Operation System and Competitive Advantages of the Enterprise

The main aim of the study is to discuss the importance of the enterprise operational system for developing and sustaining business competitive advantages. The influence of the operational system specificity and of the decisions related to its designing and functioning on the business outcomes are diagnosed. The necessity of synchronizing the operational system processes with the changes of main business priorities, including the changes of enterprise’s key success factors is outlined. Alternatives are presented of how to achieve balance between two conflicting objectives: maximum utilization of the available capacity and minimum WIP. Models are proposed for describing and assessing the processes in the enterprise operational system, based on objectives priority ranking and possible combinations between “pushing” and “pulling” of the processes as well as based on the logistic operating curve theory.