Page 92 - Operations Strategy

Judging OPERATiOns PERfORmAnCE AT An OPERATiOnAl lEvEl? 67
became an order-winner, with customers choosing supplies on the basis of the effective-
ness of their supply chain management service. In time, it may even become a quali-
fier, where all companies who wish to compete in the market for health care supplies
are expected to offer this service. So, what were once delights will, over time, erode as
competitors achieve high levels of performance in the same competitive factors.
This prompts an interesting debate for any organisation. How sustainable are the
order-winners and delights on which your business depends? Figure 2.8 illustrates a
matrix that will allow for this kind of analysis. For any particular product or service, it
is important first to understand which competitive factors are order-winners, which are
qualifiers, and which (if any) are delights. But, because delights and order-winners can
both erode over time, in the future what will happen is that some (if not all) delights
will become order-winners and some (if not all) order-winners will become qualifiers.
There is a general drift downwards (as shown by the arrows in the figure) as competitors
catch up or exceed the level of performance. Usually, the cell in the matrix that is the
most problematic is that marked as ‘tomorrow’s delights’. This prompts the intriguing
question of ‘What is the organisation doing today in order to develop the things that
will delight its customers tomorrow?’

Criticisms of the order-winning and qualifying concepts
Not everyone agrees with the idea of categorising competitive factors as order-winners
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or qualifiers. There are two major criticisms. The first is that order-winners and quali-
fiers are based on how potential purchasers of services and products behave when con-
sidering a single transaction. Increasingly though, purchasers of both consumer and
‘industrial’ services and goods do not consider a single transaction but rather think in
terms of longer-term relationships. Some purchasers may be willing to accept occa-
sional lapses in performance in either order-winners or qualifiers because they wish to
preserve the long-term relationship with their supplier. So, the relationship both tran-
scends the idea of order-winners and qualifiers and becomes the major order- winning
competitive factor itself. Second, the original interpretation of the order-winner/
qualifier concept is based on considering past sales data, including the reaction of
individual customers for individual orders. A more traditional, market-based approach
would treat far larger groups of customers in its segmentation procedures.

Figure 2.8 What is the operation doing today to develop the capabilities which will
provide the ‘Delights’ of the future?

Today Tomorrow

Delights ???

Order-winners

Qualifiers

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