¶ … Risk Criteria ID NO.

Chosen Business: City restaurant

Before discussing what the core activities the company undertakes to achieve its operational objectives, it is vital to highlight these operational objectives. The following section gives a brief overview of these objectives:

OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVES

The strategic objective of Taste Inn is to become the most liked brand among its customers, a financially and operationally strong company in the eyes of its investors, and a competitive participant in the food and hospitality industry of Australia. The major operational objectives of the company include:

A strong customer base:

The most important operational objective of the company is to strengthen its customer base by attracting more and more customers towards its product offerings. It aims to build a strong public image in the eyes of its customers and the society in which it operates.

Become a financially and operationally strong corporation:

The second most important operational objective of the company is to become a financially and operationally strong company which may never face any difficulty while making investments in the future or see dissatisfied customers due to inefficiency in its operations or customer services.

3. Build strong relationships with the supply chain members

The third important operational objective is to strengthen business relationships with the supply chain members. These members act as the building blocks for a strong and competitive corporation in the industry (Fraser & Simkins 2010). From the supply of raw material to the promotion and distribution of the final products; every supply chain member plays an important role in the success of the company. Therefore, Taste Inn gives strong emphasis on building long-term relationships with the most reliable suppliers from the industry.

4. High sales volume and market share:

A high sales volume and an ever increasing market share is one of the core operational objectives of a business organization. Taste Inn also aims to strengthen its business presence in the food and hospitality of Australia by ensuring a steady growth in its sales and market share. This objective can only be achieved if Taste Inn puts its complete focus on bringing improvements in its product and service offerings and find ways to boost up its sales activities.

Technological advancements are of significant importance for Taste Inn. Reason being, the production units in modern city restaurants are equipped with latest plants and machineries. These advanced plants and machineries make the production processes efficient and cost-effective. If Taste Inn ignores technology and uses traditional methods of baking food and preparing eatables, it will no more remain competitive in its industry. As a result, it will lose its brand image and strong customer base which it has developed over years.

5. Become a competitive participant in the food and hospitality industry:

In addition to focusing on products and service offerings, Taste Inn also aims to become a market leader in the industry by beating the competition and winning the confidence of its stakeholders.

6. Ensure a continuous growth of operations

Another important operational objective of Taste Inn is to ensure a continuous growth in its operation. It considers the business growth as a strong tool for competitiveness and sustainability in the industry.

All of these operational objectives overlap each other because a restaurant can use different strategies to meet one operational objective. For example, quality of the products can be improved by bringing improvements in the current production operations or by purchasing higher quality raw material which is used in the production of the products.

THE CORE ACTIVITIES TO MEET OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVES

1. Total Quality Management:

Total Quality Management (TQM) is an effective technique to improve the overall the business operations efficiency. Taste Inn implements the principles of Total Quality Management in all the aspects of its operations in order to achieve its operational objective of strong customer base, high sales volume, high market share, competitiveness, and sustainability. Total Quality Management (TQM) at Taste Inn entails focusing on product innovation, service quality, financial performance, and overall operational excellence.

2. Efficient Customer Services:

To achieve the operational objective of strong customer base and a high level of acceptability and brand loyalty, Taste Inn focuses on efficiency in its customer services. It consists of ensuring timely delivery of products, pleasant dining experience, quick response to questions and queries, efficient time management, and other related customer services.

3. Inventory Management and selection of Supply Chain Members:

Taste Inn recognizes the importance of product quality and efficient service delivery for the achievement of...

In order to produce the best quality food products, Taste Inn purchases the highest quality raw material from the most reliable suppliers from the industry. It ensures an efficient inventory management so that there is a balance between the supply and demand of the raw material at its production unit. In order to ensure an efficient delivery of the products, the distributors are selected on the basis of their reputation and track record in the industry (Hajime & Sato 2009).
TQM vs. Inventory Management

As operational objectives always overlap in every industry, Taste Inn will find a significant relationship between the two in meeting its operational objectives. However, both these processes are different from each other in a number of ways. TQM is a composite phenomenon where Taste Inn will look at all the business activities and affairs collectively so as to achieve operational excellence. On the other hand, Inventory management is just concerned with keeping a good balance among supply, capacity, and demand options in the production plants of the restaurant.

4. Effective Marketing and Promotional Activities

Although marketing and promotional activities are not concerned with the operational performance of the company; they play an important role in the accomplishment of its overall operational objectives. Taste Inn expends a significant amount from its marketing budget on advertisements and other promotional campaigns so as to create awareness about its products and services and attract the potential customers towards these offerings. These expenditures can help the company in achieving its operational objectives of high sales volume and improved financial performance in the long run.

5. Internal Control:

Internal control is another practice or core activity which helps the company in achieving its operational objectives (Spedding & Rose 2008). Internal Control refers to the measures and procedures which Taste Inn incorporates within its business setup for the purposes of keeping a check and balance between its earnings and expenditures. That is, the measurement of the effectiveness and efficiency of different departments and taking corrective actions where the performance of these departments varies with the set standards (Ritchie & Zsidisin 2008).

The objectives discussed in the above section can be generalized to any industry, but the risk factors identified in the next section are specifically related to Taste Inn restaurant. For example, the restaurant must ensure a regular supply of raw material like wheat, milk, fruits, eggs, meat, and other ingredients so that there is no shortage of any type of product in the restaurant. Similarly, power failure, late delivery of products, improper treatment of customers, inefficient customer complaints section can pose negative impacts to the company's sales. These specific risks are now discussed below in detail:

OPERATIONAL RISKS FOR THE RESTAURANT

1. Supply of raw material:

One of the major operational risks for a restaurant is the efficient supply of raw material used in the manufacturing of its products. For Taste Inn, the supplies of raw material like wheat, milk, fruits, eggs, meat, and other ingredients must be efficient enough to ensure that there is no shortage of any type of product in the restaurant. However, it is generally observed that every type of industry faces the shortage of raw material due to different reasons which badly hampers the sales growth of its firms during that shortage period. This risk can bring critical consequences for Taste Inn; e.g. dissatisfied and unhappy customers, low sales, fewer revenues, non-availability of raw material or at high price otherwise, etc. (Sadgrove 2005).

2. Inefficient customer services:

Taste Inn always faces a risk of inefficiency in its operations which may be caused due to various reasons; like power failure, late delivery of products, improper treatment of customers, inefficient customer complaints section, etc. This risk can pose big threat to the company in the form of unhappy customers. These unhappy and dissatisfied customers will share their bad experience with the restaurant with other potential customers. On the other hand, if Taste Inn gives superior customer services to all its customers, it will create a positive image in their brand which can become a source of growth and competitiveness of its business in the future.

3. Quality of the products:

Quality of the products is measured either by analysing the quality of raw material which is used in their production of the effectiveness of production operations at different levels. Quality of the products is one of the strongest tools for achieving operational objectives (Young 2010). Therefore, any flaws in the production processes or usage of inferior quality raw material can create big problem for the company's business. If Taste Inn wants to keep its public image strong, it must keep an eye on the quality of its raw material and the steps which are carried out until the final product…