Operations

Subject BUSA90227 (2016)

Note: This is an archived Handbook entry from 2016.

Credit Points: 12.5
Level: 9 (Graduate/Postgraduate)
Dates & Locations:

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

January, Parkville - Taught on campus.
Pre-teaching Period Start 11-Jan-2016
Teaching Period 18-Jan-2016 to 24-Mar-2016
Assessment Period End 01-Apr-2016
Last date to Self-Enrol 12-Jan-2016
Census Date 29-Jan-2016
Last date to Withdraw without fail 04-Mar-2016

April, Parkville - Taught on campus.
Pre-teaching Period Start 04-Apr-2016
Teaching Period 11-Apr-2016 to 16-Jun-2016
Assessment Period End 24-Jun-2016
Last date to Self-Enrol 05-Apr-2016
Census Date 22-Apr-2016
Last date to Withdraw without fail 27-May-2016

September, Parkville - Taught on campus.
Pre-teaching Period Start 26-Sep-2016
Teaching Period 28-Sep-2016 to 30-Nov-2016
Assessment Period End 06-Dec-2016
Last date to Self-Enrol 26-Sep-2016
Census Date 14-Oct-2016
Last date to Withdraw without fail 11-Nov-2016

October, Parkville - Taught on campus.
Pre-teaching Period Start 26-Sep-2016
Teaching Period 03-Oct-2016 to 08-Dec-2016
Assessment Period End 16-Dec-2016
Last date to Self-Enrol 27-Sep-2016
Census Date 14-Oct-2016
Last date to Withdraw without fail 18-Nov-2016

This subject is only available to students admitted to GD-BA, MC-BAPT, MC-BAPTME, or students with permission of the MBA Course coordinator



Timetable can be viewed here. For information about these dates, click here.
Time Commitment: Contact Hours: 30 hours
Total Time Commitment: Not available
Prerequisites:
Subject
Study Period Commencement:
Credit Points:
January, March, April, June, September
6.25
January, March, April, June, July, September
6.25
January, April, June, July, October
12.5
Corequisites: None
Recommended Background Knowledge: None
Non Allowed Subjects: None
Core Participation Requirements:

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

Contact

Melbourne Business School

Degree Program Services

Email: programservices@mbs.edu

Subject Overview:

In fiercely competitive global and dynamic environments, companies face increasing pressures to exceed customer expectations along multiple performance measures, such as cost, quality, flexibility and innovativeness. To outperform their competitors, many firms make the mistake of mimicking their rivals, rather than focusing on developing the organizational capabilities that competitors will find difficult to match over the long term. And although operations are at the core of a firm’s value adding activities, few firms have sought to build a sustainable competitive advantage around these capabilities.

Operations deals with the design, management and continuous improvement of business processes. It aims at providing some of the core concepts in operations that are essential for leveraging a firm’s operational capabilities to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. This course provides a logical and rigorous approach to plan and control process structure and managerial levers to achieve desired business process performance.

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this subject, students should be able to:

  • Analyse real-world processes and evaluate their consistency with the firm strategy.
  • Apply process analysis techniques for identification of bottlenecks and suggest approaches for de-bottlenecking.
  • Identify managerial levers for controlling inventory and apply simple analytical models for estimating needed safety stock for a desired service level.
  • Identify the drivers of variability in processes and propose solutions to mitigate its ill effects using simple queuing theory concepts.
  • Use robust statistical process control techniques to ensure capability and control of a process.
  • Apply six-sigma and lean concepts to a wide range of business processes.
Assessment:

Gerardo Berbeglia:

  • Contribution to class learning (5%)
    • Throughout subject
  • 4 quizzes (20%)
    • 15 minutes each
    • Throughout subject
  • 2 x syndicate case assignments (30%)
    • Equivalent to 300 words per student per assignment
    • Week 4 and Week 8
  • Final examination (45%)
    • hurdle requirement
    • 3 hours
    • End of subject

Jennifer George and Kannan Sethuraman:

  • Contribution to class learning (10%)
    • Throughout subject
  • 4 quizzes (20%)
    • 15 minutes each
    • Throughout subject
  • 2 x syndicate case assignments (25%)
    • Equivalent to 300 words per student per assignment
    • Week 4 and Week 8
  • Final examination (45%)
    • hurdle requirement
    • 3 hours
    • End of subject
Prescribed Texts: None
Breadth Options:

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

Fees Information: Subject EFTSL, Level, Discipline & Census Date
Notes:

This subject is only available to students admitted to GD-BA, MC-BAPT, MC-BAPTME, or students with permission of the MBA Course coordinator

Related Course(s): Graduate Diploma in Business Administration
Master of Business Administration
Master of Business Administration
Master of Business Administration (Professional)
Master of Business Administration/Master of Information Systems
Master of Engineering Management
Master of Information Systems/Graduate Diploma in Business Admin
Postgraduate Diploma in Management

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