Introduction to Operations Management

PART OF WHARTON’S BUSINESS FOUNDATIONS SPECIALIZATION 

What did you want the last time you went to a restaurant? You wanted to find something on the menu that you liked, you wanted the meal to be prepared according to high quality standards, you wanted to get it quickly, and you didn’t want to pay too much money for it. Now, remember the last time you went to a doctor’s office or a hospital. What did you want the doctors and nurses to do? You wanted them to provide the right care for you, you wanted the care delivered with great quality, you wanted to get the care quickly, and you (or your insurance) didn’t want to pay too much for it. 

The management skills needed to run the operations of a restaurant are the same needed to run a hospital. You will learn these skills in this course. Specifically, you will learn how to improve productivity, increase responsiveness, provide more choice to the customer, and deliver higher quality standards. In short, you will learn how to analyze business processes and how to improve them.

Complete this course as part of Wharton's Business Foundations Specialization, and you'll have the opportunity to take the Capstone Project and prepare a strategic analysis and proposed solution to a real business challenge from Wharton-governed companies like Shazam and SnapDeal or to a challenge faced by your own company or organization. Wharton-trained staff will evaluate the top submissions, and leadership teams at Shazam and SnapDeal will review the highest scoring projects prepared for their companies. 

Watch this video to learn more about the Wharton Foundation Series on Coursera:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgS3AJCe6i8

Click below for the other Wharton Foundation Series courses:

An Introduction to Marketing - https://www.coursera.org/course/whartonmarketing
An Introduction to Financial Accounting - https://www.coursera.org/course/whartonaccounting
An Introduction to Corporate Finance - https://www.coursera.org/course/whartonfinance

For more information about courses offered online at Wharton, please go toonline.wharton.upenn.edu

Recommended Background

No prerequisites, although high school level math will be useful.

Key topics include:

• Process analysis
• Productivity
• Responsiveness
• Quality and Product variety