CASE: Hazel
1. In what ways are Hazel's customers most likely to judge the quality of her lawn care services?
2. What are some of the trade-offs that Hazel probably considered relative to working for a company instead of for herself?
3. What competitive advantage does Hazel have over a professional lawn care service?
4. Hazel has been fairly successful in her neighborhood, and now wants to expand to other neighborhoods, including some that are five miles away. What would be the advantages and disadvantages of doing this?
5. Hazel is thinking of making some of her operations sustainable. What are some ideas she might consider?
6. Hazel does not have a mission statement or a set of objectives. Take one of the following positions and defend it:
a. Hazel does not need a formal mission statement and objectives. Many small businesses don't have them.
b. Hazel definitely needs a mission statement and a set of objectives. They would be extremely beneficial.
c. There may be some benefit to Hazel's business, and she should consider developing a mission statement.
CASE: BSB, INC.: THE PIZZA WARS COME TO CAMPUS
Questions
1. How would you describe the mission of BSB, Inc., on this campus? Does MB, Inc., enjoy any competitive advantages or core competencies?
2. Initially, how did Renee Kershaw choose to use her pizza operations to compete with off-campus eateries? What were her competitive priorities?
3. What impact will the new food court have on Kershaw's pizza operations? What competitive prior¬ities might she choose to focus on now?
4. If she were to change the competitive priorities for the pizza operation, how might that affect her operating processes and capacity decisions?
5. What would be a good flow strategy for Kershaw's opera-tions on campus to meet the food court competition?
CASE: Operations objectives at the Penang Mutiara
Questions
1. Describe how you think the hotel's management will:
(a) Make sure that the way they manage the hotel is appropriate to the way it competes for business;
(b) Implement any change in strategy;
(c) Develop the operation so that it drives the long-term strategy of the hotel.
2. What questions might you ask to judge whether this operation is a stage 1, stage 2, stage 3 or stage 4 oper-ation on Hayes and Wheelwright's scale?
3. The case describes how quality, speed, dependability, flexibility and cost impact on the hotel's external cus-tomers. Explain how each of these performance objectives might have internal benefits.
CASE: FITNESS PLUS, PART A
Questions
1. What method would you use to measure the capacity of Fitness Plus? Has Fitness Plus reached its capacity?
2. Which capacity strategy would be appropriate for Fitness Plus? Justify your answer.
3. How would you link the capacity decision being made by Fitness Plus to other types of operating decisions?
CASE: THE PIZZA CONNECTION
Questions
1. Reconfigure the layout shown in Figure 10.34 to respond to customers' demands for speed and convenience.
2. Explain how your new layout addresses the issues that Dave Collier identified.
3. How can the effectiveness of this new layout be measured?
CASE: HAVING FUN FLYING SOUTHWEST AIRLINES
1. How does Southwest add value? What makes Southwest different from just "any airline"?
2. How would you describe the competitive priorities of Southwest? How does this differ from other airlines?
3. Is Southwest for all traveling customers? Why or why not?
4. During Herb Kelleher's interview in the video, what did he state was his unique pricing strategy to explain his incredibly low airfares (i.e., how did he decide how little to charge for fares)?
5. Why is it important for Southwest to maintain its culture of humor on its flights?
6. Given that Southwest is the only major U.S. carrier that doesn't charge for luggage, they are missing out on easy money, or are they? What is your take on this decision?
7. To what do you attribute the success of Southwest airlines?
8. What challenges is Southwest facing in the future and how should they meet those challenges?
Case Studies - https://www.dropbox.com/s/s9g95osv59y984o/Case%20Study.pdf?dl=0