3.5: Observation Application Activity
Observation Application Activity
Overview/Purpose : The observations of real-world organizations provide students with opportunities to apply theoretical concepts. Those applications will enable students to make more informed career-related decisions.
Directions : Complete Part A and Part B of the assignment, in order, as outlined below:
Part A
Observe the facility of any grocery retailer.
- You may select any retailer that sells groceries (the larger the organization the better).
- Within your observation, make note of the layout of the facility, how the inventory is arranged, as well as the location of the facility.
Part B
After conducting the observation, reflect on how the data that you gathered about the facility relates to the course content that you have learned and answer each of the following questions:
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What is the organization's strategy for maintaining a competitive advantage? (Note: Research the organization to confirm.)
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Did your observations at the facility align with the organization’s strategy for maintaining a competitive advantage? Explain.
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How did the location of the organization impact its competitiveness?
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Consider each of the location factors that you learned about this week.
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How did the facility layout impact its competitiveness?
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Consider the determinants of effective capacity that you learned about this week.
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Note any process bottlenecks that you observed.
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Identify and describe two facility-related Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that would be important for the organization to monitor.
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Explain why each of the KPIs would be particularly important for the facility that you observed.
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