Adil B.

Ahmed Operations and Information Management 1

Student ID #: @00602717 CRN: 33320

OIM_A1 Assignment 1
MSc. Global Management

360-Play
by
Adil Bashir Ahmed
Student ID: @00602717
Word Count: 3003 (Excluding References & Charts)

OPERATIONS AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Prof. David Duffill
Robert Kennedy College / University of Salford
Salford Business School
Zurich, Switzerland / Manchester, United Kingdom
19 June 2020
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Sr. No. Description Page Number

1 Executive Summary 3
2 360 Play Operational Delivery Process 4
3 360-Play Forecasting Approaches and How It Uses Them to 5
Support Capacity and Customer Demand
3.1 Qualitative Approaches 6
3.1.1 Consumer Market Survey 6
3.1.2 Salesforce Composite 8
3.1.3 Delphi Approach 9
3.2 Quantitative Approach 9
4 Evaluation of Forecasting Methods Using Five Performances 10
Model
5 Conclusion 11
References 12
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1. Executive Summary

360-Play is a 12-month-old leisure and entertainment business that distributes and sells
electronic gaming products as part of its VR & Gaming entertainment areas located in several
malls in the State of Qatar. Headquartered in Qatar, the company has a chain of 14 functional
locations in the country (360-Play, n.d.).

Over the months since its establishment in February 2019, the company’s efficient supply chain
and distribution system have been central to its rapid growth and, most importantly, to meet the
needs of its customers. Strong adoption of flow shop has been the critical strategy that 360-Play
has continued to utilise in order to realise minimal time in completion of tasks; this has largely
been applied in the processing of customer orders to which the company continues to hold strong
and positive customers’ testimonial as a result of its high priority in timely delivery. 360 Play
ensures all customer’s orders have a similar flow pattern from one department to the other, and
hence highly benefiting from the technique of “makespan” where the time between order
placement and order delivery is largely cut short (Bunde, 2009).

The same approach is equally applied in managing the company’s supply chain. Realistic and
accurate forecasting have also been crucial in estimating and predicting future demand for the
company. To achieve this level of efficiency in forecasting, the company embarks on integrated
forecasting, which utilises various approaches such as sales force composite, consumer market
survey, time series, and associative model. The approaches are designed to ensure both quantity
and quality and put to tasks in predicting the future of the business and also making the future
decision of the company. Perhaps, this is one of the reasons why the company has been able to
establish a strong foothold in the Qatari market in a short span of 12 months. While general
visitors to 360 Play gaming centers comprise the bulk of its customers, this report analyses the
gaming equipment retailers as 360 Play customers. As such, this report centres its focus on
analysing the operational delivery process for gaming supplies of 360 Play as it relates to its
wholesale business clients.
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2. 360-Play Operational Delivery Process

Customer
SALES DEPARTMENT

Customer
Create Create
Delivery Create bill
quotation sales order

FINANCE DEPARTMENT

Check credit Unblock

limit sales order

WAREHOUSING DEPARTMENT

Check
Check
product Picking Packing
availability
allocation

Post goods
issue

PROCUREMENT DEPARTMENT

Procurement
Suppliers

360-Play’ operational delivery process is one of the most straightforward processes involving
four departments and several stages from the time supplies are procured to the time the order is
delivered to the customer. Procurement, sales, finance, and warehousing department are the
critical departments involved. The procurement department takes responsibility in sourcing and
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supply of inventory for sale with regard to consumer insights and demand. The sales department
executes all the sales functions relating to the order; the finance department deals with all related
financial matters concerning the order while the warehouse department is concerned with all
inventory processes. The departments work collaboratively across the alternating process.
Essentially, the alternating process means that contrary to the assumption that order processing
flows from one department to the other, the order shifts from one department to the other while
returning to other departments for clearance and dispatch.

In particular, 360-Play operational delivery process begins at the procurement of inventory on

demand by the procurement department. Procurement of supplies is informed by consumer
insights derived from forecasting. This is followed by order placement through the sales
department. The first stage of order processing in the sales department is the creation of a
quotation. At this point, the salespeople classify the customer order into a detailed description
and pricing. The second stage and function in this department is the creation of the sales order,
which later moves to the finance and warehousing departments. The finance department takes the
responsibility of checking the credit limit of respective customers as the company is based on a
strong credit policy. During the same time, the warehousing department, on the other hand,
checks the availability of goods on order based on the current stock held and also proceeds to
check product allocation. After confirmation of stock availability by the warehousing
department, the finance department unblocks the sale order by approving it for delivery. From
this point, the warehousing department picks the approved order for packing. After packing, the
same department proceeds to post goods issue where the sales department then takes over and
bills the order to the customer.

