Operations Management

Browse operations management learning materials including case studies, simulations, and online courses. Introduce core concepts and real-world challenges to create memorable learning experiences for your students.

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case study for operations management

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Operations Management Simulations

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Operations Management Cases with Female Protagonists

Explore a collection of operations management cases featuring female protagonists curated by the HBS Gender Initiative.

Operations Management Cases with Protagonists of Color

Discover operations management cases featuring protagonists of color that have been recommended by Harvard Business School faculty.

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case study for operations management

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Operations →

case study for operations management

  • 02 Jan 2024
  • Research & Ideas

10 Trends to Watch in 2024

Employees may seek new approaches to balance, even as leaders consider whether to bring more teams back to offices or make hybrid work even more flexible. These are just a few trends that Harvard Business School faculty members will be following during a year when staffing, climate, and inclusion will likely remain top of mind.

case study for operations management

  • 12 Dec 2023

COVID Tested Global Supply Chains. Here’s How They’ve Adapted

A global supply chain reshuffling is underway as companies seek to diversify their distribution networks in response to pandemic-related shocks, says research by Laura Alfaro. What do these shifts mean for American businesses and buyers?

case study for operations management

  • 25 Apr 2023

How SHEIN and Temu Conquered Fast Fashion—and Forged a New Business Model

The platforms SHEIN and Temu match consumer demand and factory output, bringing Chinese production to the rest of the world. The companies have remade fast fashion, but their pioneering approach has the potential to go far beyond retail, says John Deighton.

case study for operations management

  • 21 Apr 2023

The $15 Billion Question: Have Loot Boxes Turned Video Gaming into Gambling?

Critics say loot boxes—major revenue streams for video game companies—entice young players to overspend. Can regulators protect consumers without dampening the thrill of the game? Research by Tomomichi Amano and colleague.

case study for operations management

  • 11 Apr 2023
  • Cold Call Podcast

A Rose by Any Other Name: Supply Chains and Carbon Emissions in the Flower Industry

Headquartered in Kitengela, Kenya, Sian Flowers exports roses to Europe. Because cut flowers have a limited shelf life and consumers want them to retain their appearance for as long as possible, Sian and its distributors used international air cargo to transport them to Amsterdam, where they were sold at auction and trucked to markets across Europe. But when the Covid-19 pandemic caused huge increases in shipping costs, Sian launched experiments to ship roses by ocean using refrigerated containers. The company reduced its costs and cut its carbon emissions, but is a flower that travels halfway around the world truly a “low-carbon rose”? Harvard Business School professors Willy Shih and Mike Toffel debate these questions and more in their case, “Sian Flowers: Fresher by Sea?”

case study for operations management

  • 28 Mar 2023

The FDA’s Speedy Drug Approvals Are Safe: A Win-Win for Patients and Pharma Innovation

Expediting so-called breakthrough therapies has saved millions of dollars in research time without compromising drug safety or efficacy, says research by Ariel Stern, Amitabh Chandra, and colleagues. Could policymakers harness the approach to bring life-saving treatments to the market faster?

case study for operations management

  • 31 Jan 2023

Addressing Racial Discrimination on Airbnb

For years, Airbnb gave hosts extensive discretion to accept or reject a guest after seeing little more than a name and a picture, believing that eliminating anonymity was the best way for the company to build trust. However, the apartment rental platform failed to track or account for the possibility that this could facilitate discrimination. After research published by Professor Michael Luca and others provided evidence that Black hosts received less in rent than hosts of other races and showed signs of discrimination against guests with African American sounding names, the company had to decide what to do. In the case, “Racial Discrimination on Airbnb,” Luca discusses his research and explores the implication for Airbnb and other platform companies. Should they change the design of the platform to reduce discrimination? And what’s the best way to measure the success of any changes?

case study for operations management

  • 29 Nov 2022

How Much More Would Holiday Shoppers Pay to Wear Something Rare?

Economic worries will make pricing strategy even more critical this holiday season. Research by Chiara Farronato reveals the value that hip consumers see in hard-to-find products. Are companies simply making too many goods?

case study for operations management

  • 18 Oct 2022

Chewy.com’s Make-or-Break Logistics Dilemma

In late 2013, Ryan Cohen, cofounder and then-CEO of online pet products retailer Chewy.com, was facing a decision that could determine his company’s future. Should he stay with a third-party logistics provider (3PL) for all of Chewy.com’s e-commerce fulfillment or take that function in house? Cohen was convinced that achieving scale would be essential to making the business work and he worried that the company’s current 3PL may not be able to scale with Chewy.com’s projected growth or maintain the company’s performance standards for service quality and fulfillment. But neither he nor his cofounders had any experience managing logistics, and the company’s board members were pressuring him to leave order fulfillment to the 3PL. They worried that any changes could destabilize the existing 3PL relationship and endanger the viability of the fast-growing business. What should Cohen do? Senior Lecturer Jeffrey Rayport discusses the options in his case, “Chewy.com (A).”

case study for operations management

  • 12 Oct 2022

When Design Enables Discrimination: Learning from Anti-Asian Bias on Airbnb

Airbnb bookings dropped 12 percent more for hosts with Asian names than other hosts during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, says research by Michael Luca. Could better design deter bias, particularly during times of crisis?

case study for operations management

  • 22 Aug 2022

Can Amazon Remake Health Care?

Amazon has disrupted everything from grocery shopping to cloud computing, but can it transform health care with its One Medical acquisition? Amitabh Chandra discusses company's track record in health care and the challenges it might face.

case study for operations management

  • 12 Jul 2022

Can the Foodservice Distribution Industry Recover from the Pandemic?

At the height of the pandemic in 2020, US Foods struggled, as restaurant and school closures reduced demand for foodservice distribution. The situation improved after the return of indoor dining and in-person learning, but an industry-wide shortage of truck drivers and warehouse staff hampered the foodservice distributor’s post-pandemic recovery. That left CEO Pietro Satriano to determine the best strategy to attract and retain essential workers, even as he was tasked with expanding the wholesale grocery store chain (CHEF’STORE) that US Foods launched during the pandemic lockdown. Harvard Business School Professor David E. Bell explores how post-pandemic supply chain challenges continue to affect the foodservice distribution industry in his case, “US Foods: Driving Post-Pandemic Success?”

case study for operations management

  • 05 Jul 2022
  • What Do You Think?

Have We Seen the Peak of Just-in-Time Inventory Management?

Toyota and other companies have harnessed just-in-time inventory management to cut logistics costs and boost service. That is, until COVID-19 roiled global supply chains. Will we ever get back to the days of tighter inventory control? asks James Heskett. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

case study for operations management

  • 05 May 2022

Why Companies Raise Their Prices: Because They Can

Markups on household items started climbing years before the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies have realized just how much consumers will pay for the brands they love, says research by Alexander MacKay. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

case study for operations management

  • 31 Mar 2022

Navigating the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ in Professional Services

Not all companies need to scale. Ashish Nanda explores a crucial choice that leaders of professional services firms face as their organizations grow. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

case study for operations management

  • 28 Feb 2022

How Racial Bias Taints Customer Service: Evidence from 6,000 Hotels

Hotel concierges provide better service to white customers than Black and Asian customers, says research by Alexandra Feldberg and colleague. They offer three strategies to help companies detect bias on the front line. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

case study for operations management

  • 10 Feb 2022

Why Are Prices So High Right Now—and Will They Ever Return to Normal?

