The Sport Obermeyer case
The Sport Obermeyer case describes the forecasting, planning, and production processes of a global skiwear supply channel. Although the company has a global supply network, most of its critical outwear products are sourced through the Hong Kong-based company Obersport, a joint venture between Sport Obermeyer and a Hong Kong partner. Obersport, in turn, manages supply and production processes in Hong Kong and China. Sport Obermeyer was founded by Klaus Obermeyer. Klaus used an informal approach to demand forecasting and product strategy. Klaus' son Wally is a recent Harvard MBA and takes a more analytical approach to the business. Case Hints ) production planning for short-life cycle fashion products; 2) operational changes the reduce costs of mismatched supply and demand; 3) coordination issues in a global supply chain. Production Planning for Short-Life-Cycle Fashion Products The production planning problem that Obermeyer faces is a complex optimization problem under uncertainty. You're not expected to formally solve the problem but should be able to identify key issues regarding demand uncertainty, the risk associated with producing a product with uncertain demand, and the general impacts of mismatched supply and demand. At the core of the problem is that it is costly to produce products that do not sell, and costly not to product products that will sell.
Gartland Steel.
Case Facts Gartland Steel was a fully integrated steel producer, the fourth largest in the US. It was the largely accepted industry leader in sensitivity to environmental issues and in its actions to alleviate pollution. The Clean Air Act of 1970 created the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) to establish and enforce air quality goals. The standards postulated threshold levels beyond which ambient pollutants were damaging to health and welfare. Emission rates standards were set 'stack-by-stack' for most industrial processes. Though the aim was to bring most of the geographical areas within the purview of the Act, 160 of the 247 regions were non-compliant by the 1975 deadline. The main reason was found to be the high costs of implementing 'stack-by-stack' standards. Offset Policy To counter this problem, the EPA created the 'offset' policy which allowed firms to trade pollution rights within non-attainment regions. In this policy, the companies were allowed intra-pollution category trading but not inter-pollution category trading. This led to a market in pollution rights. Bubble Policy This was a derivative of the offset policy. As per this policy, a firm would be free to decide how to bring the net level of pollution within standards, as against installation of mandated stack-by-stack equipment. The policies were however complex and approval by authorities was
Damages, and there assessment.
BLB 1115 Assessment 1 Id: 3212756 Damages I. Introduction Damages are defined as: The pecuniary compensation, obtainable by success in an action, for a wrong which is either a tort or a breach of contract, the compensation being in the form of a lump sum which is awarded unconditionally and is generally, but not necessarily, expressed in (Australian) currency.1 In the case when a breach of contract occurs, the party who suffers the loss as the consequence arising from such a breach is entitled to claim damages. An action for damages is a right for the party not in breach, i.e. the plaintiff, which is implied by the law. This right is based on the general idea that "wherever the law recognizes or creates a primary duty or obligation, a secondary duty or obligation is implied by law when a breach of duty occurs.2 The objective of awarding damages for a breach of contract is basically to compensate the person for their loss, not to penalise the wrongdoer.3This objective was precisely stated by Parker B in an English case, i.e. Robinson v Harman.4His Honour said that: Where a party sustain a loss by reason of a breach of contract he is, so far as money can do it, to be placed in the same position with respect to damages, as if the contract had been performed.5 By virtue of this statement, it may seem that the loss suffered by the party not in breach (hereafter called
A model for supporting Business and Consumers within an Internet Retailing Environment
Global Networked Organizations Twelfth International Bled Electronic Commerce Conference Bled, Slovenia, June 7 - 9, 1999 Utilizing Information Processing for Enhancing Value: towards a model for supporting Business and Consumers within an Internet Retailing Environment Adam P. Vrechopoulos Brunel University, Information Systems & Computing Uxbridge, Middlessex UB8 3PH, UK Tel/Fax: +30 1 8203160, 8203154 email [email protected] Katherine C. Pramataris Athens University of Economics & Business, Information Systems Department 76 Patision Street, 104 34, Athens, Greece tel/fax: +30 1 8203160, 8203154 email [email protected] Georgios I. Doukidis Athens University of Economics & Business, Information Systems Department
A case study analysis of C&C
A Case Analysis of Calyx and Corolla This analysis focuses on the case study of Calyx & Corolla, a mail order flower company. Calyx & Corolla is a relatively new company that utilizes a different distribution channel than conventional companies for fresh flowers. Calyx & Corolla mails flowers direct from the growers to the customers via Federal Express and eliminates the middleman (Appendix A). This permits Calyx & Corolla to provide fresher, longer-lasting flowers to consumers. The management of Calyx & Corolla is contemplating a change in their long-term business strategy as they examine their ability to compete with more traditional outlets such as retail flower shops and wire services like FTD. Ruth Owades, the founder of Calyx & Corolla, has hired Marketing Consultants (MarCo) to assess the strengths and weaknesses of her business and make recommendations on how her company can fully develop their mail order concept. Background: Calyx & Corolla is a small mail order flower company that was founded in 1988 by Ruth Owades. Ms. Owades secured $2 million in capital from approximately 18 different investors in order to launch the company. By 1991, Calyx & Corolla exceeded $10 million in annual sales and Owades and her associates were reassessing the firm's long-term growth strategy (Wylie and Salmon, 1991). Up to this point, Calyx & Corolla was primarily a mail order
An Analysis of National Bicycle Industrial Co.
