Operations strategy is a consistent pattern of business decisions for the transformation system and associated supply chain that are linked to the business strategy and other functional strategies, leading to a competitive advantage for the firm. Corporate strategy provides the overall direction for the organisation. It is broad in scope, covering the entire organisation.
Operations strategy on the other hand is narrower in scope, dealing primarily with the operations aspect of the organisation. It relates to products, processes, methods, operating resources, quality, costs, lead times and scheduling. It is often very important to link
operations strategy to corporate strategy, so as to make it truly effective. This means that the two should not be formulated independently. In this regard, therefore, formulation of corporate strategy should always consider the realities of operations‘ strengths and weaknesses what is normally done is to capitalise on strengths and deal squarely with weaknesses. Similarly, operations strategy must be consistent with the overall strategy of the organisation, and formulated to support the goals of the organisation.