And when will sold-out products return to store shelves? The answers aren't so straightforward. Research by Alberto Cavallo probes the complex interplay of product shortages, prices, and inflation. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

case study for operations management

  • 10 Jan 2022

How to Get Companies to Make Investments That Benefit Everyone

Want more organizations to give back to their communities? Frank Nagle says the success of open source software offers an innovative—and unexpected—roadmap for social good. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

  • 19 Oct 2021

Fed Up Workers and Supply Woes: What's Next for Dollar Stores?

Willy Shih discusses how higher costs, shipping delays, and worker shortages are putting the dollar store business model to the test ahead of the critical holiday shopping season. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

case study for operations management

Should Global Beer Company Molson Coors Dive into the Cannabis Beverages Business?

In March 2019, Molson Coors CEO Mark Hunter considered a request to pull forward $65 million to build a facility in Canada to produce cannabis beverages. This request was not part of the original plan to test the waters with a few products in a small geography to see if there was a viable market opportunity, given that there was no legal market yet. It's this change in direction that gives Hunter pause. Should he approve the request, or push the team back to the original, more conservative plan? Senior Lecturer Derek van Bever and Steve Kaufman discuss balancing exploitation versus exploration inside this global brewing company in the case, "Beyond Beer: Brewing Innovation at Molson Coors." Open for comment; 0 Comments.

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Teaching Resources Library

Operations Management Case Studies

case study for operations management

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Operations strategy

  • Business management
  • Operations and supply chain management
  • Supply chain management

Manufacturing by Design

  • Daniel E. Whitney
  • From the July 1988 Issue

case study for operations management

The One Thing You Need to Know About Managing Functions

  • Roger L. Martin
  • Jennifer Riel
  • From the July–August 2019 Issue

case study for operations management

Building a Transparent Supply Chain

  • Vishal Gaur
  • Abhinav Gaiha
  • From the May–June 2020 Issue

Make the Case for Better Quality Data

  • Thomas C. Redman
  • August 24, 2012

Coupling Strategy to Operating Plans

  • John M. Hobbs
  • Donald F. Heany
  • From the May 1977 Issue

Restoring American Competitiveness

  • Gary P. Pisano
  • Willy C. Shih
  • From the July–August 2009 Issue

Localization: The Revolution in Consumer Markets

  • Vijay Vishwanath
  • Darrell K. Rigby
  • From the April 2006 Issue

What Really Makes Factories Flexible?

  • David M. Upton
  • From the July–August 1995 Issue

case study for operations management

Strong Patient-Provider Relationships Drive Healthier Outcomes

  • Erin E. Sullivan
  • Andy Ellner MD
  • October 09, 2015

The Department of Mobility

  • Rex Runzheimer
  • From the November 2005 Issue

case study for operations management

The Essential Link Between ESG Targets and Financial Performance

  • Mark R. Kramer
  • Marc W Pfitzer
  • From the September–October 2022 Issue

case study for operations management

How to Safely Restart Elective Surgeries After a Covid Spike

  • Lindsay A. Martin
  • William Berry
  • Kedar S. Mate
  • November 19, 2020

Cure Your Company's Allergy to Change

  • August 30, 2012

Customers as Innovators: A New Way to Create Value

  • Stefan Thomke
  • Eric von Hippel
  • From the April 2002 Issue

The Threat of Global Gridlock

  • George Stalk, Jr.

Data’s Credibility Problem

  • From the December 2013 Issue

Going Abroad in Search of Higher Productivity at Home

  • Laurence Capron
  • Olivier Bertrand
  • From the June 2014 Issue

case study for operations management

Designing the Best Strategy for Your Next Global Product Rollout

  • Ronald Klingebiel
  • John Joseph
  • March 03, 2022

case study for operations management

How Middle Market Companies Can Avoid a Liquidity Crisis

  • Judy Baranowksi
  • Barb Schultze
  • Tony Reynolds
  • October 06, 2023

case study for operations management

What Fast-Moving Companies Do Differently

  • Suketu Gandhi
  • October 18, 2023

case study for operations management

Claritas Genomics

  • Robert F. Higgins
  • Matthew Preble
  • September 19, 2013

Charting a Course in a Storm: US Postal Service and the Anthrax Crisis

  • Arnold Howitt
  • Kirsten Lundberg
  • May 01, 2003

Winnan Metal: Fulfilling the Dream

  • William R. Kerr
  • James Weber
  • February 06, 2015

IBM Technology Group

  • Andrew McAfee
  • Kerry Herman
  • June 19, 2000

Analog Devices, Inc.: The Half-Life System

  • Robert S. Kaplan
  • March 16, 1990

Assembling Smartphones: Takt Time ≠ Cycle Time?

  • Ethan S. Bernstein
  • September 27, 2010

Lie, Cheat, and Steel: Governance and Scandal at ThyssenKrupp

  • James Shein
  • Evan Meagher
  • March 20, 2017

Comments on Standard Times and the Division of Labor

  • Roy D. Shapiro
  • July 15, 1999

Bank of America (B)

  • Ashok Nimgade
  • September 17, 2002

Komatsu Komtrax: Asset Tracking Meets Demand Forecasting

  • YoungWon Park
  • November 20, 2018

Deaconess-Glover Hospital (A)

  • Steven J. Spear
  • John Kenagy
  • July 19, 2000
  • Izak Duenyas
  • April 12, 2012

Thakur Engineering Works: Treading into the Future

  • Meenakshi Jakhar
  • Manoj Kumar Srivastava
  • June 27, 2016

When Supply Is of Public Interest: Roche & Tamiflu

  • Noel Watson
  • Laura Rock Kopczak
  • Prashant Yadav
  • January 15, 2009

ZOOTS: The Cleaner Cleaner

  • Myra M. Hart
  • Sharon I. Peyus
  • September 20, 2000

The University of Virginia Health System: The Next Generation of Quality Care and Patient Safety (B)

  • Robert D. Landel
  • Jacqueline Temkin
  • May 15, 2019

Digital Equipment Corp.: The Endpoint Model (C1)

  • David A. Garvin
  • Janet Simpson
  • January 21, 1988

Supply Chain Outsourcing at DB Toys

  • Mark Jeffery
  • David Bibbs
  • Michael Dowhan
  • Daniel Grace
  • Lisa Jackson
  • Woody Maynard
  • Steve Johnson
  • January 01, 2006

Note on Project Management

  • James S. Reece
  • July 02, 2012

World Vision Canada: Meeting Madness

  • Derrick Neufeld
  • Fiorella Rujano
  • Curtis Sands
  • Kalpana Srinarayanadas
  • August 07, 2020

case study for operations management

Resource Planning at Akshaya Patra, Vasanthapura, Instructor Spreadsheet

  • Anshuman Tripathy
  • September 01, 2014

case study for operations management

Process Mapping II

  • May 28, 2011

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, case research in operations management.

