Abstract
AbstractFor a long time, Zimbabwe’s retail industry has been operating in a very “hostile business environment”, due to the country’s economic instability and uncertainty associated with it. The adoption of the green back has attracted foreign investors mainly from Nigeria, South Africa and China who have since opened their retail outlets in the country and fuelled more competition in the sector which resulted in some local operators closing their businesses but XYZ Zimbabwe has survived. This study makes an assessment of achievements and obstacles in using operations management to achieve strategic fit by the selected case study. The main objectives of the study are; to explore competitive strategies, examine supply chain strategies and provide solution-based strategies that helped the case study achieve strategic fit. Through an empirical approach, the study finds that XYZ Zimbabwe differentiated itself in the market by branding, positioning its stores conveniently to customers, offering variety of prod...
Highlights
Several related researsch studies were done on the theory of creating strategic fit and how strategic alignment can help achieve competitive advantage (Barney, 1991; Chorn, 1991; Das & Teng, 2000; Elmuti, Abou-Zaid, & Jia, 2012)
The findings showed that quality of research and development (R&D) activities as well as the involvement of operations managers in activities which create and sustain the business’s competitive advantages were critical factors to gain strategic fit
The study finds that XYZ Zimbabwe had a very powerful “supply chain road map”; Perez (2013) suggests that, the most important benefit of a “supply chain road map” is found when it successfully helps in demystifying the supply chain strategy formulation process
Summary
Several related researsch studies were done on the theory of creating strategic fit and how strategic alignment can help achieve competitive advantage (Barney, 1991; Chorn, 1991; Das & Teng, 2000; Elmuti, Abou-Zaid, & Jia, 2012). These studies were outside the context of an economically constrained economy like Zimbabwe’s economy. Inspired by the continued expansion and growth of XYZ Zimbabwe, the interest of this study is to establish the role of operations management in achieving strategic fit in retail industry. Many people prefer to buy at XYZ Zimbabwe shops mainly because they are conveniently located to the customers and their prices are low as compared to other retailers
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