Case studies

After completion of the case study, students will be able to recall the fundamental concepts of group arrival and the check-in process within the hotel industry; explain the various operational procedures used to enhance a smooth group check-in in hotels; use the steps defined in group check-in procedure to improve service efficiency in hotel operations; and examine and evaluate the optimal solution for a smooth group check-in for hotels.

“The Big Fat Indian Wedding” delves into the challenges faced by Hotel Plaza Blu, a business hotel in Pune, Maharashtra, in 2023. A big wedding group was arriving at the hotel, which comprised almost 350 adults and 120 children. Mr Parag Patil, the front office manager, had done all the preparations for group arrival but just one hour before the arrival Mr Suresh Menon, the group coordinator, came and informed that 150 additional guests would be arriving, as the other hotel, where arrangements for these guests were made, had a major electricity generator breakdown and the hotel was in complete blackout. Patil had the challenge of formulating an action plan to achieve a smooth group check-in with the last-minute changes.

Executive development programmes and graduate-level courses in non-profit hospitality and tourism management might benefit from this case study. The operational management courses in the BBA, UG management programmes might all benefit from using this case study.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.

After completion of the case study, the students will be able to appraise the importance of different methods of location planning in warehouse selection, analyze the load distance values for warehouse location and choose the optimum location based on the load distance analysis.

DB Builders, a prominent Indian construction company, faced a crucial decision in selecting an ideal storage warehouse for a project involving 100 flats spread across five locations. Mr Vijay Kumar, an experienced material handling expert, was entrusted with this task as part of transitioning the company’s material allocation system toward centralization. Using practical travel distances, Kumar meticulously scouted four potential warehouse locations. The selection process hinged on three primary factors: load, distance to apartment sites, safety and cost of the premises, each carrying specific weightage. The project planning department provided scores for safety and cost, helping evaluate the options. This unique challenge arises due to varying material requirements across the apartment locations, demanding an efficient warehouse planning. The selection of the optimal storage warehouse holds paramount importance in facilitating the smooth execution of these larger projects. Kumar’s expertise and strategic decision-making are pivotal in ensuring a seamless transition toward centralized material handling, which is essential for the company’s future success.

This teaching activity is aimed at introductory/basic courses in Bachelors and Masters of Business administration.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.

The case primarily focused on a real-life problem and shows that existing operations management tools can be used to solve a complex problem. Through this case, the participants will learn the application of the factor loading method and aggregate planning.

This case revolves around the Modi Agro Pvt. Ltd, a mango procurement and distribution business established in 1994 by Mr Dhanush Modi in Mumbai, India. Mr Mahendra Modi, son of the company owner, observed that the different seasons of cultivation and varied customer demands lead to changing workforce requirements during the procurement process. In addition, the production quality, variety, available resources, procurement location and cost play a significant role in establishing a long-term relationship with the customers. This case highlights the problem faced by Mahendra in determining an appropriate location among all available options for mango procurement and the optimal workforce for each month to meet the varying customers’ demands.

The case can be used as teaching material for participants of the course Service Operations Management, Operations Management, Decision Analysis and Quantitative Techniques

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and logistics.

Macro-Economics.

Undergraduate and MBA.

The COVID 19 pandemic-related restrictions devastated South Africa’s economy in 2020 and although the restrictions were generally less damaging than in 2020, the government had to budget for vaccinations and rebuild the economy. Public service unions had just announced that they were demanding an increase of 4% above inflation for their members and that they were preparing for a strike. They were bitter about the fact that the South African Government had withdrawn from the last year of a three-year wage agreement in February 2020 and their members had not received an increase for the two years. These demands and Finance Minister Mboweni’s response to them had to consider the structural and cyclical impact on the fiscus and economy.

The learning outcomes are as follows: understand the general objectives of fiscal policy and stakeholders’ interests; understand the tradeoffs in fiscal policy and the implications of taking a position; and make recommendations based on reasoned judgements about those recommendations.

Undergraduate and MBA level courses on Macro Economics.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 10: Public Sector Management.

This case introduces the context of seaport logistics supply chain management with a focus on the issues of risk management in handling and transportation of dangerous goods (DG). The authors present the following learning objectives under the overarching framework of Bloom’s Taxonomy as follows: To understand the severity of handling and transportation of DG in the export supply chain context. To understand the relevance of multi-criteria decision-making in risk assessment. To apply Delphi Technique to appropriately explain the process of risk assessment in a supply-chain context.