International Journal of Operations & Production Management

ISSN : 0144-3577

Article publication date: 1 February 2002

This paper reviews the use of case study research in operations management for theory development and testing. It draws on the literature on case research in a number of disciplines and uses examples drawn from operations management research. It provides guidelines and a roadmap for operations management researchers wishing to design, develop and conduct case‐based research.

  • Operations management
  • Methodology
  • Case studies

Voss, C. , Tsikriktsis, N. and Frohlich, M. (2002), "Case research in operations management", International Journal of Operations & Production Management , Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 195-219. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443570210414329

Copyright © 2002, MCB UP Limited

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Browse Course Material

Course info, instructors.

  • Prof. Charles H. Fine
  • Prof. Tauhid Zaman

Departments

  • Sloan School of Management

As Taught In

  • Mathematics
  • Social Science

Introduction to Operations Management

Cases and readings.

The required readings for this course include:

  • Cases listed in the Cases/Readings column below
  • Goldratt, Eliyah M., and Jeff Cox. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement . 2nd revised ed. North River Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780884270614.
  • [MSD] = Cachon, Gerard, and Christian Terwiesch. Matching Supply with Demand: An Introduction to Operations Management . 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill, 2012. ISBN: 9780073525204.

MIT Open Learning

HKS Case Program

Operations Management

A primary challenge for governments and organizations is to manage their resources as efficiently as possible. The teaching cases in this section challenge students to become decisive managers through a host of topics including budgeting and finance, infrastructure, regulatory policy, and transportation.

case study for operations management

Shoring Up Child Protection in Massachusetts: Commissioner Spears & the Push to Go Fast

Publication Date: July 13, 2023

 In January 2015, when incoming Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker chose Linda Spears as his new Commissioner of the Department of Children and Families, he was looking for a reformer. Following the grizzly death of a child under DCF...

OneBlood and COVID-19: Building an Agile Supply Chain Epilogue

OneBlood and COVID-19: Building an Agile Supply Chain Epilogue

Publication Date: October 20, 2021

This epilogue accompanies HKS Case 2233.0. The blood supply chain is under pressure from COVID-19. How should the 3rd largest blood bank in the US, OneBlood, respond? Is adopting an agile supply chain philosophy an effective...

Teaching Case - OneBlood and Covid 19: Building an Agile Supply Chain

OneBlood and COVID-19: Building an Agile Supply Chain

The blood supply chain is under pressure from COVID-19. How should the 3rd largest blood bank in the US, OneBlood, respond? Is adopting an agile supply chain philosophy an effective approach? The case provides an overview of the...

Teaching Case -

“A Difficult Lady”: Shutting Down Pollution in Kampala, Uganda Practitioner Guide

Publication Date: October 15, 2021

This practitioner guide accompanies HKS Case 2231.0. In 2011, sanitation and environmental management expert Judith Tumusiime joined the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), where she and KCCA Executive Director Jennifer Musisi quickly became...

Teaching Case -

“A Difficult Lady”: Shutting Down Pollution in Kampala, Uganda

In 2011, sanitation and environmental management expert Judith Tumusiime joined the Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), where she and KCCA Executive Director Jennifer Musisi quickly became a dynamic team, working together to execute a mandate...

Teaching Case - "Pressing the Right Buttons"

“Pressing the Right Buttons”: Jennifer Musisi for New City Leadership Epilogue

Publication Date: September 9, 2020

This epilogue accompanies HKS Case 2186.0. Jennifer Musisi, a career civil servant most recently with the Uganda Revenue Authority, was appointed by President Museveni as executive director (equivalent to city manager) of a new governing body...

Teaching Case - "Pressing the Right Buttons"

“Pressing the Right Buttons”: Jennifer Musisi for New City Leadership Practitioner Guide

This practitioner guide accompanies HKS Case 2186.0. Jennifer Musisi, a career civil servant most recently with the Uganda Revenue Authority, was appointed by President Museveni as executive director (equivalent to city manager) of a new...

Teaching Case - "Pressing the Right Buttons"

“Pressing the Right Buttons”: Jennifer Musisi for New City Leadership

Jennifer Musisi, a career civil servant most recently with the Uganda Revenue Authority, was appointed by President Museveni as executive director (equivalent to city manager) of a new governing body for Uganda’s capital, the Kampala...

Teaching Case -

The “Garbage Lady” Cleans Up Kampala: Turning Quick Wins into Lasting Change Practitioner Guide

Publication Date: June 30, 2020

This practitioner guide accompanies HKS Case 2181.0. In 2011, at the newly formed Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), Judith Tumusiime, an impassioned technocrat who prided herself on operating outside of politics, was charged with...

Teaching Case -

The “Garbage Lady” Cleans Up Kampala: Turning Quick Wins into Lasting Change (Epilogue)

This epilogue accompanies HKS Case 2181.0. In 2011, at the newly formed Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), Judith Tumusiime, an impassioned technocrat who prided herself on operating outside of politics, was charged with transforming a...

Teaching Case -

The “Garbage Lady” Cleans Up Kampala: Turning Quick Wins into Lasting Change

In 2011, at the newly formed Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), Judith Tumusiime, an impassioned technocrat who prided herself on operating outside of politics, was charged with transforming a “filthy city” to a clean, habitable,...

Teaching Case - Hubway (B): Note on the Critical Fractile

Hubway (B): Note on the Critical Fractile

Publication Date: May 23, 2016

In the summer of 2014, Alta Bicycle Share, Inc had just won its second contract to operate the Hubway bike sharing system in the cities of Boston, Brookline, Cambridge and Somerville in Eastern Massachusetts. Emily Stapleton, Hubway’s...

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Cases in Operations Management

Cases in Operations Management Building Customer Value Through World-Class Operations

  • Robert D. Klassen - University of Western Ontario, Canada
  • Larry J. Menor - University of Western Ontario, Canada
  • Description

See what’s new to this edition by selecting the Features tab on this page. Should you need additional information or have questions regarding the HEOA information provided for this title, including what is new to this edition, please email [email protected] . Please include your name, contact information, and the name of the title for which you would like more information. For information on the HEOA, please go to http://ed.gov/policy/highered/leg/hea08/index.html .

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I will uses the case studies for the course and have given the details to our library to order. The cases are very good. Thanks, Qeis Kamran

First of all I'd like to say this book is an excellent book in the field, as cases books for academic education are very rare. But the only reason why I did not adopt is because that this book needs updating. The latest version was published in 2006 and a lot has happended in the field since then.

Very good book giving detailled information about all aspects of OM. Bit too heavy for my student groups but no fault of the author.