Executive Summary Mass customization theorizes that companies can develop, produce, market and deliver customized products and services on a mass basis. Supporters of mass customization argue that this strategy allows a company the flexibility to meet the constantly changing demands of consumers, who continuously demand higher quality, lower priced products and services delivered in a relatively short amount of time, but which are also highly customized. Most importantly mass customization implies that, by automating the customization process, companies can produce the custom good at costs competitive with standardized goods. Proponents of mass customization point out that with this strategy, low costs are accomplished primarily through economies of scope rather than scale: "Economies of scope are realized by the application of a single process to produce a greater variety of products and services more cheaply and more quickly." (Joseph Pine II, author of Mass Customization: The New Frontier In Business Competition.) To achieve the goals of mass customization, a company must address major shifts in operating methods throughout the organization - engineering, manufacturing, and marketing - including the supply chain, with the creative use of automation and technology. Companies such as Dell Computer, HP, Toyota, Levi Strauss and Lutron Electronics have employed this
Consumer Buying Behaviour & Organisational Markets and Buying Behaviour.
Semesterarbeit SS 1999 Fach: Englisch Ingo Lichtmaneker Internationale Betriebswirtschaft I5 Thema: CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR & ORGANISATIONAL MARKETS AND BUYING BEHAVIOUR CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR 3 .1 Introduction 3 .2 Types of Consumer Buying Behaviour 3 .3 The Consumer Buying Decision Process 4 .4 Personal factors influencing the buying decision process 5 .5 Psychological factors influencing the buying decision process 6 .6 Social factors influencing the buying decision process 7 .7 Understanding consumer behaviour 8 2 ORGANISATIONAL MARKETS AND BUYING BEHAVIOUR 8 2.1 Introduction 8 2.2 Types of organisational markets 8 2.3 Dimensions of organisational buying 10 2.4 Organisational buying decision 13 2.5 Concluding remark 14 CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR .1 Introduction What do we mean if we are talking about consumer buying behaviour? There are several decision processes and acts of people (consumers) buying and using products for themselves or their household. These processes might be very interesting for companies and their marketing managers. But what are the reasons why marketers should know about consumer buying behaviour? -Well, there are several reasons: * At first it is important to know about the reaction of the buyer to the firm´s marketing strategy because this has a great influence on the firm´s success. * Another thing is that the
Nucor Case Summary
Nucor Case Summary . The Steel Industry Similar to our discussion of e-commerce markets - albeit in a very different industry - we begin with a discussion of the challenges to capturing value in the steel industry. The fundamental difficulty here is intense rivalry. Above all, this arises from the fact that steel is basically a commodity, with very limited opportunities for product differentiation. While there are different segments of the steel market, within each segment products are nearly identical. This is especially true within the low-end, primarily construction market that Nucor serves. In such a commodity market, the only variable that firms have to attract customers is price, generating the lose-lose price competition which is the defining characteristic of intense rivalry. This price competition is intensified by several other features of the steel industry. First, demand is flat, or even shrinking, implying that firms must fight with each other to capture market share. Second, the import share has grown to over 20%. And taking advantage of lower costs through cheaper labor, lighter regulations, and government subsidies, these imports have very low prices. This effectively eliminates the possibility that the large U.S firms will be able to collude to keep prices up; such collusion would simply yield more share to the imports. Finally, the large
This project examines the project scheduling of a contract to supply a portal frame steel building to be done by Engineering & Construction Incorporated.
TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2 INTRODUCTION 3 BACKGROUND 5 Abridged History Of Companies Involved 5 Rose Hall Estate 6 METHODOLOGY 8 PERT / CPM Method 8 Charting 9 ANALYSIS Expected Times & Variances 10 Comments On Task Times 11 Project Network 13 Activity Schedule 14 Variability Analysis 15 Time / Cost Analysis 16 FINDINGS / RESULTS List Of Findings 17 Critical Path / Time Discussion 18 RECOMMENDATIONS 20 REFERENCES 22 APPENDICIES 23 Contract Documents 23 Corporate Documents 28 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This project examines the project scheduling of a contract to supply a portal frame steel building to be done by Engineering & Construction Incorporated. This turnkey operation encompasses the entirety of the project, from the purchase of the raw materials to the delivery and erection of the finished product on site. The project was evaluated using the program evaluation and review technique (PERT) and the critical path method (CPM.) The analysis found that the expected total project time would be 290.9 days and time required for 95% probability of paying no liquidated damages is 314.2 days. The contract time for the project was 291 days, including time variations requested by the contractor (ECI.) This
Australian Wine Industry
. Australian Wine Industry The Australian wine industry is one of the rapid grow industry in Australia as a result of both internal and external markets. This industry experienced many technological chances, first, looking for cost competitiveness against substitute industries and nowadays, to be more competitive against the external producers, trying to introduce better wines to achieve better profits. .1 Trends in number of wineries Figure 1 Source: Australian Wine & Brandy Cooperation, 2003. In Australia as shown in figure 1 number of wineries slightly increases form year to year. Currently there are 1625 wineries in comparison, by 2002 increase by 200 wineries. Therefore entry and exit to Australian wine industry market is open. .2 Number of wineries who own location for wine grape crush. From 1625 wineries only 21.5% own location for grape crush. In 2002, 350 wineries owned 398 locations for wine grape crush. In comparison in 2001 306 wineries owned 351 locations. There is increase by 44 wineries, which own these locations as well as number of location increased by 47(ABS, 2003). Wineries which own locations for wine grape crush can decrease cost for producing wine, therefore winery become more competitive. For more information on location for wine grape crush, see Appendix 1. .3 Production Figure 2 BEVERAGE WINE PRODUCTION Source: ABS, 2003 In year 2000-01