Whether an organisation treats patients, makes clothes or cuts people's hair, its operations function plays a crucial role in helping the business meet its sales and profit targets, and achieve its long-term strategic objectives. A well-managed operations function will significantly contribute to the success of a business, while a poorly-managed one can lead to disaster! It is essential that managers understand the role of operations within their organisation. This new edition of Operations Management contains many new and innovative features such as: 'Driving Business Performance' how to use the ideas in each chapter to drive the performance of an organisation 'Executive Insights' and 'In practice' the key issues to consider when applying the concepts and ideas in practice 'Exploring further' resources suitable for executives such as TED talks, journal articles, books, films and websites at the end of each chapter And, additional executive-focused chapters on: 'Analysing Operations' how to analyse an operation before working out how to improve it 'Corporate social responsibility' managing operations to meet an organisation's social and environmental responsibilities Operations Management provides a comprehensive, postgraduate/executive-focused overview of the subject area that equally covers both service and manufacturing sectors to reflect student needs. Additional supporting materials are also available on the companion website at www.palgrave.com/business/om3e such as: self-check questions, bonus chapters and OM through film worksheets for students. Here lecturers will find PowerPoint slides, case study teaching notes and guidelines on teaching OM through film.

Alex Hill is Principal Lecturer at Kingston University and Associate Fellow at the University of Oxford. Prior to moving into university education, he worked extensively in industry and researches and consults in a wide range of service and manufacturing organisations.   Terry Hill is Emeritus Fellow at the University of Oxford and an Affiliate Professor at Ohio State University and Milan Polytechnic. He is a leading international figure in the field of operations management and operations strategy. Terry spent many years in operations management and continues to work as a consultant.