Good range of case studies presented although the two column page layout seems very old fashioned in its style.

  • strong decision orientation of real-world cases
  • clear development of the linkages between business processes and customer value
  • diversity of international case settings 
  • mixture of cases, simulations and in-class exercises

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 1. Developing World-Class Operations

Chapter 3. Planning and Control

Chapter 5. Quality

For instructors

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Cases in Organizational Behavior

case study for operations management

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Case Study In Operations Management

Profile image of Victoria Figiel

2011, Journal of Business Case Studies (JBCS)

This case study is conducted within the context of the Theory of Constraints. The field research reported in this document contains information specific to the telecommunications industry. An examination of the history, organization design, problems and solutions for one telecommunications company are undertaken from the perspective of academic work in the Theory of Constraints. The information included in this document was developed through interviews with four senior managers including the President, the Chief Technology Officer, a Vice President and a department manager. Their responses were the basis of identifying problems and undesirable effects. The undesirable effects were diagramed in six UDE clouds dealing with the following issues: 1- unclear vision from management to employees; 2- supplier; 3- market; 4- the price and regulation environment; 5- production; and 6- bureaucracy. These undesirable effects were logically examined until a single cloud depicting the core confli...

Related Papers

CHIRANJIB BHOWMIK

The aim of this paper is to implement TOC in forging area in which the constraints prevents the throughput of the system to enhance the quality and reduce errors. Many quality improvement (QI) approaches have a limited evaluation of the factors in the selection of QI projects. Theory of constraints (TOC) has been proposed as a remedy for the better selection of QI projects. The strategic Thinking Processes (TP) of Theory of constraints is designed to struggle an enormous problem faced by organizations. The paper proposes an improvement of TOC–based TP in one of the leading forging industry in India to identify and overcome the system constraints in the business. The result shows that the TOC-TP identifies the production constraints and suggests measures to improve the system. The research is applicable to any production house in which product quality reduces the throughput of the organization. This is the first time that the theory of constraints philosophy has been used to maximize...

case study for operations management

Jesus Ramon Melendez

The investigations began with the drum-buffer-rope architecture, as the basis of the Theory of Constraints (TOC). Currently, TOC has been applied in various business sectors. With the support of mathematical models and simulation, it has been possible to optimize the productive processes. The objective of this study was to determine the investigative tendencies of the TOC in the different productive sectors and its application in business management environments. The results establish that its application increases the efficiency of the process.

In today’s economic climate, many organizations struggle with declining sales and increasing costs. Some choose to hunker down and weather the storm, hoping for better results in the future. However, layoffs and workforce reductions jeopardize future competitiveness. However, organizations that have implemented the Theory of Constraints (TOC) continue to thrive and grow in difficult times, continuing to achieve real bottom line growth, whether by improving productivity or increased revenues. In this paper, the organization dealing with the furniture manufacturing has been studied and the main constraints for the maximum throughput are identified by applying a thinking process tool called as “Theory of Constraints” (TOC). The Drum Buffer Rope (DBR) has been applied for capacity planning and the time for each identified processes is calculated and workload for each work center is calculated. Then the capacity constraint machine is identified. The proper solution has been provided to o...

Niek Du Preez

Erkam Guresen

Theory of constraints (TOC) is a technique that produces solutions for every kind of bottleneck in a short time. The philosophy of the theory is to determine the weaker part of the process chain and to eliminate this constraint point by taking action. After improvement, the next weaker part of the process chain is determined, and so on, for continuous improvement. The main goal is to apply improvement actions continuously to reach an excellent system structure. This paper describes how the five main steps of the theory of constraints were applied to eliminate waste at a supplier firm in Turkey..

Aitor Lizarralde

Purpose: The theory of constraints (TOC) drum-buffer-rope methodology is appropriate when managing a production plant in complex environments, such as make-to-order (MTO) scenarios. However, some difficulties have been detected in implementing this methodology in such changing environments. This case study analyses a MTO company to identify the key factors that influence the execution of the third step of TOC. It also aims to evaluate in more depth the research started by Lizarralde et al. (2020) and compare the results with the existing literature. Design/methodology/approach: The case study approach is selected as a research methodology because of the need to investigate a current phenomenon in a real environment. Findings: In the case study analysed, the protective capacity of non-bottleneck resources is found to the key factor when subordinating the MTO system to a bottleneck (BN). Furthermore, it coincides with one of the two key factors defined by the literature, namely protec...

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Niv Ahituv , Nitza Geri

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Vicky Mabin

Alexei Sharpanskykh

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Hamilton Pozo

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Telangana Graduates’ MLC Elections 2021: Handling Known and Unknown Uncertainties

The case is centered around the timeline of the Telangana graduates’ MLC elections 2021, which were held against the backdrop of a known unknown: the COVID-19 pandemic. The electoral officials had to be mindful of the numerous security protocols and complexities involved in implementing the election process in such uncertain times. They had to incorporate additional steps and plan for contingencies to mitigate risks while executing the election process. Halfway through the election planning process, it became clear that the number of voters and candidates was unprecedentedly large. This unexpected development necessitated a revision of the prior plan for conducting the elections. Shashank Goel, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), and M. Satyavani, Deputy CEO, were architecting the plan for conducting the elections with an unexpectedly large number of voters and candidates under pandemic-induced disruptions. Goel was also reflecting on how to develop contingency plans for these elections, given the uncertainty produced by unforeseen external factors and the associated risks. Although he had the mandate to conduct free and fair elections within the stipulated timelines and was assured that the required resources would be provided, several factors had to be considered. According to the constitutional guidelines for the graduates' MLC elections, qualified and registered graduate voters could cast their vote by ranking candidates preferentially. Paper ballots had to be used because electronic voting machines (EVMs) could not handle preferential voting. The scale and magnitude of the elections necessitated jumbo ballot boxes. To manage the process, the number of polling stations had to be increased, and manpower had to be trained. Further, the presence of healthcare workers to ensure the safety of voters and the deployed staff was imperative. The Telangana CEO’s office had to meet the increased logistical and technical requirements and ensure high voting turnouts while executing the election process.

Postponing the election was not an option for the ECI from the standpoint of the legal code of conduct. The Telangana CEO's office prepared a revised election plan. The project plan was amended to incorporate the need for additional resources and logistical support to execute the election process. As the efforts of the staff were maximized effectively, the elections could be conducted smoothly and transparently although a large number of candidates were in the fray.