It was midnight on December 21, 2020, and Nishadh Amonkar, Chief Executive Officer, Yorokobi, was still awake recollecting his telecon with Tushar Rane, the Head-Materials, Western Maharashtra site of Crop Life Pvt Ltd. The organization was developing and manufacturing pesticides and other specialty chemicals for its clients worldwide. As new and diverse products were being manufactured in the organization, transportation of the products was becoming challenging. The case highlights the need for a data driven risk assessment approach to manage supply chains that were prone to product driven risks such as the handling and transportation of DG.

This course is suitable at the Master of Business Administration level for the following courses: Supply Chain Management (Focus/Session: Supply Chain Risk Management), Logistics Management (Focus/Session: Risks in Logistics and Supply Chain), Research Methodology (Focus/Session: Application of Delphi Technique).

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and logistics.

To understand the strategic importance of location selection within the organization. To analyze the constraints in decision-making for selection of location. To analyze the alternate options for a location selection. To understand the usage of the factor rating method.

Due to a countrywide anti-encroachment drive, Mr Mughal loses his shop. He had just received a notice that his shop including those of others near him was established on one of the amenity plots. The structure was declared as illegal and was to be demolished in 24 h. He had to vacate the shop and his display center to avoid the loss of his items. He along with other shop owners approached to Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) to stop this demolishing act and to prove that these shops belonged to them for decades and that they had already paid the price of shops at that time. However, the SCP rejected their appeal straightforward and the anti-encroachment drive was carried out. Now, Mr Mughal had to find out an alternate location to establish his display center and to resume his business operations.

Undergraduate.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and logistics.

Operations Research and Operation Management.

Undergraduate/MBA/Postgraduate.

The case depicts an opportunity for students to be exposed to optimization techniques using linear programming (LP). This case intends to: generate the LP model (identification of objective function and constraints); apply MS-Excel solver to arrive at an optimal solution; analyse manufacturing scenarios; and plan decision dependencies.

VBK Fibreo Tech Industries was a manufacturer of fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) products for industrial and domestic applications. Despite being a new entrant, it managed to exhibit great performance and attract a loyal base of customers. This case brings to light the problem that the company was facing that is demand exceeding capacity. The protagonist of the case Madhav, the Production Manager, was tasked to solve the problem of “product mix”. He was in a dilemma on how to fulfill customer orders while minimizing losses for his company. He knew that while losses were inevitable in the current scenario, they could be minimized with appropriate planning. Students are expected to use data and facts from the case and exhibit to formulate LP, by identifying the objective function and the constraints. They are also encouraged to use MS-Excel solver to find the optimal product mix and understand the decision dependencies.

This case can be used to teach LP in an undergraduate/postgraduate-level course on operations research. Students are exposed to the creation of a mathematical model for optimization and along with devising the implementation plan.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and logistics.

The case of Bertelsmann China: Supply Chain for Books (A) focuses on one the world's leading media companies to illustrate a widespread problem in the supply chain strategy in extremely fast growing markets. Students learn about the basic challenges of supply chain strategy in an international context. The case covers important fields of management theory. Supply chain designs well as cost and performance drivers are revised by the use of frameworks.

The case of Bertelsmann China: Supply Chain for Books (B) is situated in China in the beginning of 2006. Bertelsmann Direct Group, the Chinese subsidiary of the worldwide Bertelsmann AG, is one of the leading book retailers in the country. Supply chain management is essential for success in retailing, which is why Bertelsmann puts a lot of effort into the optimization of its supply chain design. As costs are paramount to importance in the low-margin book retailing sector, linear programming methods are applied to optimize the network

This case study has been developed to facilitate discussion about current supply chain management issues and potential solutions. The scenario presented in this case is very representative of the pressures experienced by supply chain managers. Namely, the need to reduce costs while maintaining quality and customer service. This case presents some unusual challenges and constraints that are unique to the cruise line industry. These constraints can provide an opportunity to explore new supply chain paradigms.

This case introduces offers the concept of cash-to-cash (C2C) and extension of the concept to facilitate supply chain finance improvements between trading partners by harvesting the inherent advantages (lower WACC, lower ICC) of one trading partner to reduce cost and benefit the entire supply chain.

DSM Manufacturing has been around for 100 years. In that time, the company has grown considerably in size and is now a global enterprise. With the global expanse, DSM is now facing new challenges, leaving executives to determine what the next steps are in running an efficient supply chain, those that a network analysis will not necessarily address. This case illustrates DSM's process

Goodwill Industries warehousing operations has increased as the Used Merchandise Store Sales in the US has also increased to a total spending of $17 billion in 2013. Goodwill Industries faces warehousing issues as their inventory fluctuates seasonally. As people do their spring cleaning in the beginning of the year and rush to get their tax-deductible donations in by the end of the year, the warehouses are overflowed but in the off-seasons they are scarce. The following case poses the issue of an efficient warehouse operation that also supports the company sales plan.

