Service Operations Strategies
Final Exam

Please answer all three questions fully. Take your time. Think about your responses and ‘try out’ some of these responses. They may look ‘better’ or ….not as complete a day or two after you initially write them. As such, your response , often, requires some iteration and refining.

Question 1

You’ve visited Biscuits & Bath, America’s largest ( ! ) full-service , chain dog care business. You have B&B’s service fee schedule. Please note the below NYT article about “The High Cost of Animal Ownership.” One couple featured in the article spends upwards of $15,000/yr to care for their dog. ( at least they don’t have to pay for college costs ) B&B is a premier and premium-priced service. They make no bones about this. Our visit highlighted the detailed research B&B ( and , in particular, Scott Smith, his partner , and Scott’s wife, Julie …..did in terms of service, operations, health care, and legal issues ) did and continues to do to constantly improve their service and operations.

I, also, point out Maersk Lines . Maersk is the world’s largest container shipping service. They provide “womb-to-tomb” service to transport a customer’s goods. A more accurate characterization of Maersk’s service might be point-to-point. Maersk will deliver a container to your location, wait for you to load the container, pick up the container, load it onto a Maersk freight ship, and deliver the container to its destination. You can’t get much simpler and easy-to-use service than that. ( is this an hint as to one of the ‘3 lists’ factors ….usability, learnability ? )

Please study the websites for Biscuits and Bath and Maersk Lines and describe how they address or don’t address ( or don’t need to address ) each of the factors noted in our “3 Lists .” This question doesn’t want you to compare the two firms, but analyze how the two firms address each of the factors noted in the ‘3 Lists.’

In both instances, the firms’ websites provide excellent description(s) of their services and will help you analyze and identify the factors needed for this questions.

Question 2

We’ve seen Don Novello’s character, Father Guido Sarducci ( the official gossip columnist of the Vatican) describe his thoughts about a “Five Minute University.” In the video we saw about this topic, Novello hits upon a cynical , but , unfortunately, true sentiment that ….five years after graduation from college, (too) many people only remember TWO things from any one course they’ve taken ( if they can remember the courses they took ! )

In Mgt 4500, the capstone undergraduate course for Operations Management majors, Baruch’s Management Department faculty aim to sharpen our students’ analytical approach and abilities by reviewing a series of case studies and identifying the SINGULAR, primary issue ( ‘problem’) addressed in the case an the SINGULAR , primary solution to this issue/problem.

In the spirit of the Five Minute University and Mgt 4500, I want you to identify what you consider the two most important topics, factors, or points presented in Mgt 9720. Please be thorough in your description, rationale, and analysis. I want to fully understand your thoughts as regards why you feel the two items identified are THE most important topics/points …..emphasized in the course.

Question 3

You’ve read The Long Tail by Chris Anderson and Ellen Ruppel Shell’s Cheap : The High Cost of Discount Culture. You may have also read Anderson’s follow-on book, “ Free” …along with Tom Friedman’s The World is Flat and/or David Hacket Fischer’s The Great Wave . I , heartily, recommend you read all four books ….along with Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma and Nassim Nicholas Teleb’s The Black Swan. These six books will quickly give you a good sense of where the world has been and where it might be heading in terms of social mores, goods and services demanded, and ways to meet and exceed customer expectations. [ To round out your contemporary reading, you may want to look at Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs, and Steel.

We’ve studied yield management, the concept of positioning, the various images humans have of ourselves, and the trajectory of getting from Dick Tracey’s wrist-radio to the iPad. We’ve discussed doing business via e-commerce, the Internet versus traditional bricks and mortar retail operations.

How can you most effectively incorporate The Long Tail, yield management, and The World is Flat concepts to provide a service that can meet and exceed customer expectations. Please be specific as to the SERVICE you would provide and how you would incorporate the three factors noted in the first sentence of this paragraph. Please consider why you would choose yield management over service level differentiation as your competitive and pricing technique. The below article might help you shape your response.

http://blogs.smartmoney.com/paydirt/2011/05/10/would-you-pay-160-for-delta%E2%80%99s-extra-leg-room/