Teaching and Learning Objectives:

The key case objectives are to enable students to:

  • Appreciate the importance of effective project management, planning, and execution in public administration against the backdrop of uncertainties and complexities.
  • Understand the importance of risk identification, risk planning, and prioritization.
  • Learn strategies to manage various project risks in a real-life situation.
  • Identify the characteristics of effective leadership in times of crisis and the key takeaways from such scenarios

Data-Analytics-Based Decision-Making at Teach for India

The case is designed to be used in courses on Nonprofit Operations Management, Data Analytics, Six Sigma, and Business Process Excellence/Improvement in MBA or Executive MBA programs. It is suitable for teaching students about the common problem of lower rates of volunteerism in nonprofit organizations. Further, the case study helps present the importance and application of inferential statistics (data analytics) to identify the impact of various factors on the problem (effect). The case is set in early 2021 when Shefali Sharma, the Strategy and Learning Manager with Teach For India (TFI), faced a few challenging questions from a professor at the Indian School of Business (ISB) during her presentation at an industry gathering in Hyderabad, India. Sharma was concerned about the low matriculation rate of TFI fellows, despite the rigorous recruitment, selection, and matriculation (RSM) process. A mere 50-60% matriculation rate was not a commensurate return for an investment of INR 6.5 million and the massive effort put into the RSM process. In 2017, Sharma organized focused informative and experiential events to motivate candidates to join the fellowship, but it was not very clear if these events impacted the TFI matriculation rate. After the industry gathering at ISB, Sharma followed up with the professor to seek his guidance in performing data analytics on the matriculation data. Sharma wondered if inferential data analysis could help her understand which demographic factors and events impact the matriculation rate.

Learning Objective

  • Illustrate the importance of inferential statistics as a decision support system in resolving business problems
  • Formulating and solving a hypothesis testing problem for attribute (discrete) data
  • Visually depicting the flow of work across different stages of a process

Project Ashray: Planning a Time-Constrained Project

In response to the uncontrollable second wave of COVID-19 in the south Indian state of Telangana in April 2021, a few like-minded social activists in the capital city of Hyderabad came together to establish a 100-bed medical care center to treat COVID-19 patients. The project was named Ashray. Dr. Chinnababu Sunkavalli (popularly known as Chinna) was the project manager of Project Ashray. In addition to the inherent inadequacy of hospital beds to accommodate the growing number of COVID- 19 patients till March 2021, the city faced a sudden spike of infections in April that worsened the situation. Consequently, the occupancy in government and private hospitals in Hyderabad increased by 485% and 311%, respectively, from March to April. According to a prediction model, Chinna knew that hospital beds would be exhausted in several parts of the city in the next few days. The Project Ashray team was concerned about the situation. The team met on April 26, 2021, to schedule the project to establish the medical care center within the next 10 days. The case is suitable for teaching students how to approach the scheduling problem of a time- constrained project systematically. It helps as a pedagogical aid in teaching management concepts such as project visualization, estimating project duration, float, and project laddering or activity splitting, and tools such as network diagrams, critical path method, and crashing. The case exposes students to a real-time problem-solving approach under uncertainty and crises and the critical role of NGOs in supporting the governments. Alongside the Project Management and Operations Management courses, other courses like Managerial decision-making in nonprofit organizations, Health care delivery, and healthcare operations could also find support from this case.

Learning Objectives:

To learn: Time-constrained projects and associated scheduling problems Project visualization using network diagrams Activity sequencing and converting sequential activities to parallel activities Critical path method (early start, early finish, late start, late finish, forward pass, backward pass, and float) to estimate a project's overall duration Project laddering to reduce the project duration wherever possible Project crashing using linear programming

Executing the Bogibeel Bridge for Social Impact: Risk Planning and Managing Earned Value

The case goes on to describe the enormous challenges involved in building the 4.94 km long Bogibeel Bridge in the North Eastern Region (NER) of India. When it was finally commissioned in 2018, it was hailed as a marvel of engineering. With two rail lines and a two-lane road over it, the bridge spanned the mighty Brahmaputra river. The Bogibeel Bridge was India's longest and Asia's second-longest road and rail bridge with fully-welded bridge technology that met European codes and welding standards. The interstate connectivity provided by the bridge enabled important socio-economic developments in the NER that included improved logistics and transportation, the growth of medical and educational facilities, higher employment, and the rise of international trade and tourism. While the outcomes of the project were significant, the efforts that went into constructing the Bogibeel Bridge were equally so. This case study is designed to teach the importance of effective risk planning in project management. Further, the case introduces students to earned value analysis and project oversight in managing large projects. The case centers on Indian Railways' need to quickly discover why the Bogibeel project was not going according to plan. The case also serves as a resource to teach public operations management where the focus is on projects and operations that result in socio-economic outcomes.

  • Appreciate the importance of risk planning and risk prioritization and learn strategies to manage various project risks
  • Understand earned value management (EVM) and the associated metrics and calculations for project evaluation on time and cost schedules.
  • Identify social impact outcomes in public/infrastructure projects.

The Premamrutha Dhaara Project: A Sustainable Drinking Water Solution with Social Impact

Access to clean water is so critical for development and survival that the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal number 6 (SDG-6) was to ensure availability and sustained management of water and sanitation. The World Health Organization (WHO) in 2006 estimated that 97 million Indians lacked clean and safe water. Fluoride and total dissolvable solids (TDS) in drinking water were dangerously high at many parts of rural India, with adverse impacts. On the other hand, buying clean drinking water from commercial vendors at market rates was not a realistic alternative, a costly recurring expense that much of India's rural population could not afford. The case tracks the efforts of Huggahalli, head of the technology group of Sri Sathya Sai Seva Organisations (SSSO), to devise a sustainable solution to the drinking water problem in rural India that is low on cost, high on impact. They eventually develop a model that satisfies all these criteria and becomes the basis for a project called Premamrutha Dhaara. Funded by Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, the project aims to install water purification plants in more than 100 villages spanning six states in India, with the ultimate goal of turning over plant operations to the beneficiary villages and setting up a welfare fund in each village from the revenue generated. Social service projects, particularly in developing countries, have their unique challenges. The case highlights the importance of performing feasibility analysis as part of the project planning in social projects. The case also describes how the financial and operational dimensions of sustainability could lead to a self-sustainable system. The social innovation framework used to deploy the water purification project to achieve broader rural welfare has wider implications for project management, social innovation and change, sustainable operations management, strategic non-profit management, and public policy.

The case offers four possibilities for central objectives:

  • To perform feasibility analysis in a Project Management course
  • To design a social innovation framework in a Social Innovation and Change course
  • To understand the dimensions of self-sustainability in a Sustainable Operations Management course
  • To measure social impact in Strategic Non-profit Management and Public Policy courses

Nizamabad Constituency 2019 Mega Elections (B): Engineering a Triumph for the Indian Electoral Machinery

During the Indian general election of 2019, the Nizamabad constituency in Telangana state found itself in an unprecedented situation with a record 185 candidates competing for one seat. Most of these candidates were local farmers who saw the election as a platform for raising awareness about local issues, particularly the perceived lack of government support for guaranteeing minimum support prices for their crops. More than 185 candidates had in fact contested elections from a single constituency in a handful of elections in the past. The Election Commission of India (ECI) had declared them to be "special elections" where it made exceptions to the original election schedule to accommodate the large number of candidates. However, in the 2019 general election, the ECI made no such exceptions, announcing instead that polling in Nizamabad would be conducted as per the original schedule and results would be declared at the same time as the rest of the country. This presented a unique and unexpected challenge for Rajat Kumar, the Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) and his team. How were they to conduct free and fair and elections within the mandated timeframe with the largest number of electronic voting machines (EVMs) ever deployed to address the will of 185 candidates in a constituency with 1.55 million voters from rural and semi-urban areas? Case A describes the electoral process followed by the world's largest democracy to guarantee free and fair elections. It concludes by posing several situational questions, the answers to which will determine whether the polls in Nizamabad are conducted successfully or not. Case B, which should be revealed after students have had a chance to deliberate on the challenges posed in Case A, describes the decisions and actions taken by Kumar and his team in preparation for the Nizamabad polls and the events that took place on election day and afterward.

