SNHU Life Cycle Management Supply Chain Paper

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MBA 690 Milestone Three Guidelines and Rubric In Milestone Three, you will submit your discussion of the life cycle management (Section III) of your business product, service, or other idea from your business plan in the Marketing and Strategy course. Prompt: In this milestone, consider the sustainability of your idea in the marketplace from initial inventory to subsequent sustainment in the supply chain. Specifically, examine the company’s own inventory as a starting point—that inventory came from a supplier—which is where your supply chain starts. Additionally, your finished product will travel downstream along the supply chain by means of shippers, distribution centers and then finally, to a retailer. These components should be outlined in this paper. Identify and describe the technologies you intend to use along the company’s supply chain such as RFID tagging and bar coding, e-procurement, and 3PL. Identify and justify your clicks or bricks decision, that is, your rationale for brick-and-mortar locations or internet services or a combination of both. The paper should identify the key data needed to support the functions of inventory management and supply chain management. You should describe the life cycle of the business idea. Focus your response on the future of the business idea, specifically on its growth and eventual decline. Assess the profit generation and cost-saving opportunities associated with the business idea based on the life cycle you described. Your assessment should be supported with rationale. Determine a phase-out plan for your business idea that ensures a sustainable solution that makes way for future innovation and profit streams. Ensure that you justify the steps in your plan. Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed: III. Life Cycle: In this section, you will discuss the life cycle of your business product, service, or other idea from your business plan in the Marketing and Strategy course. Specifically, you should: a) Describe the life cycle of the business idea. Focus your response on the future of the business idea, specifically on its growth and eventual decline. b) Assess the profit generation and cost-saving opportunities associated with the business idea based on the life cycle you described. Your assessment should be supported with rationale. c) Determine a phase-out plan for your business idea that ensures a sustainable solution that makes way for future innovation and profit streams. Ensure that you justify the steps in your plan. Rubric Guidelines for Submission: Your paper should adhere to the following formatting requirements: It is submitted as an APA-style Microsoft Word (or open source) document, 8-10 pages (not including title and reference pages), double-spaced, using 12-point Times New Roman font and one-inch margins. There should be a minimum of two references cited in APA format. Critical Elements Life Cycle Proficient (100%) Clearly describes life cycle of business idea, focusing on future growth and decline Profit Generation Comprehensively assesses profit generation and cost-saving opportunities associated with business idea based on life cycle and supported with rationale Determines appropriate phase-out plan for business idea that ensures sustainable solution for future innovation and profit streams Phase-Out Plan Articulation of Response Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization Needs Improvement (75%) Describes life cycle of business idea, but without a focus on future growth and decline or with gaps in clarity or detail Assesses profit generation and costsaving opportunities associated with business idea, but response is not based on life cycle or has gaps in accuracy, detail, or support Determines phase-out plan for business idea, but plan is not appropriate for ensuring sustainable solution for future innovation and profit streams Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas Not Evident (0%) Does not describe life cycle of business idea Value 30 Does not assess profit generation and cost-saving opportunities associated with business idea 30 Does not determine phase-out plan for business idea 30 Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas Total 10 100% Johnice Woods 5-1 Final Project Milestone Two: Operationalization MBA-690-X4087 Ops Management & Technology 19TW4 Southern New Hampshire University July 1, 2019 Operationalization Introduction A business idea can only be beneficial to a given business or company after it has been operationalized. The operationalization phase encompasses a business adopting a given business strategy or idea into a real-world as well as workable plan (Stevenson, W. J., 2012). The business idea that should be operationalized by Avalon Bay Inc. entails the development of affordable apartments for the low-income earners who are currently struggling with exorbitant house lease deals. Operationalization of the business idea will enable Avalon Bay to tap into a niche market, thereby not only being a position where it can increase its market share but also its annual revenue (Avaloncommunities.com, 2019). In this paper, potential costs associated with the implementation of the business idea, a work break down the structure of the idea, potential obstacles that may negatively impact the implementation of the concept, key milestones as well as risk mitigation strategies will be discussed. Potential costs, risks, and benefits of operationalizing your business idea Potential costs of operationalizing the business idea that will