In this case, teams can compete in the real-life situation produced by Tommasso-Southwest Sport Machines. Teams will act as the buyer or the seller and will need to consider the cost implications, risk and responsibility, and price negotiation.

Today's competitive market is very dynamic. New rivals emerge and customer expectations change—sometimes overnight. This case illustrates the following elements of supply chain management: Offshoring, Global Network Design, Country Selection and Facility Location.

AGL Energy operates in one of the most fiercely competitive markets in the world. Demand is volatile with high customer churn rates and supply procurement is real time with huge price variability. These characteristics make supply chain management difficult and the case study describes how information is used to match supply with demand.

The Megamart case study addresses demand planning challenges that retailers often face in categories that have bulky, seasonal, imported products. Historical point-of-sale data on gas grill SKUs is provided for analysis and developing appropriate product flow plan that meets the needs of all retail supply chain stakeholders.

The i-AM Tablet is an evolving gadget in a world of fast-paced technological change. Facing a new partnership with a major customer, the market for the i-AM is about to explode! This case explores the innovative concept of Supply Chain Resilience as the CEO of i-AM, Inc, develops a strategic plan for expansion. This case is based on theory and practices evolved at the Dow Chemical Company.

The business-travel department of American Express is facing rapid growth in demand but is plagued with overstaffing in some offices because of the broad distribution of client demand. Management's challenge is to reduce costs in local offices while maintaining a high level of service. One alternative under consideration is a centralized regional business-travel center to handle reservation functions for up to 20 other Amexco offices. This case gives students the opportunity to apply queuing theory to a practical situation. Normally, in order to facilitate the numerous calculations required, it is used with the UVA “QUEUE” program.

In late 2012 Adeline Herzog Memorial Hospital in Castle Rock, Colorado, was facing a problem with patient satisfaction. The Press-Ganey scores for the third-floor nursing unit–the primary destination (70 percent) for patients admitted through the emergency department–were at the 15th percentile, and the key HCAHPS score for inpatients was well below the Colorado average. Over the past six months Jeri Tinsley, director of medical, surgical, and intensive care services, had made various changes to try to improve the patient satisfaction scores for her 32-bed unit, but the scores seemed stuck at an unacceptably low level.

Tinsley worried that if improvements were not made soon, patients would start “voting with their feet” and take their business to competing hospitals. As a registered nurse, Tinsley's expertise was helping people heal; it was not analyzing data. In particular, she was overwhelmed by the patient comments included in the surveys; she had no idea how to analyze them and could not decide which issues to address first.

After analyzing the case, students should be able to:

• Organize and analyze qualitative data using affinity diagrams

• Identify priorities using Pareto diagrams

• Identify which aspects of a problem are (1) within their control to solve, (2) within their influence to solve, or (3) outside their control to solve

Organize and analyze qualitative data using affinity diagrams

Identify priorities using Pareto diagrams

Identify which aspects of a problem are (1) within their control to solve, (2) within their influence to solve, or (3) outside their control to solve

How does a mature business develop new growth markets, assuming it already has new products? That was the challenge facing The Coca-Cola Company and its global system of bottlers in the 2000s when demand for its core line of carbonated soft drinks flattened. The Australian bottler, Amatil, pinned its hopes on energy drinks, a fast-growth, youth-oriented category that was capturing headlines and share away from traditional products. To wrest control from the upstart brands that originated them, Amatil was targeting the retail context where young people congregated and formed their preferences, in pubs, nightclubs, healthclubs, and sporting events. This international case explores the challenges encountered when a mature company with considerable distribution assets, well-honed systems, and entrenched operating procedures attempts to sell into an underserved retail channel with requirements quite unlike those of the company's mainstream buyers. How does it attract market interest? How does it develop new routes-to-market without undercutting the cost efficiencies and delivery value that have earned it dominant position elsewhere? How does it win over what could be its core customers of the future without alienating today's faithful? These are just some of the questions that Amatil management was determined to solve.

Understand issues related to retail channel strategy development in fast-changing international consumer markets, and the challenges of adapting legacy routes-to-market systems to changing consumer demands.

This case examines a company that rents and leases computers. The primary objective of the case is to provide a scenario where students can see the link between operational flow measures such as inventory, throughput, and flow time and financial flows. The case presents a scenario where a firm sees financial performance worsen even though sales increase. A link between the operational measures and financial flows allows students to understand the causes.

To provide a scenario that shows the link between operational flow measures such as inventory, throughput, and flow time and financial flows.

