Zara Case Update

Hi all.

Thanks for the Zara discussion in class today. Here's a case update from Bloomberg Businessweek.

OM & Sustainability - Feedback on the Spencer Discussions

Hello Operations Managers!

Thanks for last week's online discussions of Spencer, White and Vrobelsky (2009) chapters 3 and 5. Spencer and his co-authors do a good job prompting us to think about sustainability from a biblical perspective. Our challenge is to reconcile this biblical view with the realities of 21st century business. Operations managers have perhaps the most direct impact of any managers on the sustainability of any organization. This sustainability discussion is central to our work.

Spencer Chapter 3

Spencer chapter three provides a nice overview of why Christian's should care for the environment. Each of you captured Spencer's four main points. The challenge, of course, is to consider how Spencer's perspective fits (or not) with our definition of sustainable operations from Collier and Evans (2013). Dan and Quin touch on what is perhaps the central question for Christian business people and managers: is there a difference between the "spiritual" and the "secular"? Can Spencer's spiritual perspective be reconciled with Collier's 21st century business perspective, or are they simply speaking to different audiences and issues? Can we apply our ancient faith the how we design and operate our businesses? (I'm exaggerating Dan & Quin's points here for the sake of argument.) Ashlyn, James and Kory think we can. See their posts for some particularly insightful analysis and integration of Spencer and Collier. But is it really that easy? This is where Spencer chapter 5 can be useful in at least helping us to make the transition from theological theory to contemporary reality.

Spencer Chapter 5

Chapter five identifies and develops six practices of sustainable living as found in the Bible. Much of Spencer's discussion is drawn from the Old Testament, beginning with the jubilee regulations. All of your 9/12 posts hint at or specifically identify what Spencer identifies in chapter six as the "controlling idea" for this whole sustainability discussion: the quality of relationships with God and between human beings" (Spencer, et al., 2009, p. 148). Many of you identified concern for the vulnerable as one of the biblical practices identified by Spencer as one of the most important to you. Your discussion of the "roots" and "jubilee" practices was often linked to your observations and thoughts regarding the vulnerable. See James' post for a particularly thoughtful and heart-felt discussion of why jubilee and the vulnerable are so important to him.

So now what?

While the biblical practices Spencer identifies clearly have social elements, his book is written with a slant towards encouraging individual action. Our challenge as business people is to translate and apply this discussion to our role as operations managers. How do we realize these principles and practices in the operation of our business? Caring for the vulnerable is a good example. Several of you identify corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts as one way to realize this principle in business operations. But are there other ways to address this principle? Check out the Broetje Orchards story for an example of how the Broetje's built concern for the vulnerable into their business strategy. (Click on the image below to go to the First Fruits website.)

http://www.firstfruits.com/founding-dream.html

Thanks for the thoughtful sustainability conversation last week. As you will discover, the Interface story provides us with yet another example of a successful company (this time in the carpet business) integrates sustainability into their business strategy and operations.

9/5 Online Class Feedback - Gantt Charts

Hi all,

Thanks for taking on the challenge of translating the data from Collier & Evans (2013) chapter 18, problem 6 (p. 409) into a Gantt chart. As we discussed in class earlier in the week, one of the critical aspects of Gantt (and CPM charts) is to clearly identify predecessor activities or tasks. When a specific activity has a predecessor activity, that means the new activity cannot begin until the predecessor has been completed. Once predecessors are identified and entered into the Gantt chart tool, the chart produced will provide a helpful visual representation of parallel project activities, and give you a view as to how delays or accelerations in activity progress will affect the project schedule.

One of the most confusing activity-predecessor relationships is activity J: prepare report. Before the report can be prepared, activities E, G and I must be completed. If you think about the content of activities E,G & I, this makes sense. We can't write the report until we've studied the existing technologies (E), conducted an equipment analysis (G), and determined the organizational impacts (I). Of these three activities, activity G is the one that ends at the latest date (based on its start date and estimated time of 10 days). So, we cannot begin to prepare our report (J) until activity G is completed, even though activities E and I will be complete well before G.

Check out Ethan's post for a good example of how a Gantt chart for this project should look.

Regarding the OM case study

Only Karson and Ethan had questions about the case study assignment. You may have the similar questions... check out Karson and Ethan's questions, and my responses to them, in the discussion board.

Note that our first in-class case study workshop is twelve days from today on September 17. You'll be bringing your first draft of part 1 to class that day for discussion and feedback. If you have any remaining questions about the assignment or your target company, bring those with you on Monday September 7 so you can get started on case study part 1 sooner rather than later.

Enjoy your weekend. See you on Monday!

August 29 Online Class

Hello friends,

Nice job with our first online class of the semester, reflecting on the Zappos case in our text. Your responses to the questions were generally on-point, as your replies were relevant. Let me highlight a few concepts that will be helpful as we move into the semester.

Customer Benefit Package & the Role of Service

The Zappos story is a good example of how the total CBP can be used to address customer needs. The question 1 crew did a nice job identifying peripheral and variant services, particularly those related to the call center and Zappos' unique customer 

service policies. Karson highlighted an important aspect of Zappos' customer service in her question 2 post: while the call center is important, the vast majority of Zappos' interactions with the customer - their moments of truth - are online. The functionality, look and feel of the website is as important as the call center experience. Linking their enterprise resource planing system to the customer interface ensures customers and employees have access to the same inventory data. 

We will refer back to the CBP often during the semester. Likewise, the service encounters and service management will be a recurring theme. The Zappos case illustrates the central importance of the CBP to our operation strategy, and the role of services in that package. Simply offering a great primary product or service is not enough to develop a sustainable business. Our primary product or service will be part of a bundle of goods and services, our CBP, that comprise our entire customer offerings. We'll be successful to the extent that our CBP doers a better job solving customer problems than our competitors. 

Sustainability

Though our case questions did not directly address sustainability, do pay attention to the definition offered by Collier & Evans (2013), as this too will be a recurring theme for us this semester. The definition builds on early conceptions of sustainable development research conducted by the United Nations, effectively adapting those concepts to the commercial environment. Meeting the current needs of the business while avoiding negative impact on future generations is central to this definition. Also make note of the three measurement categories (environmental, social & economic) which will come up again during our more in-depth sustainability discussions in the coming weeks. 

Thanks for your contributions this week. Enjoy the long weekend. See you in the classroom next Wednesday!