To demonstrate how a quantitative approach to decision making can be used in the public policy domain to achieve end goals. To learn how resource allocation decisions can be made by understanding the scale of the problem, the various resource constraints, and the end goals. To discover operational innovations in the face of regulatory and technical constraints and complete the required steps. To understand the multiple steps involved in conducting elections in the Indian context.

Nizamabad Constituency 2019 Mega Elections (A): Attempting the Improbable

Set in April 2017, this case centers around the digital technology dilemma facing the protagonist Dr. Vimohan, the chief intensivist of Prashant Hospital. The case describes the critical challenges afflicting the intensive care unit (ICU) of the hospital. It then follows Dr. Vimohan as he visits the Bengaluru headquarters of Cloudphysician Healthcare, a Tele-ICU provider. The visit leaves Dr. Vimohan wondering whether he can leverage the Tele-ICU solution to overcome the challenges at Prashant Hospital. He instinctively knew that he would need to use a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis to resolve this dilemma.

The case study enables critical thinking and decision-making to address the business situation. Assessing the pros and cons of a potential technology solution, examining the readiness of an organization and devising a framework for effective stakeholder and change management are some of the key concepts. Associated tools include cost-benefit analysis, net present value (NPV) analysis, force-field analysis, and change-readiness assessment, in addition to a brief discussion on SWOT analysis.

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd: Inventory Management Under Resource Constraints

Set in 2016 in Hyderabad, India, the case follows Puvvala Yugandhar, Senior Vice President at Dr. Reddy's Laboratories (DRL), as he decides what to do about an underperforming production policy at their plants. Adopted a decade earlier, the policy, called Replenish to Consumption -Pooled (RTC-P), had not delivered the expected results. Specifically, the plants had been seeing an increase in production switchovers and creeping buffer levels for certain products, which had led to higher holding costs and lost sales for certain products. A senior consultant had suggested that DRL switch to a demand estimation-based policy called Replenish to Anticipation (RTA), which attempted to address the above concerns by segregating production capacity and updating buffer levels using demand estimates. However, Yugandhar, well aware of the challenges of changing production policies, wanted to explore a variant of RTC-P called Replenish to Consumption -Dedicated (RTC-D), which followed the same buffer update rules as RTC-P but maintained dedicated capacities for a subset of products.

By studying and solving the decision problem in the case, students should be able to better appreciate the challenges involved in making long-term operational changes. It gives them an opportunity to: (1) understand how each input might impact the final decision, and (2) how to weigh each of these inputs in arriving at the final decision.

Software Acquisition for Employee Engagement at Pilot Mountain Research

We crafted the case study "Software Acquisition for Employee Engagement at Pilot Mountain Research " for use in Business Marketing, Buyer Behavior, or Operations Management courses in undergraduate, MBA, or Executive Education programs. The Pilot Mountain Market Research (PMMR) case study provides students with the opportunity to examine how buying decisions can be made utilizing online digital tools that are increasingly available to business-to-business (B2B) purchasing managers. To do so, we created fictitious research studies and data to realistically portray the kinds of information that are publicly available to B2B purchasing managers on the Internet today. In this case study, we introduce students to fit analysis, coding quality technical assessment, sentiment analysis, and ratings & reviews analyses. Students are challenged to integrate findings from these diverse analytical tools, combining both qualitative and quantitative data into concrete employee engagement software (EES) purchasing recommendations.

1. Evolving criteria for selecting a software package for organization-wide procurement in a B2B purchase decision context 2. Appreciate increasing digitalization of businesses 3. Understand importance of employee engagement in organizations and what an organization could do to enhance employee engagement among its workforce 4. Understand decision making processes in the context of digitalisation of businesses

Hertz CEO Kathryn Marinello with CFO Jamere Jackson and other members of the executive team in 2017

Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2021

Two cases about Hertz claimed top spots in 2021's Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies

Two cases on the uses of debt and equity at Hertz claimed top spots in the CRDT’s (Case Research and Development Team) 2021 top 40 review of cases.

Hertz (A) took the top spot. The case details the financial structure of the rental car company through the end of 2019. Hertz (B), which ranked third in CRDT’s list, describes the company’s struggles during the early part of the COVID pandemic and its eventual need to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

The success of the Hertz cases was unprecedented for the top 40 list. Usually, cases take a number of years to gain popularity, but the Hertz cases claimed top spots in their first year of release. Hertz (A) also became the first ‘cooked’ case to top the annual review, as all of the other winners had been web-based ‘raw’ cases.

Besides introducing students to the complicated financing required to maintain an enormous fleet of cars, the Hertz cases also expanded the diversity of case protagonists. Kathyrn Marinello was the CEO of Hertz during this period and the CFO, Jamere Jackson is black.

Sandwiched between the two Hertz cases, Coffee 2016, a perennial best seller, finished second. “Glory, Glory, Man United!” a case about an English football team’s IPO made a surprise move to number four.  Cases on search fund boards, the future of malls,  Norway’s Sovereign Wealth fund, Prodigy Finance, the Mayo Clinic, and Cadbury rounded out the top ten.

Other year-end data for 2021 showed:

  • Online “raw” case usage remained steady as compared to 2020 with over 35K users from 170 countries and all 50 U.S. states interacting with 196 cases.
  • Fifty four percent of raw case users came from outside the U.S..
  • The Yale School of Management (SOM) case study directory pages received over 160K page views from 177 countries with approximately a third originating in India followed by the U.S. and the Philippines.
  • Twenty-six of the cases in the list are raw cases.
  • A third of the cases feature a woman protagonist.
  • Orders for Yale SOM case studies increased by almost 50% compared to 2020.
  • The top 40 cases were supervised by 19 different Yale SOM faculty members, several supervising multiple cases.

CRDT compiled the Top 40 list by combining data from its case store, Google Analytics, and other measures of interest and adoption.

All of this year’s Top 40 cases are available for purchase from the Yale Management Media store .

