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Definition of Oder Winners

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Order Winners & Order Qualifiers Order winners are "those competitive characteristics that cause a firm 's customers to choose that firm 's goods and services over those of its competitors. Order winners can be considered to be competitive advantages for the firm. Order winners usually focus on one rarely more than two) of the following strategic initiatives: price/cost, quality, delivery speed, delivery reliability, product design, flexibility, after-market service, and image." (APICS Dictionary 2008). Order qualifiers are "those competitive characteristics that a firm must exhibit to be a viable competitor in the marketplace." (APICS Dictionary 2008) Performance dimensions on which customers expect a minimum level of performance. …show more content…

The emphasis given to these priorities and the state of the organization determine the nature and level of investments deemed necessary to implement the operations strategy. These investments in operational practices are expected to lead to better operational performance, as measured and evaluated internally using indicators like reject rates in the manufacturing process, production schedule fulfillment, and others. Through investments firms create and acquire resources that can isolate them from negative market influences and can serve as a source of competitive advantage for them. These investments can be made in tangible assets (e.g., machinery and capital equipment) and intangible assets (e.g., brand names and the skills of individual employees). A distinction has to be made between investments aimed at creating resources and those aimed at creating capabilities. Few resources on their own are productive. Productive activity requires the cooperation and coordination of teams of resources. An operational capability is the capacity for a team of resources to perform some task or activity. While resources are the source of a firm 's capabilities, capabilities are the main source of its competitive advantage. Capabilities are not evaluated in themselves, and they cannot be thought of as absolute values. They have to be evaluated relative to

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