This case is used in Darden's Supply-Chain Operations elective. The field-based case gives supply-chain educators the ability to teach the newsvendor model with pricing under a capacity constraint using real-life decisions. By 2005, Eastman Chemical Company, based in Tennessee, had created a new specialty plastic, Tritan, which demonstrated heat resistance and durability properties that might allow Eastman to compete in the lucrative polycarbonate plastics market. Development of this product was a major breakthrough for both Eastman and the broader chemical industry. The Eastman specialty plastics team had to contend with numerous challenges, however, before producing Tritan at full scale. First, Eastman had to commercialize a completely new material that only had been produced in the lab; second, the team had to develop a supply chain to manufacture a new component (monomer) and a new product (polymer) simultaneously; and finally, it had to analyze market entrance options given capacity constraints. Thus, the specialty plastics team faced several dilemmas: who should the initial launch partners be, given Eastman's limited manufacturing capacity, and how aggressively should Eastman price Tritan, given that price would drive demand in the launch markets and in new markets?

This case examines a set of expansion options for a successful Internet luggage retailer, with a particular emphasis on the operational complexities.

Looks at the introduction of statistical process control (SPC) into a distribution center servicing a department store chain. Focuses on the receiving process in the distribution center and describes the introduction of SPC methodology. Discusses run charts, pareto diagrams, and control limits.

To introduce statistical process control.

Global Connect, a major telecommunications service provider, partners with national cable providers to bundle media and telecom services offered through voice over Internet protocol (VoIP). Global Connect provides the VoIP physical infrastructure that enables cable providers to offer VoIP phone service to their end customers. VoIP cable services are growing at a faster rate than anticipated, leaving Global Connect incapable of meeting contractual agreements with the cable partners and preventing them from capturing substantial VoIP market opportunities. Students are asked to improve the configuration of work at this service organization by identifying the types of waste in the current process. Process improvements use lean tools and their impact is quantified using time and capacity analysis.

To view a service business as a process and to understand where to find the constraints regarding customer responsiveness (flow time) and sales (throughput). This requires a rather subtle capacity analysis.

Michaels Craft Stores is the largest arts and crafts retailer in the United States and in the world. Its CEO, Michael Rouleau, wants to expand the chain to 1,000 stores by 2006. The key constraint is the lack of sophistication among Michaels' supplier base, which is made up of over 1,000 suppliers, many of which are small, creative companies with little computer or logistics knowledge. As a result, the cost of running Michaels' supply chain is high. Describes the company's efforts to build the sophistication of its suppliers through educational Vendor Flow Training courses that teach suppliers how to adopt state-of-the-art practices for improved efficiency in supplying their channel.

In March 2000 a fire broke out at the Royal Philips Electronics plant, damaging its supply of semiconductor chips. Nokia Corporation and Ericsson LM relied on these chips to produce their cell phones; together they received 40 percent of the plant's chip production. Both companies were about to release new cell phone designs that required the chips. At Nokia, word of the setback spread quickly up the chain of command. Nokia's team, which had a crisis plan in place, sprang into action. With an aggressive, multipronged strategy, Nokia avoided any cell phone production loss. In contrast, the low-level technician who received the information at Ericsson did not notify his supervisors about the fire until early April and had to scramble to locate new sources for the chips. This search delayed production and proved a fatal blow to Ericsson's independent production of mobile phones. Nokia's handling of its supply chain disruption provides a dramatic example of how a company's strategic risk management can alleviate financial disaster and lay the groundwork for success in the future. Perturbations in supply chain management are inevitable, and grow harder and harder to assess as the marketplace becomes more globalized.

Students will learn the following concepts:

In September 2010 Suresh Krishna, vice president of operations and integration at Polaris Industries Inc., a manufacturer of all-terrain vehicles, Side-by-Sides, and snowmobiles, needed to recommend a location for a new plant to manufacture the company's Side-by-Side vehicles.

The economic slowdown in the United States had put considerable pressure on Polaris's profits, so the company was considering whether it should follow the lead of other manufacturers and open a facility in a country with lower labor costs. China and Mexico were shortlisted as possible locations for the new factory, which would be the first Polaris manufacturing facility located outside the Midwestern United States. By the end of the year Krishna needed to recommend to the board whether Polaris should build a new plant abroad (near-shored in Mexico or off-shored in China) or continue to manufacture in its American facilities.