And the Top 40 cases studies of 2021 are:

1.   Hertz Global Holdings (A): Uses of Debt and Equity

2.   Coffee 2016

3.   Hertz Global Holdings (B): Uses of Debt and Equity 2020

4.   Glory, Glory Man United!

5.   Search Fund Company Boards: How CEOs Can Build Boards to Help Them Thrive

6.   The Future of Malls: Was Decline Inevitable?

7.   Strategy for Norway's Pension Fund Global

8.   Prodigy Finance

9.   Design at Mayo

10. Cadbury

11. City Hospital Emergency Room

13. Volkswagen

14. Marina Bay Sands

15. Shake Shack IPO

16. Mastercard

17. Netflix

18. Ant Financial

19. AXA: Creating the New CR Metrics

20. IBM Corporate Service Corps

21. Business Leadership in South Africa's 1994 Reforms

22. Alternative Meat Industry

23. Children's Premier

24. Khalil Tawil and Umi (A)

25. Palm Oil 2016

26. Teach For All: Designing a Global Network

27. What's Next? Search Fund Entrepreneurs Reflect on Life After Exit

28. Searching for a Search Fund Structure: A Student Takes a Tour of Various Options

30. Project Sammaan

31. Commonfund ESG

32. Polaroid

33. Connecticut Green Bank 2018: After the Raid

34. FieldFresh Foods

35. The Alibaba Group

36. 360 State Street: Real Options

37. Herman Miller

38. AgBiome

39. Nathan Cummings Foundation

40. Toyota 2010

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Generative AI will first be successfully scaled in business operations

Curt Mueller

February 5, 2024 Generative AI (gen AI) had an exciting year in 2023. This year, claims of its transformative potential will be tested as organizations attempt to scale gen-AI-powered activities. The aim will be to make gen AI part of the fabric and architecture of business operations in a way that measurably moves the dial on business performance. We estimate that gen AI could offer savings opportunities of $1.4 trillion to $2.6 trillion across operations functions, including customer service, R&D, manufacturing, supply chain, and procurement, alongside its impact on the back office .

This will be harder than much of the coverage of gen AI—so far—may have led some to believe. Amid the declarations and promises, we offer some practical ideas for putting gen AI to work in your business.

AI’s potential spans the 4Cs

Gen AI applications span several archetypes of capabilities that reside, at least partially, in the scope of operations functions. These include the 4Cs:

  • Concision. New capabilities in concision have equipped gen AI to interpret large corpuses of unstructured data to identify and summarize relevant answers in service and analysis contexts.
  • Creative content. Gen AI’s potential handling of creative content can enable the rapid tailoring of complex and structured documents to specific needs and contexts.
  • Customer engagement. Out-of-the-box copilots powered by gen AI can guide customers through their personalized journeys in the realm of customer engagement.
  • Coding and software. New capabilities in coding and software promise swifter migration from legacy systems at scale.

Persuasive examples already exist. The customer support function of a South American telecommunications company used conversational AI to prioritize its higher-value clients while promoting self-service. By automating a proportion of its contact activity and consolidating redundant platforms, the company reduced operational expenditures by roughly $80 million. Elsewhere, a gen-AI-powered learning platform led to onboarding surveys reporting improved onboarding experience by some 35 percent. Another business reduced financial planning and analysis costs by more than $6 million through use of a sophisticated gen-AI-powered research assistant that automatically pulls information from multiple sources, synthesizes knowledge, and presents it for human verification.

Operations: The realm of tangible testing

Operations functions are an attractive area for introducing gen AI, because these functions typically have well-established measurement and reporting processes, which make it easier to see the impact of decisions such as how much time a supervisor saves or how much more efficient a particular stage of process has become. Smart businesses will experiment with gen AI in operations, analyze the results, and then carefully apply what they have learned to more complex scenarios. Despite some of the lofty claims made in 2023, most businesses will experience no silver bullet or lightning strike but instead testing, learning, and iterative progress.

For example, at manufacturing plants where shift reports are routinely handed over between shifts, gen AI has the potential to reduce delivery time for these reports by 50 to 70 percent. Organizations can apply gen AI to such workaday but business-performance-enhancing tasks. Those that do so will have live case studies from which to learn and on which to build. Then they can apply the resulting knowledge and know-how to refinements in inventory, scheduling, and the use of raw materials.

Avoiding ‘pilot purgatory’

As in past digital transformations, the best practices for introducing generative AI will involve setting up governance structures; drafting, updating, and socializing transformation road maps; and establishing an indefatigable communications strategy. Creating value from gen AI requires tackling operational readiness challenges as much as grappling with new technologies. This is the familiar terrain of capability building and change management: developing new capabilities in IT and tech, managing risk and reputation, and monitoring regulatory matters. It is critical here to have a strong relationship between operations leaders and tech leaders, as is true for any successful change program.

Companies can benefit from addressing the deployment of gen AI as a transformation, not merely a technological advance. This calls for focusing on the business challenge, not the technology itself. In other words, companies identify the exact business challenge gen AI could address and then verify that a more efficient solution cannot already come from traditional AI, internal rules, or organizational shifts. Deploying gen AI for its own sake will not yield tangible business results and could even become a fruitless distraction.

Building the right team

Quick-win use cases deliver value and excitement, and they prevent efforts from becoming “just another IT project.” Lighthouse use cases foster trust and alleviate organizational concerns while paving the way for more advanced gen AI applications. They also provide the business with a secure space in which to learn and formulate the right questions.

A core team with the right complementary skill set to steer gen AI pilot projects should have expertise in business operations, technology, and change management. Again, the key stages will be familiar to many: clarifying stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities, identifying and elevating domain experts. And as with any major change in ways of working, the chances of success are vastly greater when project leaders involve the front line early and often. When projects are derailed, the most common reason is by a failure of the project leaders to take people with them, and gen-AI-powered projects will be no different.

Involving the right people

Any venture that aims to scale gen AI will involve legal, privacy, and governance issues . Those responsible for addressing these issues need to be on board, and the company should tap their expertise to inform the road map for scaling gen AI. A significant introduction of gen AI is likely to require new controls, training modules, and more. For more examples of current and possible applications for GenAI, and the inherent risks, listen to our recent podcast here.

When it comes to talent, most organizations will likely benefit from upskilling existing tech roles to include emerging gen AI skills, such as prompt engineering. Developing separate roles may be less of a priority, though external hiring in key areas may be necessary. Knowing when to hire and when to train internally for gen AI success is a value creating decision-making skill that leaders will need to master at pace.

Familiar questions

Though companies’ answers will differ, the business questions remain the same: How will a gen AI transformation get us to market faster or enhance productivity and efficiency? What new set of capabilities do we need within the workforce to make the most of the opportunity? How do we measure gen AI’s return on investment?

As companies begin experimenting with use cases, answers to these questions will begin to emerge in the very near future, and many of the success measures already exist. Over the coming years, we will see whether the excitement in 2023 was overdone or gen AI becomes a critical, game-changing tool of the magnitude of, say, data analytics. In the meantime, businesses and their leaders have work to do and choices to make as they test ideas and search for value through the smart application of these new technologies.

