Production and Operations Management Systems Chapter 1: Introduction

Stage 1 Companies

• A Stage I company is centered on meeting shipment quotas and providing service when requested.
• C&H* call it ‘‘available for service’’.
• A Stage I company has no planning horizon and is predisposed to be indifferent to P/OM goals.
• It is reactive to orders and has no quality agenda.
• Worker control is stressed.
• The company is not conscious of special capabilities for itself or for its competitors.
• These firms are internally neutral, which connotes that top management does not consider P/OM as being able to promote competitive advantage and, therefore, P/OM is kept in neutral gear.
• *Source: Chase, Richard B., and Robert H. Hayes, Beefing-Up Operations in Service Firms, Sloan Management Review, Fall 1991, pp 17–28. (C&H)