Rural supply cooperative: Capital budgeting decision case: feasibility study of auxiliary enterprises for a rural supply cooperative

This capital budgeting case evaluates the feasibility of adding an auxiliary enterprise to a feed milling operation that an agricultural supply cooperative is considering purchasing. Both quantitative and qualitative objectives are taken into consideration regarding the cooperative’s financial position, community employment, and farm level feasibility.     

A network simulation for budgeting

One problem with budgeting is the deterministic nature of the tool, even for flexible budgets, that is being used to provide forecasts of a stochastic process. Budget simulation provides not only expected values but anticipated dispersion of budget data as well. The network model may provide the best framework for such a simulation.     

Validating cultural discrepancy: A case study

A total of 172 employees rated 15 cultural values; first as theyactually were manifested within the organization and secondly how theyshould be manifested. Differences between these ratings formed their Culture Discrepancy Scores. A discriminant analysis showed that for permanent employees, intent to stay on with the organization could be predicted from their Culture Discrepancy Scores. Correlational analyses indicated that for permanent employees, higher Culture Discrepancy Scores were predictive of: 1) rating the organization as a worse place to work, 2) being less likely to choose to work for the organization again, and 3) rating stress levels as unhealthy. For seasonal employees, higher Culture Discrepancy Scores were predictive of: 1) rating the organization as a worse place to work, 2) taking less pride in working for the organization, 3) rating the organization as less competitive in the industry, and 4) rating stress levels as unhealthy.     

Portfolio decision-making genres: A case study

This article addresses the portfolio management practices and challenges of contemporary firms. Based on a review of the extant literature on project selection, termination and deletion decisions, we conducted an in-depth interview study with 19 key informants in 11 multinational firms. We identified three genres of portfolio management decision making: formalist-reactive, intuitive, and integrative. Each genre can be described by a unique set of portfolio management practices. For example, formalist-reactive firms rely on quantitative criteria while intuitive firms prefer qualitative criteria. In addition, each genre has to overcome a unique set of challenges. We discuss the three genres in detail and provide several implications for portfolio management decision making.     

Policy deployment: A case study analysis

Theaim of theresearch reported in thispaper wasto examine policy deployment in a business unit of the UK company operation of a major corporation, considered a world leader in business improvement. In this study, the application of policy deployment at an operational level was investigated to determine how managers deploy and manage direction, and assess the effectiveness of the catchball process. In the business unit studied, policy deployment could have a greater impact. For example, in deploying direction, cascade and catchball is used, however, the leadership, checks, control and communication elements could be more effective, and the respective shortcomings are described. A generic catch-reflect-improvescrutinize-pass (CRISP) approach to policy deployment is proposed by which vision, mission, goals, objectives, targets and means can be more effectively deployed.     

Successfully integrating organisations and cultures: A case study

Several years ago, facing up to the need to be a global trader, Borg-Warner Chemicals developed a long-term strategy based on diversification and growth. This type of strategy, particularly where growth comes through acquisitions, joint ventures and possible greenfield site development, has a profound effect on the human resources function of any company. This article is intended as a route map around some of the more obvious minefields, and details the actual experience of Borg-Warner Chemicals (BW) as the majority shareholder of a joint-venture operation in Europe.In this case-study of the role of human resources in a joint-venture or takeover environment the company referred to is in rural France, but it could be logically anywhere around the world - the same basic rules apply.     

Inventory management and cost-benefit analysis: A case study

This paper treats the problem of comparing various stocking and issuing policies for two radioactive isotopes, I-123 and I-131, which are used in nuclear medicine departments for the diagnosis of thyroid disease. The approach is based on using a combination of a cost-benefit analysis to compare the increased operating costs of stocking I-123 versus the increased disease risk of using I-131, and simulation to recreate the operation of a radio-pharmacy which stocks these drugs. The required inputs to the model include: (1) estimates of the disease risks associated with radiation absorbed doses from I-131; (2) estimates of the probability distributions of the appropriate latent periods; (3) empirical distributions of daily patient demand; (4) census data for estimating longevity and individual expected earnings and (5) cost data the stocking costs of the isotopes. The cost benefit results give issuing rules based on the age and sex of the patient, while the simulation is used to compare the effectiveness of the various ordering policies considered (the choice of a particular ordering policy may influence the risk of disease development).     

Satellite downlink scheduling problem: A case study

The synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology enables satellites to efficiently acquire high quality images of the Earth surface. This generates significant communication traffic from the satellite to the ground stations, and, thus, image downlinking often becomes the bottleneck in the efficiency of the whole system. In this paper we address the downlink scheduling problem for Canada׳s Earth observing SAR satellite, RADARSAT-2. Being an applied problem, downlink scheduling is characterised with a number of constraints that make it difficult not only to optimise the schedule but even to produce a feasible solution. We propose a fast schedule generation procedure that abstracts the problem specific constraints and provides a simple interface to optimisation algorithms. By comparing empirically several standard meta-heuristics applied to the problem, we select the most suitable one and show that it is clearly superior to the approach currently in use.     

