Category: Essays

Focus of the Final Paper

The final assignment for the course is a Final Paper on two cases. The Final Paper should demonstrate understanding of the reading as well as the implications of new knowledge. The eight- to ten-page paper should integrate readings and course discussions into work and life experiences. It may include an explanation and examples from previous experiences as well as implications for future applications.

Read the case study at the end of Chapter 15 and the case study at the end of Chapter 16, and thoroughly answer all the following questions. Supplement your answers with scholarly research using the Ashford Online Library. Each case study should be addressed in four to five pages, resulting in a combined Final Paper of eight to ten pages.

Chapter 15 Case Study: The Realco Breadmaster

1. Develop a master production schedule for the breadmaker. What do the projected ending inventory and available-to-promise numbers look like? Has Realco “overpromised”? In your view, should Realco update either the forecast or the production numbers?

2. Comment on Jack’s approach to order promising. What are the advantages? The disadvantages? How would formal master scheduling improve this process? What organizational changes would be required?

3. Following up on Question 2, which do you think is worse, refusing a customer’s order upfront because you don’t have the units available or accepting the order and then failing to deliver? What are the implications for master scheduling?

4. Suppose Realco produces 20,000 breadmakers every week, rather than 40,000 every other week. According to the master schedule record, what impact would this have on average inventory levels?

Chapter 16 Case Study: A Bumpy Road for Toyota

1. Is Toyota’s focus on quality consistent with the Lean philosophy? Can a firm actually follow the Lean philosophy without having a strong quality focus? Explain.

2. Who are the “coordinators” referred to in the article? What role have they played in educating Toyota’s workforce in promoting the TPS (Toyota Production System) philosophy? Why are they so hard to replicate?

3. According to Hajime Oba, what is wrong with Detroit’s approach to Lean? Based on your understanding of American auto manufacturers, do you agree or disagree?

4. There is an old saying “Haste makes Waste.” How does this apply to what is happening in the Georgetown plant? What is Toyota doing about it?

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Value Index. Complete Problem 1 from the end of Chapter 2: You have just graduated from college and are looking to buy your first car. Money is tight right now, so you are concerned with initial cost as well as ongoing expenses. At the same time, you don’t want to drive a slow, ugly car like your parents do. You have narrowed your choices down to two vehicles: a Honda Enigma and a Porsche Booster. Based on the rankings in the table (found under Chapter 1, Problem 2 in the textbook), calculate the value index for each car. Which car provides you with the greatest value? Use formulas to calculate the answer to one decimal point. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings

Business Mapping of Processes. From Chapter 3, Problem 13, read the current home equity loan process at Faircloth Financial and map the current process. Identify any rework loops and delays in the process. What causes these? What is the impact on cycle times? How might this affect customers’ willingness to do business with Faircloth? What changes might you recommend to redesign this process with the needs of the customer in mind? Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings.

Gantt vs. Network Based Approach. From the end of Chapter 5, complete Discussion Question 3: What are the main advantages of using a network-based approach to project management rather than a Gantt chart? Under what circumstances might a Gantt chart be preferable to a network-based approach? Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings.

Expected Values and Decision Trees. From the end of Chapter 8, consider the two capacity options for Arktec manufacturing from Problem 2 and the three possible demand scenarios from Problem 4, then complete Problem 5. First, draw the decision tree for Arktec Manufacturing. When drawing your tree, assume that managers must select a capacity option before they know what the demand level will actually be. Then, calculate the expected value for each decision branch. Which option would you prefer and why? Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings.

Forecasting Models. From Chapter 9, answer Discussion Question 1: Which forecasting techniques do you think Ford should have used to forecast changes in the demand, supply, and price of palladium? Time series models? Causal models? Qualitative models? Justify your answer and respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings.

Pros and Cons of Outsourcing. From Chapter 10, answer Discussion Question 1: What are some of the pros and cons of outsourcing? Why do you think many firms are experiencing an increase in their levels of outsourcing? Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings.

