Business Process Management – Market Development Plan Malaysia

A. Operations Management refers and focuses on the administration of best practices in order to achieve the maximum levels of effectiveness and efficiency in terms of company resources. The proper management of the resources will produce high quality goods and services that will benefit the company.

Define Operations Management and discuss the role of an operations Manager in an organization.

Explain the 5M principle in relation to the resources available

B. You are the head of department in your organization. The company has recently expanded and is now seeking your advice on how to develop the market. You are to propose a market development plan

Provide an overview of your current organization including its strategic vision, mission and competitive position. Critically discuss the appropriate market segmentation for market penetration.

Experts Answer on Above Questions on Operations Management

Definition of operations management

Operations management is defined as a systematic process that includes planning, organising, and controlling the resources and processes of an organisation with the objective of transforming inputs like labour, material and technology into quality goods or services. Operations management is highly important in the case of organisations that deal in manufacturing, logistics, halal production, eCommerce and service operations.

Role of an operations manager – An operations manager is required to make sure that the day to day processes in an organisation are efficiently handled to convert resources into outputs. The important responsibilities of an operation manager includes production planning, resource management, quality management, supply chain coordination, cost control, workforce management, process improvement, and health safety and compliance of employees.

The 5M principle

The 5M principle indicates that the five fundamental resources need to be coordinated by managers in order to achieve effective operation. These are manpower which indicates the people and skills necessary to perform operational activities, machines responsible for producing goods or delivering services, materials such as components, packaging and other physical inputs, methods in the form of processes and procedures utilised to transform inputs into outputs, and money necessary to finance resources needed in order to operate and improve the organisation.
Relationship between the 5Ms – All these five resources are interdependent on each other. For instance, purchasing an advanced machine without trained manpower would not increase the productivity level, and similarly, an adequate number of manpower also cannot compensate for inadequate materials or poor operating methods.

Market development plan

The Malaysian business that is selected for the market development plan is MR DIY Group (M) Berhad, a Malaysian value-retail business.
Organisation overview – the strategic vision of MR DIY Group (M) Berhad is to strengthen its position as a leading value retailer by offering its customers with a broad range of affordable everyday products and convenient shopping channels. The mission of the company is to offer a wide variety of products to its customers while maintaining operational efficiency. The competitive position indicates that MR DIY competes primarily on value pricing, extensive product variety, accessibility and scale. Its competitive environment includes general merchandise, home-improvement and value retailers as well as online marketplaces.

Appropriate market segmentation for market penetration

With respect to market development, MR DIY should avoid treating Malaysian consumers as one homogeneous market. The four useful segmentation dimensions are –
Demographic segmentations which includes students and young adults, young families, small business operators and homeowners. The psychographic segmentation includes customers that can be differentiated on the basis of price consciousness, convenience orientation, DIY interest and preference for one stop shopping. The customers can be segmented behaviourally on the basis of purchase frequency, product categories purchased, promotional responsiveness, seasonal purchasing behaviour etc.

Proposed market development plan

Target market – the target market includes the priority segment such as value conscious households in secondary Malaysian cities and semi urban areas.
Product strategy- the strategy with respect to product is to introduce different ranges customised to local household needs, increase Malaysian made relevant products, and utilise online channels to compliment physical stores.
Pricing strategy – The strategy with respect to pricing is to maintain value for money positioning while utilising targeted promotions rather than broad discounting.
Place/ distribution strategy – the decision in relation to expansion should prioritise location that offers growing residential population, limited access to comparable value retailers, and strong traffic and accessibility.
Promotion strategy – digital marketing should target specific customer groups using platforms like TikTok, instagram and Facebook.

Performance measures

The evaluation of the performance would be carried out through analysing sales growth by new market, number of new customers, repeat purchase rate, average transaction value, online conversion rate, customer acquisition cost etc.

Want Detailed Answers with References?

The analysis of the concept of operations management including the 5M resource principle, market segmentation and the practical market development plan of MR DIY in the Malaysian business environment above revealed important findings about the target strategy to consider in successful market development. With our operations management expert in Malaysia, you can get assistance with all types of operations management assignment. Simply visit our assignment help Malaysia page to get a professional assignment helper today. You can also go through the expert written answers for students from Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology.