Case Study on Operational Management Essay Example for Free

Case Study on Operational Management Essay Confession: during my dating youth, no matter how much I liked a girl, no matter how much I wanted her and just her exclusively, I’d never tell her that purely for fear of looking weak and pathetic. If we were ever to move beyond the vague, undeclared status that characterizes every relationship in its early phase, well, that would be up to her. Most guys think this way. The problem with this strategy is that sometimes, a guy likes a woman so much that he’d rather not wait for her to initiate The Talk. Or, if you’re like me, you’re over 30 and generally cranky and impatient, so you’d like to know where things stand before too many months of amorphous pseudo-commitment go by. The challenge is to share your feelings in a way that will help you get what you want and won’t make you seem like you’re groveling and/or desperate. Here are some tips to keep in mind. This should seem obvious, but guys can still be presumptuous and make all kinds of embarrassing mistakes. â€Å"I was seeing this girl and I changed my Facebook profile to say ‘In a Relationship,’† admits PJ. â€Å"And she was like, ‘Who are you in a relationship with?’ I was like, ‘You!’ I could tell she wasn’t exactly happy about it.† The lesson: You have to get her to say â€Å"yes† to the idea of dating exclusively before you are in fact dating exclusively. This brings us to our next piece of advice†¦ Browse Local Singles at Match.com on Yahoo! Make sure there’s a good chance she’ll say yes The conventional wisdom is that women are always ready to have a boyfriend. And maybe that was true during the Eisenhower administration. But in the present day of Facebook and the near limitless possibilities of online dating, it is just as likely a woman wants to have what is euphemistically known as â€Å"having fun.† â€Å"Be really careful if she’s just finished a long-term relationship,† says James, a chef. â€Å"Or if she doesn’t return your phone calls right away. If your calls are going right to voicemail, and she doesn’t call you back for like eight hours, she doesn’t want you to be her boyfriend.† The guiding principle in asking a girl to be your girlfriend is to not appear desperate: No matter how good your intentions, you may never recover from it. â€Å"My boyfriend bought me a necklace and literally got on his knees and asked me to be his girlfriend,† says Shelia, a web designer. â€Å"I said ‘yes,’ but it was a little much.† Even less dramatic overtures can still feel over the top. â€Å"I was at dinner with this girl, and I took her hand and said ‘You know I’m not seeing anyone else,’† says Zach, a lawyer. â€Å"I thought we’d have this romantic moment, but she just looked at me like I was crazy.† Given that overboard gestures might make a woman uncomfortable, consider doing what most men do best anyway: asking in a more laid-back manner. Make sure the venue in which you’re asking is mellow as well — no fancy dinners, no propositions in front of family, and so on. Remember: You want to be in the kind of circumstances where her saying â€Å"no† won’t leave you feeling like a dolt for an extended period of time. â€Å"I think while you’re walking her home or driving her home is good,† says Eric. â€Å"That way you’re not stuck at some restaurant with this giant rejection hanging over you if she says no.† So how should you cough it up? A simple â€Å"Hey, I’ve been wondering whether we should date each other exclusively. What do you think?† should work just fine. It reveals your intentions, and yet leaves the door way open for her to say no thanks, she’s not ready for that yet. Another natural segue is if introductions will soon be in order — say, she’s meeting your friends and you’re wondering if you can say she’s your girlfriend. Or consider my friend Rebecca’s story: for around six weeks, she’d been dating this guy who was on break from grad school. â€Å"Then one weekend he was about to leave to go back to school,† she recalls. â€Å"And right before he left he said, ‘By the way, when I tell my friends about you, can I call you my girlfriend?’ I loved that!† Consider ending the relationship if she says no This is a good idea for two reasons. First, there’s nothing sadder than hanging around a girl who wants you a whole lot less than you want her. Remember high school, when you were in love with the girl who only wanted you as a friend? Well, it’s worse, since you’re getting enough relationship crumbs from the table to keep you involved, but not so few that you’re moving on with your life and trying to meet someone new. Second, by moving to end the relationship, you force her to consider life without you†¦ and she has to decide if that’s doable for her. Women are stereotypically the ones who use this tactic: â€Å"Marry me or I’m out of here;† â€Å"We need to settle down or I need to move on,† etc. And the only time we realize how much we love and need them is when they’re out the door. So learn from women. If you’ve done everything else right — you’ve asked her casually, you’ve made sure all the signs that she likes are there, and she still says no — tell her â€Å"I think you’re great, but I’m interested in something more serious.† You might leave with a heart that heals fairly quickly. Or you might get a call from her within a week or two, asking if when she tells her friends about you, she can call you her boyfriend. Steve Hamilton is a New York City-based freelance writer. Case Study on Operational Management. (2017, Jan 19).