enable Avalon Bay to attract new customers categorized as low-income earners will include, advertisement costs, costs of purchasing land, costs of designing affordable apartments, construction costs as well quality control costs (Heerkens, 2015). Advertisement costs will be pivotal in creating awareness among the target customers to enable them to sign-up and contribute also contribute 15 percent of the total cost of the apartment, before the commencement of the construction phase. Additionally, since at least 80 percent of sign-ups are needed before the project is commissioned, it implies that Avalon Bay should allocate 2 more funds of the overall project towards increasing awareness among the target customers to reach the target for the signups need to commission the project. Secondly, for this business idea to be implementable by Avalon Bay, the company should purchase land where it will construct affordable apartments for low-income earners. The land set aside for the construction of apartments will enable Avalon Bay to know when it has reached 80 percent sign-ups, which is the minimum percentage needed to commission the project. Thirdly, since differentiation is a crucial business strategy that Avalon Bay Inc. employs to have a competitive advantage in the market, the design of the apartments will be vital in winning over a larger market share. This implies that design costs will be high in determining whether the project will be a success or not. Fourthly, construction costs are inevitable if the project is to be executed. These expenses will be used to purchase construction materials, as well as to pay construction workers. Availability of funds for construction purposes will determine if apartments will be constructed within a given schedule. Lastly, quality control is vital in enabling Avalon Bay Inc. to have a good reputation in the market. Therefore, funds will have to be allocated towards ensuring that the apartments are constructed using the right construction materials as well as to the required standards a customer has requested. Risks of operationalizing the business idea The first risk of operationalizing the business idea relates to competitors also adopting new, highly competitive business ideas that will also seek to attract the same target market as the one Avalon Bay is targeting. Competitors may be forced to adopt an almost similar approach if they 3 become aware that Avalon has operationalized the business idea intended at targeting a niche market. The second risk of operationalizing the business idea is a market risk. This risk relates to the fact that there are times when market conditions change, thereby resulting in a given business experiencing losses. An example is the financial crisis of 2008 that was related to subprime mortgages that led to real estate companies incurring heavy losses. The third risk is the technology risk. This risk is as a result of the fact that technological advancements are happening every day. For this reason, business is forced to be on the lookout for any changes in technology to remain up-to-date at all times. However, operationalization of the business idea using an outdated technology may result in Avalon Ba, finding it difficult to shift towards new up-dated technology in the market (Heerkens, 2015). Benefits of operationalizing the business idea. A benefit of operationalizing the business idea of providing affordable apartments to lowincome earners is that Avalon Bay will realize an increase in revenue as well as profitability, due to the increase in market share. A second benefit, Avalon Bay Inc. can expect relates to improved reputation in the market. Enhanced reputation will be as a result of the company being able to meet customer needs by not only considering high-end customers but also low-income earners in their housing projects. Work Break down structure For the business idea to be implemented to the latter, it is of the essence to breakdown the implementation process into smaller deliverable oriented components. In so doing, Avalon bay will be able to allocate costs as well as schedule the entire implementation process. 4 Affordable apartments Marketing Create ads. Distribute ads to different media outlets make ads available to the target market Design of houses (Architectural design Engineering design of apartments Approval of design documents Construction of Transfer of Apartments ownership consultations with customers Construct apartment Test constructed apartment Prepare documentation on transfer of ownership Signing of documentation Tranfer of ownership 5 Justification of each task and subtask that is part of the work breakdown structure. To begin with, the marketing of the business idea will be pivotal in ensuring that the business idea becomes a success. The main reason for marketing the business idea is because before Avalon Bay commissions the project, at least there must be 80 percent sign-ups who have also paid the 15 percent commitment fee in full plus proper documentation on the transfer of ownership upon completion of the amount remaining plus modalities guiding the rate of installments to be paid. For this task to be accomplished, ads with the right message for the target customer will have to be created and distributed to different media outlets to reach a broader audience. The second task will entail designing the apartments. Design is a key step when one intends to put up any structure since; design details are the ones that are adhered to during the construction phase. Latest design software will be used to design the apartments for the entire design process to