Innovation Arabia 10 is the leading congress on education, environment, business, finance, and health in the region; currently, it focuses on the theme of ‘Innovation and Entrepreneurship: the Engines of Sustainability’ (Wamda 2017). The Innovation Arabia’s presentation included four speakers: Hisham Al Gurg, Majed Al Suwaidi, Hisham, and Eddy Maroun. The key message all speakers wanted to deliver to the audience was associated with the belief in one’s abilities when it comes to entrepreneurship. For example, Hisham Al Gurg noted that not many entrepreneurs benefited from mentorship programs because they lacked the belief in their ideas and goals.
The most inspirational speech was given by Majed Al Suwaidi, who talked about TECOM Group, a company that operates in the sphere of business enablement and contribution to the economic aspirations of Dubai. TECOM Group creates sector-based business communities and environments characterized by innovative ecosystems (TECOM Group n.d.). It was also interesting to find out how the company finds talent and supports new businesses without being afraid of new challenges. Furthermore, Majed Al Suwaidi underlined the importance of quality content creation and the investment of time, efforts, orientation on customers’ needs, and extensive research in order to become truly successful.
Operation and supply chain management (OSCM) is a decision-making process associated with determining how businesses’ products or services are created, moved, and sold. Such decisions usually depend on the company’s awareness of its strategy with regards to competitive advantage against rivals on the market. The ideas presented at the Innovation Arabia 10 can be useful for making OSCM decisions because they underlined the importance for businesses to invest time and efforts into developing a competitive strategy based on the needs of the clients as well as conduct extensive research of the market characteristics.
For example, Al Suwaidi mentioned the creation of a knowledge-based economy in United Arab Emirates. Similarly, in order for businesses to make tactical businesses decisions with regards to their manufacturing processes or interaction with suppliers, they should be equipped with extensive knowledge about their sphere of operation as well as the advantages and disadvantages of working with specific suppliers.
Moreover, orientation on customers is another important aspect of OSCM because any operational decisions can directly affect customers’ satisfaction with a business. For instance, if a business has specific problems with the operation of their logistics and cannot deliver a product or a service to some regions of a city or a country, it risks losing many customers interested in the product or services and thus risks losing possible revenue. Therefore, it is crucial for companies to determine the interests and the demands of prospective customers to develop an effective and competitive OSCM framework.
The theme of business content analysis and quality content was also extensively explored during the presentation. Although integrating content analysis into operation and supply chain management is not the most obvious choice companies can make, it can be very effective for helping businesses retrieve meaningful information from past experiences or effective strategies that other companies implemented in terms of OSCM. The idea of content analysis can be applied to any sphere of business operation because it allows companies to see what type of content positively influences customers and boosts revenue and what content limits a company’s competitive advantage and makes it less appealing to prospective customers.
Overall, the ideas discussed during the Innovation Arabia 10 presentation can be considered very valuable for starting business concerned with their growth. It is crucial to mention that operation and supply chain management is an integral part of a business’ operation, especially in cases when the business is only starting up. Speakers underlined the importance of ‘knowing what you want’ with regards to innovation and developing a cohesive OSCM framework that can create a reliable base for businesses, on top of which they can build their future operations.
In conclusion, meeting customers and getting feedback from them can become another effective component of a company’s OSCM decision-making because, at the end of the day, all innovation and entrepreneurship efforts are implemented to achieve a specific goal: winning the attention of prospective customers, collaborating with reliable suppliers, and establishing a business that will be successful in a long-term.
Reference List
TECOM Group n.d., About TECOM Group. Web.
Wamda 2017, Innovation Arabia 10. Web.