Spend Analysis. From the end of Chapter 11, read the Case Study: The ABCs of Spend Analysis. Respond to the following questions in a one to three page document to submit to your instructor. The submission must adhere to APA style guidelines and should include at least two scholarly references.

a. Why are data analysis skills and thinking so important to spend analysis? Can’t software applications be used to generate the information needed automatically?

b. How might a structured process such as Six Sigma methodology (Chapter 3) be useful here?

c. Why is it important to get other functional areas, notably finance, involved in spend analysis efforts? Can you think of some other functional areas that should be involved?

Level vs. Chase Production Plan. From the end of Chapter 13, answer Discussion Question 3: In general, under what conditions might a firm favor a level production plan over a chase plan? A chase production plan over a level plan? Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings.

JIT/EOQ/ROP Interrelationships. From the end of Chapter 14, answer Discussion Question 6: The just-in-time (JIT) movement has long argued that firms should

a. Maximize their process flexibility so that ordering costs are minimal;

b. Stabilize demand levels;

c. Shrink lead times as much as possible; and

d. Assign much higher holding costs to inventory than has traditionally been the case.

Using the economic order quantity (EOQ) and reorder point (ROP) formulas, explain how such efforts would be consistent with JIT’s push for lower inventory levels. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings

ERP Solutions. From the end of Chapter 15S, answer Discussion Question 4: SAP is the world leader in enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems software, and has developed tailored ERP systems for different industries. Go to SAP Industry Solutions and examine the solutions for (1) a service industry and (2) a manufacturing industry of your choice. How are they similar? How are they different? Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings.

Calculation of Kanban Cards. From the end of Chapter 16, answer Discussion Question 4: The chapter notes that kanban is not a planning tool but a control mechanism. What does this mean? How does the Marsica MRP-kanban example in Example 16.4 in Chapter 16 of the textbook illustrate the point? Respond to at least two of your classmates’ postings.

Focus of the Final Paper

The final assignment for the course is a Final Paper on two cases. The Final Paper should demonstrate understanding of the reading as well as the implications of new knowledge. The eight- to ten-page paper should integrate readings and course discussions into work and life experiences. It may include an explanation and examples from previous experiences as well as implications for future applications.

Read the case study at the end of Chapter 15 and the case study at the end of Chapter 16, and thoroughly answer all the following questions. Supplement your answers with scholarly research using the Ashford Online Library. Each case study should be addressed in four to five pages, resulting in a combined Final Paper of eight to ten pages.

Chapter 15 Case Study: The Realco Breadmaster

1. Develop a master production schedule for the breadmaker. What do the projected ending inventory and available-to-promise numbers look like? Has Realco “overpromised”? In your view, should Realco update either the forecast or the production numbers?

2. Comment on Jack’s approach to order promising. What are the advantages? The disadvantages? How would formal master scheduling improve this process? What organizational changes would be required?

3. Following up on Question 2, which do you think is worse, refusing a customer’s order upfront because you don’t have the units available or accepting the order and then failing to deliver? What are the implications for master scheduling?

4. Suppose Realco produces 20,000 breadmakers every week, rather than 40,000 every other week. According to the master schedule record, what impact would this have on average inventory levels?

Chapter 16 Case Study: A Bumpy Road for Toyota

1. Is Toyota’s focus on quality consistent with the Lean philosophy? Can a firm actually follow the Lean philosophy without having a strong quality focus? Explain.

2. Who are the “coordinators” referred to in the article? What role have they played in educating Toyota’s workforce in promoting the TPS (Toyota Production System) philosophy? Why are they so hard to replicate?

3. According to Hajime Oba, what is wrong with Detroit’s approach to Lean? Based on your understanding of American auto manufacturers, do you agree or disagree?

4. There is an old saying “Haste makes Waste.” How does this apply to what is happening in the Georgetown plant? What is Toyota doing about it?

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Firm Objectives. Why do some business firms pursue a triple-bottom-line outcome while others focus only on profit maximization? Please, use a real company example to illustrate your points

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Decision Making Under Uncertainty. To save on gasoline expenses, Edith and Mathew agreed to carpool together for traveling to and from work. Edith preferred to travel on I-20 highway as it was usually the fastest, taking 25 minutes in the absence of traffic delays. Mathew pointed out that traffic jams on the highway can lead to long delays making the trip 45 minutes. He preferred to travel along Shea Boulevard, which was longer (35 minutes), but rarely had traffic jams. Edith agreed that in case of traffic jams, Shea Boulevard was a reasonable alternative. Neither of them knows the state of the highway ahead of time.