remain on schedule. For the design of a building to be complete, both architectural as well as engineering designs, should be carried out. The final subtask will entail the approval of design drawings before the construction process commences (Heerkens, 2015). A third major task is the construction of apartments. However, before an apartment is constructed, customers who would have paid the 15 percent commitment fee in full will be consulted to ensure that an apartment is built as per their wishes since they are the ultimate owner of the apartment. Testing of materials will be a crucial quality control step during the construction phase since it will ensure that the best construction materials are used to construct the apartments. Afterward, the apartments will be tested to ascertain whether they have met all design specification before the process of transferring ownership commences 6 The last primary task is the transfer of ownership. This task will entail the transfer of ownership after a customer has paid the remaining amount plus modalities guiding the rate of installments to be paid. Documentation that will show that a customer is the owner of a particular apartment will be prepared before a customer signs them. Afterward, full ownership of the apartment will be transferred to the customer. Key milestones, deliverables, and resource requirements associated with operationalizing your business idea A milestone is a significant achievement in the project (Liu, 2012). In this project that seeks to enable Avalon Bay to provide low-income earners with affordable housing, there are three key milestones. The first milestone is the advertisement for the strategy via different media outlets. This milestone will facilitate the achievement of the minimum signups needed to commission the project. By advertising the strategy, potential customers will end up signing up for the project in a timely manner, thereby enabling the project to stay on schedule. A second key milestone is the approval of design documents. This milestone will indicate that construction is about to begin. Additionally, approval of design documents will only happen if design specifications have been reviewed to ensure that they are in line with stipulated requirements under the law. The crucial third milestone is the transfer of ownership. Transfer of ownership will indicate that a customer has completed payments for a particular apartment. Therefore, Avalon Bay will only be able to generate a profit after the transfer of ownership of a given apartment happens. Deliverable A deliverable of this project is the provision of best quality apartments to low-income earners. This deliverable will be achieved through the accomplishment of the three milestones 7 highlighted above. The achievement of the three milestones within the set budget as well as within the set deadlines will enable Avalon Bay to generate revenue from this deliverable promptly as well. Potential obstacles and impediments to meeting scope-time-cost objectives of the project The first obstacle to achieving scope-time-cost goals of the affordable apartment project is inflation. Inflation may result in the prices of construction materials going up, thereby resulting in an initial budget for the project not being sufficient to accomplish the project. Considering the fact that customers will be required to provide 15 percent of the total value of a given apartment as a commitment fee, and this amount is meant to enable Avalon Bay to generate a profit, it implies that increase in construction costs due to inflation may have a negative impact on the company’s profit margin. Secondly, an increase in construction costs may result in Avalon Bay abandoning the project midway thereby, resulting in the scope not being achievable due to the entire project of providing affordable apartments to low-income earners becoming unfeasible. Additionally, an increase in costs may prompt a reevaluation of the project resulting in the project not being on schedule (Raftery, 2003). A second impediment to meeting project time-cost objectives is customers requesting changes to a building midway of a construction phase. Since Avalon Bay seeks to meet customer needs to improve their satisfaction levels, it implies that the company may be forced to implement these changes as per the customer’s directive. In so doing, the project may end up not only being over-budget but also behind schedule. A third potential obstacle to meeting scope-time-cost objectives of the project is dependable employees leaving the project during the construction phase. Avalon Bay will end up 8 incurring additional costs for hiring a replacement, and more time may be wasted while trying to bring up to speed a new employee. Therefore, employee turnover during the Operationalization phase of the project may affect the budget as well as the schedule of the project negatively. Lastly, changes in laws that are adhered to by real estate companies and also in the construction industry may become obstacles to meeting scope-time-cost objectives of the project since Avalon Bay may be required to readjust the entire strategy to ensure that it will end up conforming with the new regulations. Appropriate risk mitigation strategies to address the obstacles, impediments, and risks The first risk mitigation strategy is to have a contingency budget. Money set aside through a contingency budget will be vital in addressing any issues relating to the increase in project costs as a result of inflation. Therefore, the project scope will end up being accomplished within the scheduled time, even if the cost of construction increases. The second risk mitigation strategy is the development of an effective compliance program. This program will entail hiring a legal expert who will ensure that any changes in regulations will not have a negative impact on the project, thereby preventing changes in laws that are adhered to in the real estate industry from becoming obstacles to meeting scope-time-cost objectives of the project (Raftery, 2003). The third risk mitigation strategy is focusing on improving employee satisfaction levels. High employee satisfaction levels will result in employees not only becoming dedicated to enabling Avalon Bay to realize its objectives and long-term goals, but they also have no reason to seek out greener pastures elsewhere. Therefore, employee turnover rates will end up being low and, in turn, enable Avalon Bay to avoid costs associated with replacing employees when the project is midway (Liu, 2012). 9 Conclusion In summary, operationalization of the business idea of providing affordable apartments to low-income earners will be a key step in enabling Avalon Bay to benefit from this idea. However, just like any other project that Avalon Bay has implemented in the past, the implementation of this business idea will also be faced with several impediments such as inflation, employee turnover and changes in the law that will have a negative impact on the scope-time-cost objectives of the project. To address these challenges, a contingency budget will have to be set aside, a compliance program will be prepared, and lastly, Avalon Bay will be required to maintain high satisfaction levels among employees. 10 References Avaloncommunities.com. (2019). About Us. [online] Available at: https://www.avaloncommunities.com/about-us Heerkens, G. (2015). Project management. [Place of publication not identified]: Mcgraw-Hill Education. Liu, J. (2012). Microfinance Risk Management with Work Breakdown Structure. Journal Of Financial Risk Management, 01(03), 38-41. doi: 10.4236/jfrm.2012.13007 Raftery, J. (2003). Risk analysis in project management. London: E & FN Spon. Stevenson, W. J. (2012). Operations management. McGraw-Hill/Irwin. 11 Johnice Woods 3-1 Final Project Milestone One: Operations Management MBA-690-X4087 Ops Management & Technology 19TW4 Southern New Hampshire University June 16, 2019 Introduction 2 Operations Management of AvalonBay Communities AvalonBay communities are considered as one of the largest and most successful real estate companies in the United States. Started in 1998, the AvalonBay enjoys a vast array of market coverage in many states, posing a real threat to its competitors. The company has about 78,000 home units spread across eleven metropolis such as California Texas, Virginia, New York, among other states (Avaloncommunities.com, 2019). Over the past two decades, its growth has been exponential. This can be attributed to the strategies it puts in place to realize its goals and objectives. Although currently, the company is the fourth largest real estate company in the United States, it carries out innovative research and brand management strategies that consistently expand its size. Additionally, its top leadership has ensured it remained in the dynamic market by ensuring it meets the desires of its customers. This is through the provision of quality apartments that are in line with the current technology (Silverman, and Patterson, 2016). This paper thus seeks to discuss in detail the operation management strategies that AvalonBay communities have in place in the recent history (Li, Ji, Guo, and Chen, 2018). Forces that impact the business operations of AvalonBay communities AvalonBay communities have consistently remained determined to carry out innovative research on several aspects. It believes in the philosophy of doing good things regardless of the outcome. In other words, it delights in trying new methods of customer satisfaction (Avaloncommunities.com, 2019). Therefore, it has various driving forces that help it to survive in the business world as outlined below. Branding The company has invested massively in brand marketing. Brand marketing denotes the act of using tactics to lure customers into appreciating the services of a company. To realize this, the company employed a team of brand managers whose sole purpose is to carry out market research and propose new strategies to implement in the changing world of 3 Operations Management of AvalonBay Communities technology. The brand management team has remained focused on its mandate to ensure AvalonBay communities meet both short and long-term goals. Further, AvalonBay communities have stayed focused as it engages in five-year strategic planning. In this case, it looks at its strengths and weaknesses, that is assessing the SWOT analysis (Avaloncommunities.com, 2019). This makes it realize its position in the market and helps it forge ahead. Given this, AvalonBay communities have considered an extension to other countries and thus extend their market internationally. Besides, the company has involved McKinsey and Co. in market research. This would help its decision making as it seeks to expand its market share from one percent to a higher level. Renovating the home units, it constructed many years ago has also helped AvalonBay communities to retain its profit in the market (Avaloncommunities.com, 2019). Price of the apartments The primary customer focus for a product is always the pricing. Customer perception of the quality of product mostly relies on the price. This implies that whenever a company offers a product at a significantly low cost, many consumers tend to believe that particular product is of low quality and hence drop the urge to purchase them (Avaloncommunities.com., 2019). On the other hand, a section of customers would spend a lot of their time looking for commodities offered at low prices. Therefore, companies tend to provide products at affordable prices to meet every customer`s expectation (Silverman, and Patterson, 2016). The AvalonBay communities, through its marketing strategy, have ensured it implements effective pricing policies that seek to accommodate the interests of the lowincome earners. The system helps the low-income earners to acquire houses through pay to own strategy. Hence, it has attracted many customers within the eleven states (Avaloncommunities.com, 2019). Realizing the growth and development of the company 4 Operations Management of AvalonBay Communities The AvalonBay communities have remained proactive in its mandate not only to ensure it meets maximum customer satisfaction but also profit maximization. To achieve this, it has ensured it delivers quality and affordable housing to all the eleven states indiscriminately. Moreover, it has employed its contraction managers that oversee the site operations right from conception to completion. The principal aim of this is to cut the cost of hiring external contractors who might charge a significantly higher amount of money. This has also helped in the maintenance of quality standards as the apartments are built to last long before the renovation is done. Through all this, the company has realised (Avaloncommunities.com, 2019). If your company does not yet exist, how do you envision these forces will impact the business operations of your company? Ideally, a company`s operation management plan acts as an engine. Without the operational management plan, the entire business is likely to stall. This is because it essentially lacks the reason for its existence. Therefore, effective leadership management is one of the most influential forces in business operations (Avaloncommunities.com, 2019). A committed and focused leadership will come up with effective management strategies that would see the company carry out its activities focused. In a company, many departments are synchronized to achieve a common goal. In light of this general managers are required to make decisions while considering other heads of departments so that during implementation stage all employees are aware of what to do in their respective capacities (Silverman, and Patterson, 2016). The primary focus in any business entity is always customer satisfaction, and hence, many managers would heavily rely on market research before they come up with any conclusion. This will shed more light on the market structure of a specific commodity. After a careful assessment of the market 5 Operations Management of AvalonBay Communities structure, the company, under the leadership of the chief executive officer, comes up with strategic plans on how to approach the market and attract more customers. Moreover, the company will evaluate other factors such as price, brand marketing, and demand. When the demand for a particular product is high, the company will increase its production to meet the demand. On the other, when the demand goes down, it lowers the production volume to minimize any losses that may occur. For instance, AvalonBay communities in the United States have been enjoying a constant rise in demand for its apartments. This has compelled the leadership of the company to build more home units to satisfy the customers who are distributed in eleven states of the US. Moreover, the company chief executive officer has implemented the three-brand strategy to help reach out to more customers (Silverman, and Patterson, 2016). Operations management depends on the size of the business company. In small business entity, the manager of operations will work with individuals such as sales and brand manager, accountant, among others. On the contrary, big business companies are classified into departments such as sales and marketing and ICT departments (Silverman, and Patterson, 2016). These departments have employees who need to be involved from planning to the implementation stage. To achieve this, the operations manager has the task of ensuring that there is adequate training of the whole staff before a strategy is rolled out. To realize effective strategies in an organization, the company operation manager will draw a framework that will ensure success. Firstly, they will have to use valid data on past performance to help create attainable and measurable strategic plans (Avaloncommunities.com, 2019). And secondly, the operations manager should work with the research managers to come up with effective, innovative ideas that are in line with the current technology. In AvalonBay communities, the company has invested heavily on ground-breaking research on how to increase its market coverage to international level. The aim of this is to ensure it reaches out to all potential 6 Operations Management of AvalonBay Communities customers across the globe. Currently, it looks into effective market entry strategies into the global market (Silverman, and Patterson, 2016). Key obstacles that confronted AvalonBay communities company management during the evolution of operations management into the modern era Business operations have remained of the most powerful entities of the global economy. In the process of establishing procedures in the post-modern era, many companies suffered several obstacles that threatened their existence (Avaloncommunities.com, 2019). In the modern era, business technology plays a vital role in the success. However, since technology requires a lot of funds expenditures in activities such as innovative research and installations, the AvalonBay communities declined in its operations (Avaloncommunities.com, 2019). During this period, it was difficult to make investments for fear of uncertainty; that is, any technological method could arise and threaten the operations of the company leading to losses. Additionally, starting a real estate company requires a lot of funds and hence, this creates a barrier to many prospecting businesses. The AvalonBay communities, has, on some occasions faced financial constraints. This is because it requires a lot of funds to expand the business, carry out branding, among others. Many activities are performed with the help of technology as compared to past business activities. Moreover, customer taste and preferences have drastically changed, forcing the companies to adjust their style of operation management to meet the customers’ needs. This implies that one of the major strengths of a real estate company like AvalonBay communities is financial power. Many companies embrace organizational processes geared towards creating an enabling environment for customers as well as employees. These processes include, among others customer service delivery, prompt supply, and chain management and decision making. The AvalonBay communities seek to fulfil the customers` needs by designing the 7 Operations Management of AvalonBay Communities apartments according to the recent technological know-how. Moreover, the company has employed a team of research managers, thus accelerating the process of decision making. Through organizational processes put in place by the AvalonBay communities, the company can realize its strategic plans such as increasing the market share from 1 percent to a higher level and offering quality and affordable housing to all individuals, in spite of their economic status. Since one of the goals of AvalonBay communities is to create new ways to live and for all individuals, the focus to realize this is the constant research to keep up with the increasing global population on how to ensure everyone gets affordable housing. Moreover, some key factors have led to increased production and profitability of the company. The AvalonBay communities are one of the four major real estate companies with success history according to the statistics firm, RealPage Inc. the annual growth rate of home units rose from 2.5% in 2017 to 3.3% in 2018. Some of the critical factors that led to this include the affordable product cost that AvalonBay communities and other companies enjoy and reduced tax. This makes the company enjoy the significant profit from factors such as high-quality premium. The key trends in production quality, resource, and information management Over the past years, the AvalonBay communities have invested massively on the quality control of its products. This is to ensure that it maintains a close connection with its customers. The AvalonBay Communities has a background dating back to the year 1978. The company began its operation in 1998. It then formed a merger with Bay properties company to form the present AvalonBay Communities (Silverman, and Patterson, 2016). This made the company to realize 2 billion dollars that boosted its operation. Since then, it has consistently increased its market coverage, owing to the quality and affordable apartment it offers to the customers in the eleven states. 8 Operations Management of AvalonBay Communities As a result of the production of quality and affordable apartments, the AvalonBay Communities realized a constant increase in profit from $191 to $192. Factors that have significantly led to the exponential rise in profit are believed to be consistency in products quality. Moreover, for the buildings that were constructed long time ago dating back to early 2000s, the company resorted to improving their condition to maintain their value. Another factor of concern is the provision of free home decoration services that the company initiated in 2016. This move was a tactical strategy to help gather more customers. At the end of the year, the company realized a significantly higher amount of annual revenue (Avaloncommunities.com, 2019). Due to the current technology, the AvalonBay Communities has embraced the technological activities in all its departments (Silverman, and Patterson, 2016). It has enabled effective communication not only internal but also the external. In the marketing industry, the AvalonBay Communities had been using newspapers and magazines to attract more customers. However, in the post-modern era, where the world appreciates globalization of business, the company has since migrated to digital marketing in a bid to reach out to all its customers. The new channels of communicating with the client are through the company website, television channels, use of digital marketers, among others (Silverman, and Patterson, 2016). Additionally, at the start of the AvalonBay Communities, there were inadequate resources that could enable the company to withstand the power of its competitors. However, with the aid of government laws creating a conducive atmosphere for investors, especially real estate companies (Avaloncommunities.com, 2019). The AvalonBay Communities began to realise a substantive change in its revenue in 1999. This enabled the company to establish new departments that were not in operation before, such as research and innovation (Silverman, and Patterson, 2016). 9 Operations Management of AvalonBay Communities Assessment of the impacts of the key trends on the business operations Since the quality of the products was a critical factor in attracting the customers, the operations manager engaged in quality control to ensure that the new housing designs meets the current technological standards as per the customers` expectations. This enabled the company to discover its strength of quality and affordable housing and hence put a significant focus on it (Avaloncommunities.com, 2019). The government of the US could therefore realise one of its key agender of providing affordable housing. In this case, the AvalonBay Communities enjoyed government subsidies such as reduced tax and construct costs. On the other hand, information technology led to improved organizational change with effective internal communication among the staff. More than that, the company used information technology as a tool for carrying out marketing activities (Avaloncommunities.com, 2019). Conclusion In conclusion, the AvalonBay Communities is an essential company in United States and hence seen as an avenue for employment as well as improving the peoples` lives through affordable housing. One of the driving forces behind the success of the AvalonBay Communities is the strategy in place to ensure it meets customers` needs. It invests heavily on the marketing aspects by carrying out market research. This has enabled it to draw an attainable strategic plan that helps it in quality maintenance. Due to this, the quality of output is usually high. Furthermore, the human resource manager, through the chief executive officer, works to ensure that the staff is trained to adapt to the culture of the company, which is grounded on integrity. Besides, the company has a favourable pricing model of ´pay to own´ that aims at empowering the low-class individuals in the society to possess their own houses in the long run. 10 Operations Management of AvalonBay Communities References Avaloncommunities.com. (2019). About Us. [online] Available at: https://www.avaloncommunities.com/about-us Li, J., Ji, J., Guo, H., & Chen, L. (2018). Research on the Influence of Real Estate Development on Private Investment: A Case Study of China. Sustainability, 10(8), 2659. Pfnür, A., & Wagner, B. (2018). Multidimensional drivers of change - A transformation process of real estate business models: Empirical evidence from the German real estate industry. 25th Annual European Real Estate Society Conference. doi:10.15396/eres2018_185 Silverman, R. M., & Patterson, K. L. (2016). Affordable housing in US shrinking cities: From neighborhoods of despair to neighborhoods of opportunity? Policy Press Johnice Woods 1-2 Short Paper: Assessment of Key Industry Changes MBA-690-X4087 Ops Management & Technology 19TW4 Southern New Hampshire University June 3, 2019 1 Assessment of Key Industry Changes Most industries experience rapid changes over time. Such changes as witnessed are as a result of technological changes as well as the new trends in information processing. It is, therefore, essential for businesses to be aware of the industry changes as this has an impact on business operations. The industry changes are what creates the external business environment which directly influences the activities of a business. The industry changes make it necessary for businesses to alter their operations and products to accommodate the changes in the external environment. Impact of Change It is difficult for businesses to make wise investments before comprehending on how the industry is changing. Avalon Communities, Inc. needs to understand the changes in the real estate industry for the organization to make any investment advances. The real estate industry is one of the sectors that are growing very fast and embracing technological changes at a rapid rate. Avalon Communities, Inc., for instance, has streamlined its operations, making it possible for clients to transact without necessarily having to be physically present. The organization has also adopted new technological advances that allow clients to tap into substantial credible and valuable information that enables clients to view and follow up on any property that they may interest in (Pfnür & Wagner, 2018). This simplifies the processes on both the client’s and the organization’s side. Another impact that of the changes in the industry is the ability to reach to more clients more effectively. Through the technological changes, it is possible to reach to existing clients efficiently. The industry changes promote better communication between the organization and the clients. This additionally makes it possible for the business to reach out to new clients more 2 effectively (Li, Ji, Guo & Chen, 2018). Technological changes make it possible for clients to get the organization's information at their, and this is important in investment decision making on the part of the clients. Key Obstacles/Opportunities One of the most exceptional opportunities that necessitated the industry change is the need to create broader client access. The real estate agents needed to reach to their existing clients more efficiently as well as access more clients, this necessitated the need to adopt a new method that provided a platform for better communication with the clients. Another opportunity that prompted technological change is the need to organize real estate information better (Li, Ji, Guo & Chen, 2018). This led to programs such as SaaS that have made it possible to monitor operations and organize necessary client information. A lot of individuals have in a long time desired to invest in the real estate; however, the high cost of investing in