3. 360-Play Forecasting Approaches and How It Uses Them to Support Capacity and
Customer Demand
As mentioned earlier, 360-Play applies an integrated approach to forecasting for the purpose of
generating in-depth market insights based on a high level of accuracy. The integrated approach is
essential for planning of efficient and effective operational delivery process. The integrated
approach entails both quantitative (extrapolative) and qualitative (judgemental) approaches.
Qualitative approaches are composed of consumer market survey, sales force composite, Delphi
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method and jury executive opinion. On the other hand, quantitative approaches are composed of
time series models. 360-Play utilises each of these approaches to achieve a specific purpose with
the broad application enabling it to achieve a broader view of the market.

3.1 Qualitative Approaches

3.1.1 Customer market survey
360-Play uses this approach to study and understand the prospective customer base to establish
the demand for existing products or for new products. According to Croom, Svetina and Betts
(2017), this approach is critical when the company is introducing new products in the market.
When 360-Play is introducing new products in the market, one of the key things it first seeks to
establish is their demand and secondly, its capacity to meet the foreseeable demand. This
understanding enables the company to assess its operational delivery process to determine the
extent to which it can sustain the market for the new products. While the company largely
applies customer market survey for new products, it also widely utilises it for existing products.
In the dimension of existing products, 360-Play is focused on using the method to establish how
changes in demand affect its business operations and how operations can be improved to mitigate
the effects of changing demand.

Such being the case, understanding of customer preferences, buying behaviour, and motivations
is fundamental. To achieve this, 360-Play uses email surveys, direct observation, face-to-face
interviews or sometimes telephone interviews. Torlak, Demir and Budur (2019) argue that
through utilisation of these methods, the company is able to collect relevant market data that is
consequently subjected to analysis to derive market insights necessary for improvement or
reorganisation of the company’s operational delivery process in order to fit the needs or demands
of the market.

One of the primary reasons this approach is crucial to the company is the rapid dynamism
currently being witnessed in the leisure and entertainment industry in which 360-Play operates as
an operator, distributor and seller. Today, this industry is experiencing technological changes
more than ever. Some technology focused on lowering entertainment product costs while others
are focused on top quality and modern entertainment. The entertainment market, on the other
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hand, is also significantly updating with these changes with the increasing consumer diversity
reflecting consumer alignment with the changes in the industry. High Definition Gaming TV
screens is one classic example of technological disruptions in the entertainment industry. Many
gaming consumers who happen to be almost every other household are opting for wider, flat, and
TV’s with high motion or refresh rate. With the technology being widely accepted, it is gaining
high market demand as world evolves technologically. Another example is the shifting demand
for traditional gaming technology which largely entails manual gaming technology to modern
gaming technology largely entailing digital gaming in smart devices such as phones and Play
Stations like PS4 and X-Box. As leisure and entertainment technology evolves at this rapid rate,
there is no doubt that consumers interest in quick delivery is rising at a higher rate with many
households claiming a portion of a certain mode of entertainment. Players in the industry are,
therefore, left with no option but to align themselves with these changes to meet the diverse
consumer demands. One thing that is agreeable from these insights is that the complexity in this
industry is also increasing with changes. As such, like any other industry, the success of players
will significantly be determined by their ability to align with technological disruptions. This is
the point at which consumer insights become fundamental to the business and so the consumer
market survey as the mode to extract them.

In a practical perspective within 360-Play, the company works from two ends –that of the
consumer and that of the supplier. Through the collection of consumer data, the company is able
to establish their needs and priorities (Hofacker, Malthouse, and Sultan, 2016). For new products
or new leisure and entertainment technologies, the process starts from sourcing samples from
suppliers which are then installed at its gaming centers or freely issued to existing and loyal
customers for usage and determination as to whether the products competitively meet their
needs. The company has a technical team that helps clients in understanding usage of the new
products, and in collaboration with the marketing team, the customer is able to establish how the
sample consumers feel about the product.

