The author Saral Mukherjee is a professor at IIM Ahmedabad and has written this book detailing operations strategy with nature’s metaphor to make it interesting. The book uses the metaphors of Elephants and Cheetahs and is inspired by nature for arriving at a better appreciation for the system. The book ‘Elephants and Cheetahs: The Beauty of Operations tries to understand the inherent beauty in business models from the operations perspective.
The book is based on the author’s elective at IIM Ahmedabad. The book has been published by Penguin Random House India. It looks for the answers in trade-offs that are inherent to the operating systems and business model designs. The book encourages the business leaders to ask different existential questions - Does the organization have a soul and what are strategic choices which enable the synthesis of the soul?
The author says that he has tried to bring a system orientation into the teaching operations modeling. The author has tried to combine aesthetics into the field that is gripped with quantification. The author is trying to appreciate the operations systems by drawing parallels with nature. He has tried to connect the metaphors with literature and arts. The author has looked deeper into these case studies of the organizations and identified a core set of issues that run through them. The author tries to see the meaning in a meaningless existence.
Prof Saral Mukherjee has detailed knowledge that is inherently applied in business models from the perspective of operations. The metaphors that are drawn out in the book include many others apart from that of elephants and cheetahs. It helps the students to visualize which helps to better understand the idea of operational management trade-offs.
The author attempts to bring aesthetics into an area that is obsessed with quantification and modeling. The subject is often considered to be dull. The author takes parallels from nature and brings in linkages with literature and arts. Operations Management is a subject that draws much attention from businesses everywhere.
The author is one of the most awarded professors at IIMA. He is a recipient of the Marti Mannariah Gurunath Outstanding Teacher Award from 2014 to 2020. The author infuses passion and emotion into what is seen as a boring subject in academics or an endeavour in business. The author doesn’t let his emotions overtake his reasoning. He knows that it is vital to understand operations management to manage the organization.
Operations Systems That Have A Soul
In Part I of the book, the author puts the hypothesis that in any organization, the systems carry a Souls. It is a system that is greater than all the sum of the parts. It has a harmonious synergy that is attained not just by providing inputs through flawless interaction between various parts which make up the system. This leads to numerous transformations in the operations. The constraints add to its complexity and make the system a little more interesting.
The author argues that all organizations carry the potential to become a living system. It is an absurd idea if you think from the point of view of conventional Operations managers. The author, although, wants to provoke this idea in the head of the readers. Many organizations have a purpose that is beyond making money or satisfying the shareholders.
In Part II of the book, the author delves deep into the understanding of a firm’s strategy. It helps in deciding which paths are to choose, and the paths that are not to choose. The strategy shapes the autopoiesis of an organization and it impacts the nature of transformations and interactions. It also shapes the culture of an organization.
In Part III of the book, there is an understandable chunk about the ‘How to’ and the ‘What’ elements and aspects. It has details about the characteristics of the Elephant that includes cost leadership. Also, the characteristics of the Cheetah include time responsiveness. All these aspects are dealt with precision and it also includes the aspects like cost-cutting, design, quality and convenience, flexibility, and risk minimization.
Designed To Fail
The author is a supporter of the Lean philosophy in management. He compares it to religion, and he says that the Lean system is designed to fail. The Lean system is the only management system that is designed to fail. The book takes time to digest in the case of a management practitioner.
By the end of this book is an Appendix that has three fascinating stories. It has the case analysis of McDonald’s, Sukiyabashi Jiro, and Zara. The case study of Jiro combines the passion and the conviction of an individual with great insights on operations that are required for running a specialty restaurant. It encapsulates what the author is attempting towards educating the readers in the previous chapters. The issues that are mentioned in the book are much more worthy of detailing. It illustrates these issues in a much better way as compared to the theory.
The author focuses on the ideas that are rather unusual in the field of Operations Management. The author tries to put a light on the idea that the systems have souls. The book is based on his popular elective at IIM Ahmedabad and it looks for the answers in these hard trade-offs which are inherent in operating system design. The book helps the readers to think and it encourages the business leaders to various existential questions.
The author explained the idea further by using the example of Domino’s “30-minute or pizza free” campaign. The book will look at the soul of Domino’s which can be best described with the metaphor of the Cheetah. It promises the fastest delivery which is associated with the speed of the Cheetah. In this case, Domino’s has time-responsiveness over cost-effectiveness. The book urges the readers to understand operations management in a way that is more intrusive and deeper. It presses all the right buttons in terms of the readers who want to understand the concept better.
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The review is originally published in BW People magazine.
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