control in food production, with AMF Bakery Systems' cheese topping optimization and from-scratch versus off-the-shelf AI options.
What is a Neural Network10:26
Explore what a neural network is and how it works in operations management for small businesses, covering inputs, weights, biases, activation, training, and practical business applications.
Supervised Machine Learning10:55
Study supervised machine learning with labeled data to predict outcomes such as interviews and loan defaults. Explore four main types—supervised, unsupervised, semi-supervised, reinforcement learning—and natural language processing in operations management.
What is Artificial Intelligence7:30
Define artificial intelligence and its core parts: machine learning, deep learning, and neural networks, and show how they sense, learn, predict, plan, and act in small business operations management.
Unsupervised Machine Learning11:45
Explore unsupervised machine learning, which finds patterns in unlabeled data through clustering, association, and dimensionality reduction to inform recommendations and insights, unlike supervised learning with labeled outputs.
Semi-supervised Machine Learning4:31
Discover how semi-supervised learning combines unsupervised clustering and supervised models to exploit unlabeled data, forming a training set and using pseudo labels for tasks like handwriting recognition and fraud detection.
Reinforcement Learning6:08
Explore reinforcement learning, where an agent learns from environment feedback to maximize cumulative rewards. Grasp states, actions, rewards, policy, and algorithms like Q-learning and Saorsa in operations contexts.
Natural Language Processing10:43
Explore natural language processing foundations, from rules-based and statistical approaches to neural networks, and apply speech recognition, tokenization, and sentiment analysis in operations management.
End of Section Quiz - Understanding Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence in Product Design11:52
Artificial intelligence reshapes product and service design with generative design, simulation, and AI tools, democratizing sketching, reducing iterations, and enabling AI-enabled services like chatbots and recommender systems.
Artificial Intelligence in Service Design4:02
Explore how artificial intelligence shapes service design through demand analysis and AI-enabled features, using time series and machine learning for forecasting, chatbots, and recommender systems.
Artificial Intelligence in Supply Network Design3:45
Apply artificial intelligence to supply network design by improving demand forecasting, optimizing routes, and refining warehouse design, while unsupervised learning analyzes layout and path data for better picking with robotics.
Artificial Intelligence in Process Technology Design6:46
Explore how artificial intelligence designs process technology across materials, information, and customer processing, with 3D printing fault correction, AI software bug detection, and chatbots enabling hyper personalization of services.
Artificial Intelligence in Demand Forecasting4:12
Discover how artificial intelligence enhances demand forecasting for supply planning, warehouse operations, logistics, and customer relationships, comparing supervised learning with time series and Delphi methods.
Artificial Intelligence in Warehouse Operations3:44
Explore how artificial intelligence powers warehouse management to boost efficiency, from mobile autonomous robots to automated storage and retrieval systems, and how reinforcement learning optimizes stocking and inventory management.
Artificial Intelligence in Logistics5:32
Utilize AI-powered analytics and deep reinforcement learning to optimize dynamic routes with real-time traffic and weather, plus predictive maintenance and autonomous delivery options for improved logistics efficiency.
Artificial Intelligence in CRM, ERP and Project Planning and Control5:23
Explore how artificial intelligence integrates CRM and ERP to optimize project planning and control through AI-powered chatbots, machine learning, and natural language processing.
Artificial Intelligence in the Improvement of Product Quality7:07
Leverage ai to improve product and service quality through visual defect detection, automatic removal, and root-cause analysis, guided by the Six Sigma define-measure-analyze-act-control cycle.
Artificial Intelligence in the Improvement of Service Quality3:37
Explore how artificial intelligence and sentiment analysis enhance service quality in small businesses by real-time emotion and cognitive analysis of customer feedback to drive targeted improvements.
End of Section Quiz - Applying AI to Business Operations

Requirements

There is no requirement for prior theoretical knowledge
To provide a meaningful context to apply the techniques, students should either be working in a small business or be familiar with a small businesss

Description

Small business operations are often developed informally and by trial and error. Operations management can make or break a business. As your business grows there will be a need to ensure the effectiveness and efficiency of its operations. Operations management techniques, which have their origins in large organisations, can be applied with great results in small businesses. This course is a practical guide to how these proven techniques can be used in small businesses.

This course will take you on a journey through:

Learning the key concepts of operations management
Exploring how operations management can deliver your business strategy
Learning how to design products, services, operations and processes
Exploring how operations can be planned and delivered
Learning how operations can always be improved

The course is aimed at owners and managers of small businesses. It is also suitable for business studies students, at any level, who are keen to run or work in a small business. You do not need any prior theoretical knowledge to take this course. You will need to have a passion for running a successful business, whether now or in the future. Practical experience of small business management or a general overview of the way a particular small business works will help you to relate these techniques directly to real situations. The course comprises 40 lectures in the form of video presentations and includes:

4 quizzes to confirm your understanding of the course sections
Mini case studies of the applications of these techniques in a range of small business sectors
Suggestions for activities for you to apply specific techniques to your own business or a business you are familiar with
Discussions where we can share experiences of applying these techniques

We will be learning a myriad of techniques including: fitting operations to strategy, optimising flexibility and cost, designing layouts, maximising yield, supply chain management, lean approaches, project planning and control, risk management and quality improvement.

Who this course is for:

Small business owners and managers
Business studies students, at all levels, who plan to set up or work in a small business

Operations Management in small businesses: key techniques

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

What is operations management? An introduction to the basic concepts.6 lectures • 35min

Operations management delivers and influences business strategy and performance6 lectures • 34min

Design of of processes, operations, products and services.9 lectures • 55min

Planning and delivering operations14 lectures • 1hr 50min

Improving operations12 lectures • 1hr 1min

AI in Operations Management - Understanding Artificial Intelligence9 lectures • 1hr 11min

AI in Operations Management - Applying AI to Business Operations10 lectures • 56min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: