Operations Management 100 Hours Certificate Course

There are 9 lessons:

1. The Economic Environment

• The world of economics
• Scarcity
• Opportunity costs
• Goods
• Definitions
• Economic systems
• Economic ownership
• Performance criteria for an economy
• Other economic performance indicators
• Basic economic principles
• Law of demand
• Law of Substitution
• Law of diminishing return
• Law of diminished marginal utility
• Competition
• Sustainability
• Total Quality Management
• Strategic Planning
• Creating a strategic plan

2. External Influences

• Monopoly
• Monopolistic Competition
• Oligopoly
• Perfect competition
• External Influences
• International markets and trade-able commodities
• Globalisation
• Supply and demand
• Market forces
• Demand
• Supply
• Elasticity
• Economics of scale
• Cost structures
• Liquidity

3. Information Management

• Scope and nature of office work
• Functions of an office
• Common jobs in an office: reception, clerical, secretarial, information processing
• Departments within an organisation
• Office processes
• Data knowledge, storage and management
• Filing systems
• Classifying information
• Hard copy
• Filing procedure
• Data protection
• Financial records
• Books needed in business
• Different ways to approach bookkeeping
• Steps in the bookkeeping process
• Developing a record keeping and accounting system
• Flow of information
• Financial reports
• Ledger
• Journal
• Source documents
• Cash transactions
• Credit transactions
• Returns and allowances
• Other business documents
• Use of business documents
• The cash book
• Credit sales and credit purchases journal
• The general journal
• The ledger
• A trial balance
• Bank reconciliation
• Petty cash

4. Strategic Planning

• Strategic planning
• Documenting the strategy
• Operational planning
• Documenting an operational plan
• Key components of a business plan
• SWOT analysis
• A planning procedure
• Decisions
• What to plan for
• Finance
• Structure for a Financial plan
• Developing a budget
• Structure for a marketing plan
• Plan drawing

5. Implementing Strategies

• Implementing strategy
• Bench marking
• Reviewing strategy and strategy management
• Environmental audits
• Key elements of EIA
• Steps in an environmental assessment process
• Study design
• Baseline studies
• Predicting impacts
• Mitigation measures
• Flora and fauna assessment
• Open space management plan
• Rehabilitation plan

6. Developing a Business Plan

• Business planning
• Case study: nursery development plan
• Sensitivity analysis
• PBL project to formulate criteria required for implementation of a business proposal to develop a business plan.

7. Business Control Systems

• Financial statements
• The balance sheet
• Classification in the balance sheet
• Working capital
• Profit and loss statement
• Link between profit and balance sheet
• Depreciation of assets
• Analysis and interpretation of accounting reports
• Analytical ratios
• Ratio yardsticks
• Profitability ratios
• Operating efficiency ratios
• Efficiency ratios and profitability
• Liquidity ratios
• Liquidity analysis and cash budgeting
• Financial stability ratios
• Gearing rate of return on investment
• Limitations to ratio analysis
• Risk
• Risk analysis
• Contingency planning
• Business systems
• Quality systems
• Innovation management
• PERT (Program evaluation and review)
• CPA (Critical path analysis)
• GNATT Charts Fastest and slowest completion times
• Business expansion and sources of finance
• Record keeping

8. Evaluating Marketing

• Introduction
• Market research
• The marketing mix
• Marketing planning
• Services marketing
• Customer service
• Buying, selling and decision making
• Different heuristics
• Decision making process
• Customer satisfaction
• Goodwill

9. Marketing Strategies

• Target markets and market segmentation
• Targeting strategies
• Defining your target market
• Determining market segmentation
• Projecting the future
• Positioning
• Case study
• The business portfolio

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the school, marked by the school's tutors and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.