this industry has been a significant barrier, this has necessitated the emergence of mortgage firms that have changed the face of the real estate industry. This has changed the financing methods as well as alerted the cost through the interest rates. Enabling/ Inhibiting Factors One of the factors that have led to technological changes in the real estate industry is demographics. More young people have become aware of this industry, and their interest in investing in real estate has necessitated the technological changes as agents strive to reach them (Pfnür & Wagner, 2018). Another factor is the shift in demand in this industry, thus has enabled the emergence of mortgage firms to meet the increasing demand in real estate. Interest rates from different real-estate firms inhibited operations and growth, and this necessitated the need for more mortgage firms that created competition hence changing the interest rates 3 References Li, J., Ji, J., Guo, H., & Chen, L. (2018). Research on the Influence of Real Estate Development on Private Investment: A Case Study of China. Sustainability, 10(8), 2659. doi:10.3390/su10082659 Pfnür, A., & Wagner, B. (2018). Multidimensional drivers of change - A transformation process of real estate business models: Empirical evidence from the German real estate industry. 25th Annual European Real Estate Society Conference. doi:10.15396/eres2018_185 4
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Running Head: LIFE CYCLE MANAGEMENT

Life Cycle Management
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Life cycle management

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Introduction
Real estate business has been evolving continuously over the past few decades. This
has been facilitated by the introduction of a social media platform and advancement in
technology. These improvements have changed the purchasing and sale of real estate. The
Avalon Bay Communities Inc. has been actively involved in aligning its supply chain to the
contemporary ones. The nature of the business it engages in slightly modifies the supply
chain from the usual supplier, distribution centers, and finally, the retailer. In Avalon Bay,
two chains are used. They include the company selling or renting property directly to the
client or by selling the property through an agent or broker. Also, the company either
acquires the property directly from the potential sellers or uses an agent to negotiate on its
behalf. However, the most common practice is selling, renting, or acquiring property through
an agent. For effective and efficient transaction process technology and social media have
been employed. This is to grow the business and ensure maximum profit is generated by
reducing the cost of operation. This paper looks into the sustainable supply chain of the
Avalon Bay Communities Inc., the technologies incorporated in the chain, the life cycle of the
business, assessment of opportunities to generate profits and save costs and to establish the
phase-out plan of the business.
Supply Chain
This is a network that brings together all individuals, organizations, technology,
resources, and activities that are employed in the creation of a product and its sale. It simply
encompasses what happens from delivery of raw materials or goods meant for sale by the
supplier to the manufacturer or company through to delivery to the users. For the real estate
business, the supply chain can either be from the supplier, company, through to the end user,

Life cycle management

3

or from the supplier, company, agent, and through to the user. The choice of the chain is
dependent on convenience based on the target market.


Supplier

Supplier in this context refers to the party that provides property or resources to the Avalon
Bay company at a reasonable cost. As stated in the previous assignments, Avalon Bay
company engages in the development, redevelopment, acquisition, and management of
various apartment home across the United States. By acquisition, it means that the company
fully or partly purchases already developed the property and then include it in its listed assets.
An example is where the company acquired about 40% of the Archstone’s assets and
liabilities owned by Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc. (WIRE, 2013). The property comprises
of a portfolio of apartment communities of high quality in main markets in the United States.
The acquisition was valued at %6.5 billion. In the acquisition process, the real estate
company may choose to involve an agent or directly transact with the seller. Also, the
company engages in the development of properties, that is, the building of apartment
communities. The suppliers, in this case, would be the people supplying the raw material to
erect the buildings. Therefore, the suppliers are key in achieving the apartment for sale or
renting.


Inventory

Inventory refers to the goods that are available and ready for sale. In this case, inventory can
be described as the apartments that are acquired or developed for the purpose of selling or
renting. Avalon Bay has been working hard towards expanding its inventory. The company is
reported to have owned over 78000 apartment units in 2019 that were all situated in
California, New England, Seattle, Washington, DC., metropolitan area, and New York City
metropolitan area (Barnes, 2019). The company is ranked in the fourth place based on the

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4

number of apartment units it owns. The company expands its inventory through the
development of properties ...


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