Any business that produces
something, whether tangible or not, must use resources to do so, and so must have
an operations activity. Also the automobile plant and the advertising agency do have one
important element in common: both have a higher objective – to make a profit from producing
their products or services. Yet not-for-profit organizations also use their resources to
produce services, not to make a profit, but to serve society in some way. Look at the following
examples of what operations management does in five very different organizations and
some common themes emerge.