• Evaluate tradeoffs between different geographic locations when establishing a manufacturing facility (off-shoring, near-shoring, and on-shoring)

• Run a sensitivity analysis on total cost

• Assess the impact of transportation costs, exchange rates, labor cost rates, lead times, and other assumptions on total costs

• Identify qualitative factors to be considered when deciding between non-U.S. facility locations, transportation time variability, consumer perceptions, and cultural differences

Evaluate tradeoffs between different geographic locations when establishing a manufacturing facility (off-shoring, near-shoring, and on-shoring)

Run a sensitivity analysis on total cost

Assess the impact of transportation costs, exchange rates, labor cost rates, lead times, and other assumptions on total costs

Identify qualitative factors to be considered when deciding between non-U.S. facility locations, transportation time variability, consumer perceptions, and cultural differences

Sugar and Spice and Sparkles are two companies in the high-end cupcake market that have chosen two different competitive and operating strategies. Sugar and Spice has configured its operations to emphasize a high level of customization. Sparkles has a strategy that emphasizes a narrower range of products. Based on data collected by Sugar and Spice, the question is whether its position is at risk. The case focuses on Sugar and Spice and the defensibility of its position using its current operating system. The issue requires students to compare the competitive and operating strategies of both companies and to identify and evaluate the sources of cost differences in their operations.

The objective of this case is to illustrate how to determine whether a strategic position of a firm is defensible using trade-off curves.

The airline passenger industry in India was a mess in 2013, but the low-cost carrier IndiGo was making money. This relatively new company had managed to work against the odds and grab market share from longer-established flyers. Still, the weak rupee, depreciated by 15%, was sending a chill wind through the aviation sector, and growth plans would have to include opening new destinations. This meant hiring more employees, opening more ticketing stations, and increasing costs. Could the airline continue its climb, or would it be prudent to prepare for a hard landing?

Dove and Axe were two highly successful brands owned by Unilever, a portfolio company. Dove was a female-oriented beauty product brand that exhorted “real beauty” and not the unachievable standards that the media portrayed. In contrast, Axe was a brand that purportedly “gives men the edge in the mating game.”□ Their risqué commercials always portrayed the supermodel-type beauty ideal that Dove was trying to change. Unilever had always been a company of brands where the consumer knew the brands but not the company, but recently there had been the idea to unify the company with an umbrella mission for all of its brands. This would turn Unilever into a company with brands, potentially increasing consumer awareness and encourage cross-purchases between the different brands. However, this raised questions about the conflicting messages between the brands' marketing campaigns, most notably between Unilever's two powerhouse brands, Dove and Axe. The case begins with COO Alan Jope anticipating an upcoming press meeting in New York City to discuss Unilever's current (i.e., 2005) performance and announce Unilever's decision to create an umbrella mission statement for the company. This case focuses on the central question of whether or not consistency between brand messages is necessary or inherently problematic.

The Unilever's Mission for Vitality case was created to help students and managers develop an appreciation for how the values underlying a marketing campaign can affect and alter an organization's culture. The case focuses on how two products and marketing campaigns that express conflicting underlying values (as reflected in the Dove Real Beauty and the Axe Effect campaigns) within the same corporation can give rise to a number of unintended organizational and marketing complications.

This case introduces a framework for cost modeling. Two data sets (one for injection-molded plastic parts and another for compressors) allow students to apply the cost-driver framework in conjunction with basic spreadsheet and regression analyses. Although obviously applicable in a course on supply chain management, the case can also be used to teach competitive cost analysis for strategic decision making.

The strategic and tactical problems of managing the operations function in a service environment can be examined through the context of the Walt Disney Company (DIS) opening Shanghai Disneyland. The company and its investors were excited about the Shanghai opening for a good reason: demographics. The resort would be located in the Pudong district of Shanghai, easily the wealthiest of all of China’s districts. A massive 330 million people lived with a three-hour driving radius of the resort site, compared with 19.6 million who lived within the same radius at DIS’s most profitable park, Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Still, risks remained. Construction complications had delayed the opening almost a year longer than expected and cost overruns and alterations had increased the final price tag of the project. The Chinese economy had also hit a rough patch following the Chinese stock market slump in the summer of 2015. With the world watching, could the classic Disney theme park experience be delivered with the right cultural balance to appeal to its largely Chinese customers? Could DIS get it right?

In an effort to save his business, Paul Marciano, the owner of Italian family restaurant Maria’s Ristorante, runs a number of experiments focused on improving the customer experience around his target customer segment. These experiments lead to a better understanding about his business and cause him to make specific changes to his business model that ultimately improve things across the board. The experiments are based on research from the academic literature on the use of behavioral variables to manage customer perceptions.

This case examines the queueing issues caused by the growth in popularity of one of the most visited Hindu temples in the world. On January 2, 2015, Ramesh and Vasantha Gupta visit Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, just a day after some 210,000 people crowded the 2,000-year-old site. The case describes the many enhancements that the temple administrator, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), has implemented since its management of the temple complex began in 1932. The soaring popularity of the temple, however, has led to safety and comfort concerns for pilgrims. While challenging students to consider additional improvements that might benefit pilgrim throughput rate and time in the temple system, the case highlights the tension TTD must manage between maximizing efficiency and maintaining religious traditions. Additionally, the case demonstrates the importance of perceived waiting times in the management of queues.