Customer interviews are also conducted regularly to establish how business consumers perceive
the operational delivery process of the company. This is to determine whether the consumers feel
their needs are being prioritised by the company through its operations or not. Yamada, Ishigaki
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and Yamada (2018) argue that one way to ensure the needs of the customers are prioritised is
creating an operational delivery process that avails better options (new technologies) to
customers and make them available at the right time and at the right place. 360-Play continues to
achieve this by using consumer insights to ensure what is needed by the customers is made
available to its gaming centers distributed across the country on time through its supply chain
that requires suppliers to deliver goods to its distribution office from where the company
offloads, sorts and directly distributes goods to respective stores without incurring any storage
costs. 360-Play’ distribution system deliberately avoids storage to ensure one; the goods are
quickly delivered to consumer premises without any time wasted on storage which also works to
lower the cost of goods and their consequent prices due to avoidance of storage costs. Secondly,
it ensures that only the necessary inventory or rather inventory on demand is procured.
Essentially, customer market survey as a forecasting approach to 360-Play’ operational delivery
process is used to inform what is in demand, the degree of demand and the way to reorganise or
enhance the operational delivery process to meet the consumer demand.

3.1.2 Salesforce Composite

Salesforce composite is the other approach applied by 360-Play in enhancing its operations
management. The approach involves each account manager providing an individual estimate of
demand which is consequently reviewed by the management for realism and providing the
broader view of the market demand (Borodow et al., 2019).

The account management team which works under the sales department is fundamental in this
case due to its direct interaction with the consumer. Essentially, most companies are linked to the
consumer by the sales department (Matthyssens and Johnston 2006). This provides the
department with the basic avenue for closely and deeply studying consumer behaviour as well as
consumer preferences and tastes. Such being the case, 360-Play requires every account manager
to deliver their quarterly consumer insight reports encompassing their view on products on high
demand, frequently asked products and an analysis of the products in the market as well as their
market potential. The reports are required to be summarised by quantitative demand forecasts for
the next four months, which is the replenishment period for the company. Estimates from
individual salespersons are then combined for analysis of their relationships. The derived
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insights such as the level of demand with respect to each product, whether new or existing are
submitted to the management for further review and establishment of relevance and necessity.

The final sales forecast report is released at the management level and used by the procurement
department to inform which products to be procured and at what quantities. Salesforce composite
as a key forecasting approach in 360-Play enables the company to procure and hold necessary
inventory and in quantity and quality based on market demand. Through this, the company can
avoid the risks and costs associated with dead stock and stock on scarce demand. The approach
is also important in ensuring the company holds adequate inventory for sale regarding demand
estimate, thus avoiding cases of stock out before the next replenishment period.

3.1.3 Delphi Approach

To advance forecasting insights, 360-Play uses the Delphi approach to bring on board staff from
various departments as well as decision makers at different levels of management for a
discussion on how the operational delivery process can be strengthened to deliver customer
priorities more effectively and efficiently based on consumer insights and demand (De Jesus et
al., 2019). In most cases, this discussion revolves around varying the flow time to optimise costs
and returns. For instance, on peak times, the discussion focuses on how to reduce the overall
delivery time from procurement to customer order delivery to ensure that there are no lost sales
and all customer needs are met. During off-peak, the discussion is focused on prioritising
customer needs by making the goods available on time, while on the other hand, ensuring that
storage or warehousing costs are entirely avoided at the company’s distribution centre by
delaying procurement or widening the procurement period. Primarily, this approach to
forecasting brings a diverse understanding of demand forecasts in relation to 360-Play’s
operational delivery process from all departments, hence achieving greater forecasting accuracy
as well as the optimal delivery process.

3.2 Quantitative Approaches

360-Play uses time series models to bring actual numbers into forecasting where historical data is
used to predict the future. In this case, the company analysis the demand of its inventory with
respect to each product based on its past performance in the last one year (Moein and Awasthi
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2020). The one-year analysis allows the company to break the performance of respective
products in quarters, thus enabling it to evaluate how the products performed across the year. An
annual analysis is critical to the company due to the rapid changes being experienced in the
gaming industry. Therefore, long historical analysis may not be relevant in informing accurate
demand forecast. In equal measure, forecasts for the company are no longer than one year and
are majorly based on quarters.

4. Evaluation of Forecasting Methods Using Five Performances Model

Consumer market survey and time-series models are some of the critical forecasting approaches
used by 360-Play, as mentioned earlier. However, the degree at which respective approaches
support capacity and demand alignment through the company’s operations management varies
across the approaches. The 5 performances model which applies quality, speed, dependability,
flexibility and cost is useful in examining the level at which the two approaches meet the
threshold for fully supporting capacity and demand alignment within the company (Kshetri,
2018).