The Little Red Roaster Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Little Red Roaster - Case Study Example Center of discussion in this paper is the Little Red Roaster that had been in business since 1994. Owned by Kendra Gordon Green, the company offered a menu of coffees, teas, gourmet beverages, breakfasts, light lunches and snacks. The company had been approached by other companies to diversify its operations into wholesaling and catering. There was also the option of selling the company. The LRR operated in a highly competitive market. Therefore the company could not afford to sit still. The company could expand into wholesaling or catering. The management could also sell the company. Given the fierce competition for market share in retail, the company’s core business, the future strategic direction would involve implementing one of these options. Gordon-Green had to make a decision fast about which option to pursue. The communication theory is relevant in this business situation because of the distribution and logistics issues to be considered. The company would require a wel l-designed communication system in either wholesale or catering. The company’s goal is to maintain net profit at 4.56% of sales. In reaching this goal, the company had three action alternatives. Gordon-Green could sell the company. The LRR could diversify into wholesale. The company could expand the catering capacity. In implementing either option of wholesaling or catering, the company would incur additional costs. In implementing the wholesaling strategy, the LRR should outsource distribution and logistics to D&C. ... So Gordon-Green had to make a decision about which of these future options to pursue. Problems The LRR operated in a highly competitive market. Therefore Gordon-Green had to make a decision fast about the strategic direction of the company. The LRR had been approached by wholesale and catering customers to expand in both industries. However, given the wide spectrum of competitors in the industry, they would not wait long. The LRR had developed strong brand awareness in the retail market. However the company could not afford to sit still given the wide spectrum of competitors, as stated in the case, ranging from multinational corporations to family-run businesses. Given the fierce competition for market share, the LRR had to diversify into other markets. Therefore Gordon-Green had to consider the proposals made by both the student consultant team and the wholesale and catering customers. Given the high level of competitive rivalry in the market, the strategic direction of the company was at stake. However Gordon-Green had three options to consider. She could sell the company or expand in the wholesale business or expand in the catering business. These are the three future options one of which should be selected. Given the fast pace of change in the external environment, the wholesale and catering customers would not wait long before they approached other retail companies. Therefore Gordon-Green was anxious to make a fast decision. If Gordon-Green sold the company, then she would no longer be able to capitalize upon the strong brand awareness that the company had achieved so far. Gordon-Green enjoyed being an entrepreneur and wanted to be in business for herself. However she was also

Marks and Spencer, Method of Operation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Marks and Spencer, Method of Operation - Essay Example It is currently an international company with a whopping over 840 stores in more than 30 countries in the world. This joint venture was not without its challenges especially with its growth and expansion to various other countries other than Britain. It has experienced periods of financial crisis owing to poor sales to a point where they had to sell some of their stores off to other parties among other tough decisions they have been made to make to save the company from crumbling. Nevertheless, they have also had periods of high sales which in turn translated into great profitability and expansion. Their have adopted various strategies in an attempt to maintain and expand their customer base as both external and internal forces are threatening the very core of this business with a history of a long time in operation. Part of these strategies includes the adoption of new marketing strategies that are powerful enough to retain their customers and attract more customers to themselves. Notable also is the expansion of the products they sell where in addition to the traditional engagement in the sale of cloth and food, recent additions to the products base include technological products as well as furniture and homewares. Following is a PEST analysis of the company that will undertake to elaborate the current economic standing of this company and the prospects that are available to it. Marks a Political factors Marks and Spencer have adopted an international inclination towards the attracting of customers to the purchasing of their products. This means that the political factors that affecting their businesses depends on the political environment found in the countries where their stores are based for example the stores based in Britain will operate under the political environment found in Britain while those based in china will operate under china's political environment. Considering that the greatest number of the Marks and Spencer stores (600 out of the approximately 840 in the world) are based in Britain, then I will undertake the pest analysis of the Marks and Spencer stores based in Britain. The political environment in Britain is stable in the sense that Britain is relatively peaceful with no major identified or reported cases of violence making the establishment, growth and expansion of business units realistic and favourable. This contributed greatly towards the establishment and the eventual success of the Marks and Spencer stores as they were offered the chance to grow. It should however be noted that the period of the Second World War gave the growth of this business unit enough challenge. The taxing policy in Britain is relatively low thus allowing for a conducive environment for the establishment and maintenance of a business unit since the business units are hardly suppressed by overtaxing. Adoption of friendly taxing policies is a real plus in the development of business enterprises (Bevan 2001 pp 56-58). Britain is a member of a number of trade unions and other organizations with whom they carry out trade. It is a member of the European Union therefore trades under minimal restrictions with all the other members of this union. This is good for the development of international trade for the business units found in the geographical area covered by it (Richardson 2002p42). At the same time, Britain has developed diplomatic relationships with a great number of nations globally- a stint that makes her