Supply chain management (SCM).

Graduate students.

In recent times, the world market of mobile phone is in a flux due to many phenomena of importance like strong emergence of smartphones, Nokia losing market share in all segments of market and fast technological and supply chain innovation by players like Apple and Google. Elements of SCM and the way technology is acquired have assumed a place of importance to compete in the global market. A new standard of innovation and SCM is emerging together as the rules of market dominance are re-written all-over again.

After completion of the case study, the students will understand: role of technological innovation in high-tech industry and global supply chains in changing the consumer behavior world over; the classic battle for market dominance with a new way of innovation management in technology and processes to create most efficient global supply chains; importance of SCM practices of collaboration like tighter partner integration, use of power asymmetry and contract by dominant players to create efficient supply chains; and how visionaries like late Steve Job are shaping the new era of technology.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email: support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

Discussing statistical error and research design problems and the organizational implications of delivering “good news” at all cost.

This case can be used on basic courses of Public Policy, Marketing Research and Quantitative Methods.

MIDEPLAN on July 2012 showed the results of the CASEN (Caracterización Socio-Económica or Socio-Economical Characterization) survey of 2011. The results showed that poverty was lowered by 0.6 per cent and was greatly highlighted by the media. Opposition coalition and academics started to ask questions about statistical error, which was not yet known. It was revealed that the government asked Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), a public organization dependent on the United Nations (UN) that was helping Chile to manage the CASEN survey, to review the results and incorporate a variable “y11,” but academics questioned it due to comparability reasons. The statistical error was revealed and it was 0.8 per cent. On October 2012, CEPAL decided to stop helping Chilean institutions.

The key analysis and conclusions which should arise as a result of teaching this case are: The relevance of the statistical error as a key component of research to evaluate data; the importance of fully implementing research design and accuracy of every step to reach valid results; analyze and discuss organizational implications of delivering “good news” at all cost.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email pfarias@unegocios.cl to request teaching notes.

Project structuring.

The case can be used for MBA, Executive MBA, Faculty Development Program (FDP) and Management Development Program (MDP) to introduce them to the selection of procurement method, concept of value for money and project structuring in the context of the education sector.

Saryu Secondary Schools of Excellence Samiti (SSSES) functioned under the chairmanship of the Minister of Human Resource Development and was running 584 Saryu Secondary School of Excellence (SSSE) as of March 15, 2013. SSSE were focused on providing quality education to poor children, primarily from rural areas. In January 2013, SSSES was given a mandate to open 75 additional schools within one year and 500 schools within five years in rural and semirural areas to meet the demands of secondary education in India.

The Managing Director of SSSES, was preparing for the meeting to be held on March 31, 2013 to discuss various options for development of the mandated schools including involvement of private player under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) model.

The case introduces the participants to the challenges in the education sector including public delivery system, poor economic status of students, selection of appropriate procurement method (public delivery versus buying of service from private sector) and project structuring issues. Specific objectives are: introduce participants to the challenges of delivering education services; establish the benefit of PFI in social infrastructure domain and introduce the participants to the concept of value for money; identify risks and returns under various structures; and impress on importance of non-commercial issues which may shape a project.

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Public Sector Management and Strategy

This case will be useful for courses in information technology (IT) innovation, public–private partnership (PPP) and strategic management. However, the use of the case will differ on the basis of the target audience who could be students of master's course or executive development course. Detailed discussion can be done on co-innovation strategy followed in a public–private partnership and to understand how a PPP can be successful in enterprise solutions. Further, the understanding on how e-procurement and e-tendering solutions work can be gained through this case. This case should be positioned when the discussion for the planning strategy of IT innovation takes place.

SAP was a market leader in enterprise application software and empowered people across the globe to work more efficiently. The e-procurement solution for OILGIAN was managed by SAP LABS India. OILGIAN entrusted SAP with the task to design and implement the e-tendering solution. SAP appointed Ramakrishna Potluri, Lead Consultant, SAP, to manage the design and implementation of the e-tendering module as a part of e-procurement solution for the public sector. The reporting and the security concerns were stated by OILGIAN, and Potluri reassured that his competent team would comply with the needs. The main predicaments that he was going through were that how best he could take the proposition forward. Should he create the innovative solutions in-house or co-create with the customers? Which business models should he follow for this public–private co-innovation to be a predecessor of successful projects?

The case illustrates the following objectives: to discuss the co-innovation strategy followed in a public–private partnership; to understand how a public–private partnership can be successful in enterprise solutions; and to understand how e-procurement and e-tendering solutions work.

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Operations management.

Logistics, Warehousing, India.