As such, consumer market survey, as aforementioned surveys on prospective customers in

determining the demand for existing products as well as new products. The approach is highly
based on instincts as opposed to empirical facts. Such being the case, the approach calls for
experience and expertise in to generate relevant data that would aid in leveraging operations
management in any organisation. The mode of execution of the approach, as well as its results,
are the indicators of the level at which it satisfies the 5 performances model. Quality is largely
viewed through the ability to meet customer expectations. In reference to principles of
operations, quality possesses the potential to create better services and products, which in turn
reduces costs in the long run due to increased customer satisfaction (Kasiri et al. 2017).

Customer market survey is based on this principle owing to the fact that it seeks to understand
customer’s expectations by generating consumer insights through various data collection
methods for the sole purpose of understanding what they need, in what quantity and how they
need it (the process). Moreover, it is through consumer market survey that a company can
understand the speed at which customers need their products and at what quantity, which is
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Student ID #: @00602717 CRN: 33320
essential in enhancing the delivery process that can be cost-saving especially with avoidance
storage costs and other costs. Consumer markets survey, on the other hand, achieves
dependability and flexibility effectiveness by providing the way to generate insights on what
consumers view reliable in terms of the delivery process while at the same time providing the
way to understand what varieties are needed by consumers their volumes and delivery dates.
Finally, through this approach, the company is able to save on costs that would otherwise result
from the dead inventory which is majorly caused by lack of market information on product
demand and other costs associated with lack of prioritising on customer needs (Sople, 2016).

Time series models, contrary to consumer market survey, largely falls short in the 5-performance
model. The approach is largely based on historical data that is used to predict the future capacity
and demand in operations management. Although the approach provides a clearer empirical view
of the future, it majorly dwells on volumes or rather quantifiable elements such foreseeable sales
volume and hence unable to forecast qualitative elements such as consumer behaviour which are
equally critical in achieving competitive advantages such as quality, dependability, flexibility
and speed in operations management. However, the approach is highly commendable in accurate
cost forecasting.

5.Conclusion
360-Play’s integrated approach to forecasting has been key to enhancement of its competitive
advantages which partly explains the reason behind its rapid growth. Through the forecasting
approaches the company utilises, it has been able to achieve quality, speed, flexibility,
dependability and cost-effectiveness within its operational delivery process. The integrated
approach to forecasting remains fundamental in mitigation of changes within its industry and
market.
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References
Borodow, E., Yahmadi, I., Aljane, A., Baranes, E. and Borodow, A., Ophio Software Inc,
2019. Methods for processing information associated with sales force management,
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Patent 10,181,106.
Bunde, D.P., 2009. Power-aware scheduling for makespan and flow. Journal of
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Croom, S., Svetina, M. and Betts, A., 2017. Does customer or competitor performance drive
operations prioritisation? Production Planning & Control, 28(1), pp.2-16.
De Jesus, A., Antunes, P., Santos, R. and Mendonça, S., 2019. Eco-innovation pathways to a
circular economy: envisioning priorities through a Delphi approach. Journal of Cleaner
Production, 228, pp.1494-1513.
Hofacker, C.F., Malthouse, E.C. and Sultan, F., 2016. Big data and consumer behaviour:
imminent opportunities. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 33(2), pp. 89-97.
Kasiri, L.A., Cheng, K.T.G., Sambasivan, M. and Sidin, S.M., 2017. Integration of
standardisation and customisation: impact on service quality, customer satisfaction, and
loyalty. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 35, pp.91-97.
Kshetri, N., 2018. 1 Blockchain’s roles in meeting key supply chain management
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Matthyssens, P. and Johnston, W.J., 2006. Marketing and sales: optimisation of a neglected
relationship. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 21(6), pp. 338-345.
Moein, E. and Awasthi, A., 2020. Carsharing customer demand forecasting using causal, time
series and neural network methods: a case study. International Journal of Services and
Operations Management, 35(1), pp.36-57.
360-Play (n.d). About us. [Online] Available at: http://www.360-Play.me/ [Accessed
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Business Insights and Transformation, 10(1), pp.40-45.

Torlak, N.G., Demir, A. and Budur, T., 2019. Impact of operations management strategies on
customer satisfaction and behavioural intentions at café-restaurants. International
Adil B. Ahmed Operations and Information Management 13
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Journal of Productivity and Performance Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPPM-
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Yamada, S., Ishigaki, A. and Yamada, T., 2018. Customer satisfaction and timely delivery: the
order picking scheduling problem. Innovation and Supply Chain Management, 12(2),
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