Operations is really how business is delivered. It's logistics, assembly lines, warehouses, deliveries, cells, inventory, etc. You can barely make a business go without operations. An MBA without some Operations, is like composting without a bio-cycle.

The core tradeoff elements of Operations are: cost, quality, time, and flexibility. Like the game of Go, you can have one, maybe two, sometimes three, but it's hard to get all four at once. Take cars, for instance.

Some cars are bargains; cost. Some need few repairs and perform wonderfully for years; quality. Some are fast and/or can save you from jiggling keys before opening a door or trunk; time. Some are sporty and practical, some can function as entertainment centers and comfortable rides; flexibility. No car really tries to be all these things. Just start with the cars that cost less and ask if you get the rest.

Business is no different. You can be a low cost competitor - like WalMart - and be the cheapest place to shop. You can provide a quality experience - like Nordstrom - and be the best place to shop for moderately priced upscale clothes. You can be Honda and be a flexible competitor with your understanding and prowess in engines and also be fast (time) in getting products to market. But, it's very hard to hit all four elements because you have to focus.

Why focus? One of the big lessons from Operations is bottlenecks. Bottlenecks are where things bog down; where inventory stacks up. One of the key lessons from Operations is to improve throughput by improving capacity of your bottleneck. To do this, you need to focus and not worry about the other business flows that don't affect the bottleneck.

For instance, let's say you're paid to build a house. You get paid bonuses for low cost, high quality, faster delivery, or more potential configurations of the rooms therein. But, the bonus for building the house fast is the biggest bonus by far. Where's the bottleneck?

When you optimize for speed in building (and can meet the thresholds for quality, flexibility, and cost) then you're only interested in what things keep you from building the house faster. There are actual competitions for how fast a crew can put a whole house together. Indeed, an entire house can be built in a day that is fully functioning and meets quality standards, but such an approach is considerably more expensive than standard approaches (cost). Forget change orders in the midst of the build would throw off the entire chain of events needed to happen precisely in order for it to get built. But, that said, the proper focus on the aspect of time can get the job done.

As the Way of Go would suggest, you can reuse these rules for more than cars and houses. Think about these elements when you go to mow the lawn - do you want to get the job done with as little gas as possible, well, quick, or while you enjoy the sights and scenes of your lawn (not recommended). Optimize on one or two, but don't try to go for all of them.