Q. Large retailers, in general, have tended to move from a business model characterised by a fragmented ne2rk of many small-to-medium scale retail operations located in city centres, to a business model characterised by much fewer however significantly larger retail units, with every retail unit seeking to (a) process a much larger volume of customers at the same time as both (b) increasing the overall level also convenience of service provision to the customers also (c) reducing operational costs.

Discuss the implications from an operations design viewpoint of such a change of business model also discuss also explain the types of operations (design) strategies also tactics, both within store also in terms of supply, which can help to facilitate the achievement of the new business model also its associated objectives ((a) to (c) above).