After driving to work on the I-20 highway for 1 month (20 workdays), they found the highway to be jammed 3 times. Assuming that this month is a good representation of all months ahead, should Edith and Mathew continue to use the highway for traveling to work?

How would you conclusion change for the winter months, if bad weather makes it likely for traffic jams on the highway to increase to 6 days per month?

How would your conclusion change if Mathew purchased a new smart-phone app that could show the status of the highway traffic prior to their drive each morning, thus reducing the probability of them getting into a jam down to only 1day per month (where on this day, the app showed no traffic jam, but a jam developed in the meantime as they were driving along the highway).

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Economics of Risk and Uncertainty Applied Problems. Please, complete the following 3 applied problems in a Word or Excel document. Show all your calculations and explain your results. Submit your assignment in the drop box by using the Assignment Submission button.

1. A generous university benefactor has agreed to donate a large amount of money for student scholarships. The money can be provided in one lump-sum of $10mln, or in parts, where $5.5mln can be provided in year 1, and another $5.5mln can be provided in year 2. Assuming the opportunity interest rate is 6%, what is the present value of the second alternative? Which of the two alternatives should be chosen and why?

How would your decision change if the opportunity interest rate was 12%? Please, show all your calculations.

2. Volkswagen is considering opening an Assembly Plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee, for the production of its 2012 Passat, tailored for the US market. The CEO of the company is considering two potential options for the size of the plant: one is a large size with a projected annual production of 150,000 cars, and the other one is a smaller size plant, which is cheaper to build, but can only produce up to 80,000 cars per year. Depending on the expected level of demand for these cars in the US, Volkswagen has to decide which option is more profitable. The discount rate is 6% and for simplicity purposes, the CEO is only evaluating a two-year horizon. The initial factory setup cost, the expected demand scenarios, profit, and probabilities are shows in the below table. Calculate the Net Present Value in each of the two options. Which option should the CEO choose and why? Please, show all your calculations.

3. An angel investor is considering investing in one of two start-up businesses and is evaluating the expected returns along with the risk of each option in order to choose the better alternative.

Business 1 is an innovative protein energy drink, which has ENPV of $100,000 with a standard deviation of $40,000.

Business 2 is a unique chicken wings dipping sauce with an ENPV of $60,000 and a standard deviation of $25,000.

a) Apply the coefficient-of-variation decision criterion to these alternatives to find out which is preferred by the angel investor, assuming that he/she is risk-averse.

b) Apply the maximin criterion, assuming that the worst outcome in Business 1 is to lose $5,000, whereas the worst outcome in Business 2 is to make only $5,000 in profit.

c) If you were the angel investor, what is your certainty equivalent for these two projects? Are you risk-averse, risk-neutral, or risk-lover?

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Marginal Rate of Substitution. What is the marginal rate of substitution (MRS) and why does it diminish as the consumer substitutes one product for another? Use examples to illustrate

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Demand Elasticity. Please, read the article Hainer, R. (2010), provided in the required readings section for this week. The tobacco industry is a prime example to consider when talking about price elasticity of demand. While nicotine use can be addictive for many users, it is not addictive for the so-called “social smokers”.

What can we say about the price elasticity of demand for nicotine products (such as cigarettes, pipes, tobacco) in the group of nicotine addicted users, versus the group of “social smokers”? Can we say whose demand is likely to be more elastic? Why?

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Consumer Demand Analysis and Estimation Applied Problems. Please, complete the following 3 applied problems in a Word or Excel document. Show all your calculations and explain your results. Submit your assignment in the drop box by using the Assignment Submission button.