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COMMENTS

  1. Operations Management

    Bodhibrata Nag 3 page (s) Quick Case New Cementing Sustainability Amy Moore, Theresa Onaji-Benson 4 page (s) NEW EDUCATOR COURSE Fundamentals of Case Teaching Our new, self-paced, online course guides you through the fundamentals for leading successful case discussions at any course level. Learn More New in Operations Management

  2. A Review of Case Study Method in Operations Management Research

    In this regard, the paper's key objective is to represent a general framework to design, develop, and conduct case study research for a future operations management research by critically reviewing relevant literature and offering insights into the use of case method in particular settings.

  3. Operations: Articles, Research, & Case Studies on Operations

    Operations New research on business operations from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including the digital supply chain, supply chain strategy, outsourcing and evolving skillsets. Page 1 of 218 Results → 02 Jan 2024 Research & Ideas 10 Trends to Watch in 2024 by Rachel Layne

  4. Operations Management Case Studies

    Operations Management Case Studies. Teaching Resources Library A Background Note on "Unskilled" Jobs in the United States - Past, Present, and Future. Teaching Resources Library Boeing's 737 MAX 8 Disasters. Teaching Resources Library BP and the Deepwater Horizon Disaster of 2010. Teaching Resources Library Managed by Q.

  5. Operations strategy

    PS Subramaniam Strategies for reducing excess inventory, stemming the rate of inventory change, and preventing the situation from happening in the future. Save Share Buy Copies September 29, 2023...

  6. Full article: Case studies in the management of operations

    A few years ago, I wrote an editorial article like this on case studies in operations management (Childe Citation 2011), looking briefly at what can be learned from cases and encouraging researchers to publish cases in this Journal.That article proved to be surprisingly popular and after five years, it seems worthwhile revisiting the subject.

  7. Case studies in operations management

    Case studies in operations management Production Planning & Control The Management of Operations Volume 22, 2011 - Issue 2 Free access 40,480 Views 59 CrossRef citations to date 0 Altmetric Listen Editorial Case studies in operations management Stephen J. Childe Page 107 | Published online: 18 Feb 2011 Cite this article

  8. Case studies in the management of operations

    In areas related to operations management, such as com-puter science, the term 'case study' is often used to refer to the performance of a system 'under' certain conditions. This can be the understanding in the context of simulation or optimisation, 2016 informa uK limited, trading as taylor & Francis group

  9. Case research in operations management

    Abstract. This paper reviews the use of case study research in operations management for theory development and testing. It draws on the literature on case research in a number of disciplines and uses examples drawn from operations management research. It provides guidelines and a roadmap for operations management researchers wishing to design ...

  10. Qualitative case studies in operations management: Trends, research

    Our study examines the state of qualitative case studies in operations management. Five main operations management journals are included for their impact on the field.

  11. Cases and Readings

    Introduction to Operations Management Cases and Readings The required readings for this course include: Cases listed in the Cases/Readings column below Goldratt, Eliyah M., and Jeff Cox. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement. 2nd revised ed. North River Press, 1992. ISBN: 9780884270614. [MSD] = Cachon, Gerard, and Christian Terwiesch.

  12. PDF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

    OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT THIRTEENTH EDITION OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT Sustainability and Supply Chain Management HEIZER J A Y RENDER BARRY Jesse H. Jones Professor of Business Administration Texas Lutheran University Charles Harwood Professor of Operations Management Graduate School of Business Rollins College CHUCK MUNSON

  13. Qualitative case studies in operations management: Trends, research

    Our study examines the state of qualitative case studies in operations management. Five main operations management journals are included for their impact on the field.

  14. Operations Management Cases

    Operations Management A primary challenge for governments and organizations is to manage their resources as efficiently as possible. The teaching cases in this section challenge students to become decisive managers through a host of topics including budgeting and finance, infrastructure, regulatory policy, and transportation. Sort By: 1 2 3 4 Next

  15. Conducting case study research in operations management

    Conducting case study research in operations management. Dr. David M. McCutcheon, Dr. David M. McCutcheon. Department of Operations Management and Information Systems, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0387, USA ... Case study research is a primary means of exploring field conditions but is an unfamiliar methodology for many in OM ...

  16. Cases in Operations Management

    Preview. The Ivey Casebook Series is a co-publishing partnership between SAGE Publications and the Richard Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario. Due to their popularity in more than 60 countries, approximately 200 new cases are added to the Ivey School of Business library each year. Each of the casebooks comes equipped ...

  17. (PDF) A Review of Case Study Method in Operations Management Research

    In this regard, the paper's key objective is to represent a general framework to design, develop, and conduct case study research for a future operations management research by critically...

  18. Operations Management Case Studies

    The collection consists of Operations case studies and research reports on a wide range of companies and industries - both Indian and international, cases won awards in varies competitions, EFMD Case Writing Competition, Global ECCH Case Awards, Baylor-USASBE Student Case Research Competition, Dark Side Case Writing Competition, oikos Global Cas...

  19. (PDF) Case Study In Operations Management

    Journal of Business Case Studies - Third Quarter 2007 Volume 3, Number3 Case Study In Operations Management Victoria L. Figiel, (E-mail: [email protected]), Troy University James M. Whitlock, (E-mail: [email protected]), Troy University ABSTRACT This case study is conducted within the context of the Theory of Constraints. The field research ...

  20. PDF Production and Operations Management Case Studies

    (a) What would be your line of action? (b) In case of lengthy product design and development time, what kinds of risks are there? Case 2: Conflict of Interests The GM (Works) has problems with manufacturing budgets, meeting cost reduction targets, and dealing with new products manufacturing schedules.

  21. Operations Management

    Items 1 - 10 of 14 Sort By Most Relevant Operations Management Telangana Graduates' MLC Elections 2021: Handling Known and Unknown Uncertainties The case is centered around the timeline of the Telangana graduates' MLC elections 2021, which were held against the backdrop of a known unknown: the COVID-19 pandemic.

  22. Top 40 Most Popular Case Studies of 2021

    Fifty four percent of raw case users came from outside the U.S.. The Yale School of Management (SOM) case study directory pages received over 160K page views from 177 countries with approximately a third originating in India followed by the U.S. and the Philippines. Twenty-six of the cases in the list are raw cases.

  23. Operations Management Case Study week 5 (docx)

    1 Case Study, Week 5 Vladimir Leriche Keiser University Operations Management Dr. Denis Tocci 06/11/2023. YOUR TITLE 2 Introduction Managing the operation of a business has never been an easy job. Depending on the size of the company and the types of activities involved in the operation process, one may qualify as more complicated than another ...

  24. Real Operations Strategy Consulting Cases for your Case Prep

    Operations Strategy Consulting Cases - Browse our extensive Case Library. Solve our consulting cases focusing on operations strategy, and invite other candidates to crack the case interactively with you. Practicing and getting feedback is the most crucial part of a perfect case preparation. ( Read more )

  25. Getting started with gen AI in Operations

    Generative AI will first be successfully scaled in business operations. Companies are eager to test the potential of generative AI, and there is a strong case for starting with operations. Transformation best practices will apply. February 5, 2024 Generative AI (gen AI) had an exciting year in 2023. This year, claims of its transformative ...