The article considers the author’s interpretations regarding the definition of the essence of operational management concept. The purpose of article is to systematize the existing definitions of «operational management» and clarify the essence of this concept. The research methods of comparison, grouping, induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis were used in the research. According to the study results, different opinions of researchers on the relationship between the concepts of operational and production management have been studied and found that these concepts are not interchangeable. Based on the analysis of the author’s interpretations of the essence of operational management, three scientific approaches are identified, which were presented in the scientific developments of a number of researchers, namely: an emphasis on the production systems management, an emphasis on operations management and an emphasis on resource allocation. The relationship between key concepts of operational management such as «operation», «operational strategy», «operating system», «operational function» is established. It was revealed that the operation is the primary indivisible link of the operating system, and the operational function should be considered as a set of operations, the result of which is the manufacture of goods or provision of services, supplied by the enterprise to the external environment. It is determined that operational decisions related to management concern the formation of operational strategy, as well as the development and ensuring the functioning of the operating system. According to the results of definitions systematization and analysis of the basic concepts of operational management, the interpretation of its essence is generalized. It is proposed to consider the operational management as an activity of operations management, which is the basis of the operating system of any enterprise and provides for its provision of the necessary resources and transform them into goods or services to achieve established corporate goals.

Retail trade occupies an important place in the economy of Ukraine, ensuring the sale of manufactured goods to end consumers. For retailers, it is important to achieve timeliness and reliability of services to meet customer needs, which can be achieved through the formation of operational strategy. The purpose of the article is to form a methodological approach to the development of operational strategy of retail enterprises, which is based on the requirements of corporate strategy, selected in accordance with the stage of the life cycle of the industry. The development of this methodological approach was carried out on the basis of  Hill's model and system approach. As a result, a logical scheme of the process of developing an operational strategy is presented, which is specified by the list of input and output information. In order to determine the stage of the life cycle of the market of retail services in Ukraine, the eponymous concept of Porter was applied and the analysis was carried out according to the criteria: consumers and their behaviour, sales costs, changes in services, the nature of competition, profitability and found that the retail services market is growing. The method of observation, comparative and analytical method was used for the analysis, the Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI) was calculated on the basis of the data of the largest retail trade enterprises of Ukraine. As a result, it was found that the market of retail services in Ukraine is growing. With this in mind, an operational strategy for Ukrainian retailers has been proposed, which should aim to ensure the flexibility and variability of the operating system. The defined general direction of the operational strategy will allow to establish the content of decisions on the choice of operational processes, as well as the infrastructure to support them.

No abstract