Business Driven Technology 6th Edition by Paige Baltzan

Exercise 152

Operational Mowing
Mary Lou has worked for the same Fortune 500 company for almost 15 years. Although the company had gone through some tough times, things were starting to turn around. Customer orders were up, and quality and productivity had improved dramatically from what they had been only a few years earlier due to a companywide quality improvement program. So it came as a real shock to Mary Lou and about 400 of her co-workers when they were suddenly terminated following the new CEO's decision to downsize the company.
After recovering from the initial shock, Mary Lou tried to find employment elsewhere. Despite her efforts, after eight months of searching she was no closer to finding a job than the day she started. Her funds were being depleted and she was getting more discouraged. There was one bright spot, though: She was able to bring in a little money by mowing lawns for her neighbors. She got involved quite by chance when she heard one neighbor remark that now that his children were on their own, nobody was around to cut the grass. Almost jokingly, Mary Lou asked him how much he'd be willing to pay. Soon Mary Lou was mowing the lawns of 10 neighbors. Other neighbors wanted her to work on their lawns, but she did not feel that she could spare any more time from her job search.
However, as the rejection letters began to pile up, Mary Lou knew she had to make a decision if she would go into business for herself or continue her job search.
By the end of her first year in business, Mary Lou was easily earning a good living. She began performing other services such as fertilizing lawns, weeding gardens, trimming shrubs, and installing sprinkler systems. Business was so good that Mary Lou hired several employees to assist her and believed she could further expand her business. As Mary Lou begins to plan her expansion, she needs your assistance in answering the following questions:
1. In what ways are Mary Lou's customers most likely to judge the quality of her lawn care services
2. Mary Lou is the operations manager of her business. Among her responsibilities are forecasting, inventory management, scheduling, quality assurance, and maintenance.
1. What kinds of things would likely require forecasts
2. What inventory items does Mary Lou probably have Name one inventory decision she has to make periodically.
3. What scheduling must she do What things might occur to disrupt schedules and cause Mary Lou to reschedule
4. How important is quality assurance to Mary Lou's business
3. What are some of the trade-offs that Mary Lou probably considered relative to:
1. Working for a company instead of for herself
2. Expanding the business
3. Launching a website
4. The town is considering an ordinance that would prohibit grass clippings at the curb for pickup because local landfills cannot handle the volume. What options might Mary Lou consider if the ordinance is passed
5. Mary Lou decided to offer her employees a bonus of $250 for ideas on how to improve the business, and they provided several good ideas. One idea that she initially rejected now appears to hold great promise. The employee who proposed the idea has left the company and is currently working for a competitor. Should Mary Lou send the employee a check for the idea