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The general manager of the Wilkins plant in Paso Robles, California has received instructions from head office to reduce inventory by 30 per cent in the next quarter. Although inventory had been accumulating over the past years, this has been seen as a benefit to the company for a couple of reasons. One is that the cost of raw materials has risen in the past year. The second is that the company has a policy of no layoffs, so having inventory in stock allows the company to minimize the use of overtime and temporary workers. The general manager wondered whether revising the production planning process would be enough to solve Wilkins' inventory problems.

The general manager of the Wilkins plant in Paso Robles, California has received instructions from the head office to reduce inventory by 30% in the next quarter. Although inventory had been accumulating over the past years, this had been seen as a benefit to the company for a couple of reasons. One is that the cost of raw materials has risen in the past year. The second is that the company has a policy of no layoffs, so having inventory in stock allows the company to minimize the use of overtime and temporary workers. The general manager wondered whether revising the production planning process would be enough to solve Wilkins' inventory problems.

The founder of Skadurz Pro, a skateboard, snowboard and clothing store has a tough decision to make regarding the future of his business and its two retail stores. His mother is ready to retire from her position as his business partner, and a large national competitor is about to open a franchise in direct competition with one of his outlets. It appears that the new competition will have severe impact on the company, and he must decide how he will face the challenge. Should he turn his attention to other ventures that spur his imagination, or try to maintain the unique position his business has carved for itself.

The owner/operator of a tanning salon is reviewing recommendations from a tanning distribution consultant regarding the business he had recently purchased. The owner knew that the salon needed improvements when he purchased it, but he was unsure how he wanted to proceed in doing so. The tanning consultant had presented the owner with a number of options. The owner must decide if he wants to simply upgrade the current tanning equipment or purchase new units. Students will be introduced to operational issues in service business, and will understand the importance of considering customer needs when purchasing new equipment in a service business. They will also perform a trade-off analysis based on qualitative and quantitive factors.

The owners of a bar & grill located in a major tourist area must decide how to deal with the non-smoking bylaw that is being considered for the township it's located in. The bar & grill serves two different groups: a large number of tourists during the summer and local patrons who frequent the bar throughout the year. The owners are concerned how this bylaw will affect business during the slower winter months. The case allow students to produce a plan that deals with how to influence public-sector decision-makers, deal with multiple customer groups with the possibly conflicting interests, and motivating staff to implement a course of action with which they might not personally agree.

The director of communications at a large university has reviewed results of a communication survey completed by employees. He is pleased that the overall results were favourable, but is concerned with comments in a recent employee newsletter that provided negative feedback of the survey. It is the director's responsibility to take the results of the research and develop a formal communications plan, but as he compares the study findings to the article is confused as to how he should tackle the problem.