What general business strategy do we use to compete?

Degree of differentiation versus cost

What will we produce to emphasize the unique characteristics of our strategy?

Service, facilitating goods 

What themes or activities must operations emphasize to best support the business strategy?

Quality, cost, dependability, flexibility, speed, innovation, etc

What type of transformation process will best produce our goods and services?

Project, job, cell, flow, or continuous transformation process

How much capacity should each operating process have?

Capacity determination, product variety

Where should we locate the operating process, and what should the layout be?

Center of gravity determination, priority diagrams, line balancing

What should the layout of the facility be?

Priority diagrams, line balancing, CVD

How should we plan operations over the next time "horizon?"

Aggregate planning, level production approach, chase demand approach

How will we schedule operations for the short term?

Detailed sequencing, forward scheduling, backward scheduling

How much inventory do we need and when to we need it?

Inventory models, economic order quantity (EOQ), materials requirements planning (MRP)

How do we improve operations to enhance support of the business strategy?

Quality management, just-in-time (JIT), supply chain management