Joy Banerjee and Gaurav Tripathi have recently joined as Managers in the Planning Department at All India Warehousing Private Limited (AIWPL). Their on-job training is completed. They have met with almost all the officials at the warehouse, have interacted with labour to understand the company and its functions, and are planning to meet Kamlesh Patel, their Managing Director, to discuss the challenges and opportunities and to suggest strategies. Will they be able to make a satisfactory presentation to Kamlesh Patel on the company performance and the parameters that are going to be crucial to AIWPL's continued success? This case study may prove useful to practicing managers and management students on understanding the working of a family run private warehouse, business environment in the warehousing sector, use of technology and organizational capability to manage multi-product, multi-location warehouses.

To illustrate typical organizational responsibility structure at a private warehousing site. To illustrate the planning and administrative control mechanism in implementing strategy at a warehousing site. Offer students opportunity to understand and take view of a typical operational (project) structure. Opportunity for students to speculate adaptations in the wake of ever-changing business and company environment. Opportunity to introduce Logistic Scenario in India, warehousing technology and relate with the case in context.

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Operations management.

Management post graduate and corporate executives.

ProdVal Flow Controls Pvt Ltd was company in the SME sector in India. The company focused on quality products and timely delivery. The major challenge for ProdVal was increasing their production capacity. They had no control over their existing suppliers resulting in delay in raw materials delivery. Retention of vendors had an effect on inventory carrying cost. The company had limited production facilities and the workers were outsourced. The company operated with unskilled workers. The case presents the various issues faced by the company based on which strategies to practice and plan the company's future plans could be designed. This is a disguised case and all excerpts from interviews have been anonymized.

This case study will give an insight to students to understand how inventory management; impacts production. It even gives an idea about how ProdVal has used the strategy of outsourcing of technology and labour and maintained a good growth rate.

Production-related outsourcing.

Production management in small scale industry.

Organization structure of a manufacturing unit.

Concept of outsourcing HR and technology in an SME.

Teaching notes are available, please consult your librarian to access.

The case deals with the Bullwhip phenomena that can be observed in a supply chain.

This case is suitable for all levels of students, undergraduate MBA to Executive MBA classes and practitioners. Assignment questions are designed from the perspective of teaching this case to a business student audience. The case is ideally suited for a supply chain management course and can be introduced to demonstrate the bullwhip effect in an operations management course.

Set in May 2011, the case presents the discussions in the meeting summoned by Mr Srinivas, the director (technical) of Health Pharma (not the name of a real organization) in response to the huge losses faced by the organization in the last financial year. The discussions point to the inability of the organization to appropriately forecast demand across the different echelons and also absence of information transparency, leading to the loss. The catastrophe indicated the need to adopt an ERP solution, which was earlier overlooked by Health Pharma management.

These are an introduction to the concepts of the bullwhip effect and the case presents a managerial solution to the supply chain problem demonstrated.

Teaching notes are available for facilitating the instructor to present and discuss the case in a classroom setting.

Operations management.

This case study is intended for MBA, final year industrial engineering and 1st year PhD students, for use in graduate engineering, post graduate and executive level management programs. The case study illustrates operational and participative management control system in a matrix and flexible organization structure.

Satish Arora (CEO) and Praveen Arora (Director Finance), a husband and wife team, own and operate Go-Goal Hydro Power Ltd (Go-GoalHPL) as a small medium enterprise (SME). Go-GoalHPL renovates hydro power generating machines up to 250 MW rating. Their current renovation/overhauling projects are located at different sites in India. Go-GoalHPL has grown its business by pursuing new avenues that include execution of major renovation projects and construction of new projects on a turnkey basis. Go-GoalHPL's management, despite their on-going successes, are concerned about severe capacity shortages if immediate actions were not taken. They have identified three capacity expansion options: continue current operating practices and obtain additional production space; undertake a make-versus-buy study and consider outsourcing parts; and implement world-class manufacturing techniques through adoption of focused factories. The first two options represented simple incremental changes while the third presents a radical alternative that required a major reorganization of the company operations and support functions.

These include knowledge about competitiveness, corporate survival, sustainable business, operations management, productivity, performance.

Teaching notes are available for faculty. Please consult your librarian.

Operations management.

Undergraduate and MBA OM courses.

Kiwanis International is a global service organization dedicated to improving the world by helping children. The Durant, Oklahoma chapter holds its primary annual fundraiser the first Tuesday of November, which is also Election Day. The chapter sells and serves fresh pancakes throughout the day; therefore, the event is the Kiwanis Pancake Day. While serving in his first Pancake Day, Robert Howard, a new Kiwanian, notices service operations management issues such as long lines, spiky demand, and customers leaving before being served. Based on his management experience in the grocery business and his academic training in queuing systems, Robert performs an analysis of the system with the purpose of improving service operations.