1. Roshima is researching universities where she could study for her MBA degree. She is considering 3 major attributes that she considers important in her choice: ranking, price, and location. The value she places on each attribute, however, differs according to whether she remains full-time employed during her studies or quits her job and focuses on her degree. If she continues to work full time and takes all her courses online, then ranking is the most important attribute, twice as important as price and three times as important as location. If she quits her job and attends school full time, then location becomes three times as important as ranking and twice as important as price. She is considering two universities, respectively, the MBA program at Arizona State University (ASU) and the MBA program at University of Phoenix (UOP), both of which are priced at approximately $25,000. She has rated each attribute on a scale of 1 to 100 for each of the two schools.

a. Which of the two options should Roshima pursue of she wants to keep her full-time job? (Calculate the total expected utility from each school option and compare. Graph is not required)

b. Which of the two options should she pick if she plans to quit her job and dedicate to her studies?

c. Which option should she pursue if the probability of being laid off and unable to find a new job is estimated as 0.6? Show your calculations and explain your reasoning.

2. The demand function for Einstein Bagels has been estimated as follows:

– 40.73Px + 84.17Py + 0.55Ax

where Qx represents thousands of bagels; Px is the price per bagel; Py is the average price per bagel of other brands of bagels; and Ax represents thousands of dollars spent advertising Einstein Bagels. The current values of the independent variables are , , and

a. Calculate the price elasticity of demand for Einstein’s Bagels and explain what it means.

b. Derive an expression for the (inverse) demand curve for Einsteins’s Bagels.

c. If the cost of producing Einstein’s Bagels is constant at $0.10 per bagel, should they reduce price and thereafter, sell more bagels (assume profit maximization is the company’s goal)?

d. Should Einstein Bagels spend more on advertising?

3. The consulting firm that you work for has been hired by the US Government to provide an independent analysis of the demand-side effects of a contemplated increase in the tax on gasoline. They provide you with a data set relating to the period 1962-1987, which they say contains valuable historic lessons relating to the impact of volatile pump prices due to the supply restrictions imposed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations that required car manufacturers to increase the fuel efficiency of the cars they sold, while at the same time Real Disposable Income (RDI) per capita was rising, the number of passenger cars (NPC) almost doubled, and inflation was pushing up the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Where: Qx is the gasoline consumption by passenger cars (in millions of gallons);

Px is the retail (pump) price of gasoline, in cents per gallon;

NPC is the number of registered passenger cars (in thousands);

MPG is the national average of miles travelled per gallon of gasoline;

RDI is Real Disposable Income per capita (in 1982 dollars); and

CPI is the Consumer Price Index (base year 1967).

This data illustrates some very interesting issues that were happening over that tumultuous period of our history. You will note that the pump price of gasoline more than doubled five-fold from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, and then doubled again in the early 1980s, due to the OPEC crises. The number of passenger cars climbed relentlessly with the love affair with ‘muscle cars’ despite the increasing pump price of gasoline, and indeed outpacing the increases in real disposable income per capita. The average MPG climbed only slowly as manufacturers increased the fuel efficiency of new cars and consumers slowly traded up to the more efficient cars new cars and retired their older vehicles. The changes in CPI show that the rate of inflation was generally much greater than the rate of increase of pump prices as the increased production and transportation costs due to rising fuel prices pervaded the entire economy, pushing up the prices of food and other household items that drive the CPI.

a. Reconcile the fact that while the quantity demanded of gasoline and pump prices both rise over this period generally, they are inversely related along a demand curve.

b. Conduct a multiple regression analysis to explain the quantity demanded of gasoline in terms of the other data provided. (Transpose this data into an Excel spread-sheet and use the Excel regression tool, if loaded, or alternatively download an ‘add-in’ regression program such as ‘Statpro’ to find the regression statistics).

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Relevant Costs. Two partners own together a small landscaping business in North Carolina, called Summer Lawn Care. They have been specializing in summer grass seeding, installation, and maintenance. Recently, the partners acquired special technology and know-how for winter grass installations and maintenance. They also added a tree cutting service as recent storms in the area had caused demand for this service to soar. One of the partners insists that the name of the business should change to Lawn and Tree Care, so that it better reflects the range of services and, thus, generates more customer interest, and thus contracts. The second partner wants to keep the old name and argues, “We have already paid for business cards, vehicle paint, signage, and ads in Yellow Pages”. Evaluate the arguments of the two partners. Explain and illustrate their points by identifying the relevant and irrelevant costs for this decision.

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Contribution Analysis. Explain what is meant by “contribution analysis”. Carefully define the term and provide examples to illustrate it.

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