Engineering change: A theoretical assessment and a case study

The competitive playground where nowadays firms struggle to survive has rapidly become unforeseeable: product life cycle has shrunk, becoming even shorter than in the past, and world-wide market is suffering for a strong customer differentiation which led to an increasingly wide product mix. In this industrial environment, the engineering change process is getting more and more attention throughout the branches of industry, as it appears as a critical process which seeps into the operations management core, thus influencing the overall firm's performances. A brief state-of-the-art in the area of engineering change is firstly presented. Then a proposal of classification and a new methodology for an effective engineering change process management are suggested. The new proposed methodology has been successfully applied to a real-life manufacturing system and the related case study is reported at the end of the paper.     

Zero-base budgeting—A technique for planned organizational decline

Many parts of the public sector in Britain are entering a period of cut-back and organizational decline. Current budgetary systems fail to allocate limited resources effectively. The article exposes the defects of incremental budgeting and suggests that Zero-base Budgeting could offer an effective management control system.     

Aligning manufacturing strategy and levels of automation: A case study

Research has shown that alignment between manufacturing strategy and decisions regarding automation are often of an ad hoc nature, i.e. the support for automation decisions is poor. Support tools to find an appropriate level of automation are thus needed in order to achieve more efficient and robust production systems. The methodology presented in this paper contains five sub-processes where the chosen level of automation is aligned with the manufacturing strategy. Together they form an automation strategy, which secures a desired direction of the firm and also supports robustness and reliability of the manufacturing system due to the holistic approach chosen.     

Coordination in collaborative manufacturing mega-networks: A case study

Collaborative manufacturing networks are becoming popular. Today, the scale of these networks can be enormous, and include a complex myriad of partners from numerous companies and organizations spanning several countries and even continents. This paper explores how these partners successfully coordinate projects through an investigation of one such “collaborative manufacturing mega-network” or CMMN in the commercial aerospace industry. The case is analyzed with the aid of the literary state-of-the-art, and a number of organizational, structural, and cultural issues are discussed including mass customization. Finally, some of the most important factors for the successful CMMN are presented.     

Pan-European groupings: A case study in paint manufacture

This complete Case Study, including Teaching Notes, won the 1991 EFMD Case Writing Competition Prize on a European theme, as well as receiving much praise from the judges. The Case concerns a group of four different European paint manufacturers co-operating in an EC Economic Interest Grouping to improve their economic position in European markets. The co-ordination of raw material purchasing policies was the first area of joint action; they obtained significant discounts straight away. Then they could begin to think about competing together against the big paint multinationals established in Europe. Later, talks started on joint investment and technology transfer.Lluis Renart and Francesco Parés have written a stimulating Case Study with Teaching Notes of value to business students and managers wishing to test out their analytical abilities.     

Managing testing activities in telecommunications: A case study

This paper examines ways of managing testing more efficiently and effectively. The importance and the workload of testing have been growing constantly in the telecommunication industry, as a result of shorter product lifecycles and decreased time-to-market. At the same time, the complexity of products has increased with a decrease in physical dimensions. Managers face enormous challenges in developing knowledge and effective testing processes. This case study proposes the application of two models, a testing optimization model and an extended V2M2 (Verification Validation Maturity Model) model, for managing the value of testing. In the empirical part of the study, the present state of testing management is examined.     

Task analysis of healthcare delivery: A case study

Human error and medical error are highly known as contributors to patient safety [Institute of Medicine (IOM), November 1999. To err is human: building a safer health system. Available at: http://www.nap.edu/openbook/0309068371/html/11.html (accessed 05.03.07); Institute of Medicine (IOM), March 2001. Crossing the quality chasm: a new health system for the 21st century. Available at: http://www.nap.edu/openbook/0309072808/html (accessed 05.03.07); Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), 2007. Failure mode, effect, and criticality analysis (FMECA) worksheet. Available at: http://www.jcaho.org (accessed 24.06.07)]. A study was performed to identify the process flow affiliated with elder patients transitioning through different continuums of emergency and non-emergency care. This research is part of a larger research effort to develop and implement a web-based healthcare system that enables hospitals and nursing homes to share patient information resulting in increased knowledge of a patient's medical history, decreased errors and enhanced patient safety. Future research efforts for this study are also presented.     

Product innovation through module dynamics: A case study

The modularity of products is progressing in many industries. This paper uses a case study to analyze the process of integrating personal computer (PC) and numerical control (NC) machine tools, and conceptualizes as module dynamics the product innovation that works in modular products. Module dynamics refers to the process of product innovation that occur in highest-order modules of modular products and that is achieved through a two-stage process of partitioning and integrating modules.     

Integrating commercial and residential pickup and delivery networks: A case study

This paper presents a strategic analysis of the network design problem faced by pickup and delivery companies operating in metropolitan areas and serving two or more classes of customers. The focus is on a division that treats commercial and residential customers separately, a situation motivated by their respective geographic densities and the size and frequency of their demand. In constructing driver work areas, it is necessary to take into account expected demand, vehicle capacity, time on the road, and the aspect ratio of the individual territories. This leads to a capacitated clustering problem with side constraints that has been the subject of intense research over the last decade.