Perform queuing analysis., Understand demand management., Explain the psychology of waiting.

Teaching notes and spreadsheet–based multiple–server simulator.

Business & Management

This case is suitable for senior students taking marketing courses from marketing communications, marketing research and consumer behavior. Other students including postgraduate students on international business, strategic management and CSR courses may also benefit and/or partake in the discussions. Last and most importantly sports marketing students would find this case useful. The case study can be taken from a range of angles from consumer behavior, through researching of the same (i.e. consumer behavior); to marketing communications strategies by the football clubs themselves.

The case study documents the growth and development of the UAE Professional Football League using the particular case of one of the oldest teams, Sharjah Football Club (also known as Sharjah FC) founded in 1966 – five long years before the Football Association was conceived.

Sports marketers have long sought to better understand the factors that influence attendance at sporting events. This is couched upon the expectations that an understanding of such factors will improve the efficiency of marketing communication between service providers and consumers, and, as Cunningham and Kwon put it, possibly influence the entire marketing program of a sport organisation. Attracting people to the stadium not only increases ticket revenues but also increases supplementary revenue sources, such as parking, concessions and merchandising.

To understand key aspects of the consumption of sports (i.e. consumer perceptions, attitudes and influences). Readers would also understand the changing aspects of marketing of sports vis-à-vis sports marketing.

Teaching notes and www.fifa.com/associations/association=uae/nationalleague/standings.html

Production management and personnel management.

Production management modules of undergraduate business and management courses.

The case describes the implementation of 5S by a Polish production company, namely Bianor. It presents not only the literature base and benefits of 5S but, in particular, shows the specificity of the implementation process, taking into consideration attitudes of employees; moreover, the study devotes some attention to aspects of organizational culture.

The case shows how to implement the 5S method in a production company, and how effective communication of processes is essential to implementing business change.

Teaching note.

Marketing; customer segmentation; operations and logistics.

Undergraduate business and management students, MBA/MA level application for international marketing modules incorporating customer segmentation and customer asset management.

DHL, the international air express and logistics company, serves a wide range of customers, from global enterprises with sophisticated and high volume supply-chain solutions shipping anything from spare parts to documents, to the occasional customer who ships the odd one or two documents a year. To be able to effectively manage such a diverse customer base, DHL implemented a sophisticated customer segmentation cum loyalty management system. The focus of this system is to assess the profitability from its customers, reduce customer churn, and increase DHL's share of shipments.

Case teaching objectives: to demonstrate the concept of customer segmentation with loyalty management as a total system in a logistics company setting, and to evaluate appropriateness of the classification; to utilize the concept of service tier model within the company's current operations, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the model; to analyze the implementation of the customer segmentation cum loyalty management system and development of the necessary rules required to classify the various accounts into categories; to highlight the possible challenges arising from the implementation of customer segmentation cum loyalty management system, and to discuss possible methods of resolution.

Teaching note.

International management control and organisational behaviour.

This case is suitable for final year undergraduate and Master's students as well as for the general practitioner. It is suitable for the university course program and for in-company training seminars. For company training seminars, the human resources department and finance would most probably benefit from the discussion of the case.

This case was about a company that was eager to expand its business internationally as it gains success in the home market. Having being entrusted by the company CEO to lead the project, the enthusiastic “project champion” lavishly spent the company investments with minimal control from the parent company.

After carrying out this exercise, students are expected to be able to: first, decide a firm mode of entry, scale of entry and strategic commitment; second, determine the market potential of a particular business venture; third, suggest the management structure and control for international subsidiaries; fourth, decide the possible exit strategy of a business venture.

Teaching notes.

Organizational change.

Undergraduate and Masters level management programmes, particularly in management accounting, public sector accounting or organizational change.

This case study reflects organizational changes when Fijian Post and Telecom Company (FPTL) made a transition from a government department to a corporate entity. The focus of this case study is to examine some of the intra-organizational or micro-level changes that took place at the company. While the impetus for change may have originated in the Fiji Government's policies of public sector reform, the objective here is to outline the often slow pace of intra-organizational change within FPTL.

FPTL is a sole provider of postal and telecommunication services in Fiji. The organizational actors faced tensions and initially resisted the change to private business routines. However, with wider education and training on the change process, the resistance was reduced. At FPTL, a management team was set up to introduce commercial norms which were subsequently stabilized by the team through the ongoing process of educating employees on the benefits of changes and routinisation of new practices.The learning outcomes are to understand the difficulty of the change process and be aware of some of the resistance that may persist owing to cultural and political circumstance of a specific country.

Teaching note.