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American Airlines is a widely cited leader in the development and implementation of yield management practices. This case is based on a training exercise used at American Airlines to introduce managers to their yield management system. Participants are given the responsibility for a single flight from Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas to Miami, Florida and are required to make a series of sequential booking decisions in real time. The objective of the exercise is to maximize total revenue for the flight, after taking into account no-shows and penalties. De-briefing following the exercise provides an opportunity to discuss both the strategic and tactical issues that arise when applying yield management systems in service firms. The case is designed for use in a service management elective course or in a service operations course and is intended to expose students to yield management by giving them hands-on experience managing bookings for a flight. The game takes approximately 50 minutes to play, leaving approximately 30 minutes for class discussion. Ideally, a supplemental reading dealing with yield management should be assigned with the case in order to provide background theory on yield management and to describe the complexities of a yield management system.

Inventories exist in virtually every organization, and can serve any number of purposes. However, they can also represent a significant investment. Consequently, an important challenge facing managers is balancing the economic benefits of less frequent orders or setups versus the costs of holding inventory. This note provides an introduction to managing independent demand inventory items. It reviews the basic techniques associated with independent demand items, including fixed order quantity and fixed time period systems, and the ABC inventory classification system. The note is intended to address the questions of how much to order (the lot size issue) and when to order (the reorder point issue).

The basics of project management are described and applied to a simple tutorial problem. The steps for project management, as well as the calculation of the critical path, using CPM, are presented.

Unicon supplies pre-cast concrete products to the flourishing construction market in Hong Kong. Mr. Li, the deputy managing director, is evaluating an opportunity to pursue a "blanket" regulatory approval for Unicon's custom-designed concrete products with its largest customer, the Hong Kong Housing Authority. This opportunity promised to offer cost savings to both Unicon and this customer, although questions remain about the broader implications for Unicon's manufacturing operations and other customers. At the same time, management must develop a plan to expand its manufacturing capacity if Unicon hopes to capitalize on the rapidly expanding market and fend off new competitors from mainland China.

Unicon supplies pre-cast concrete products to the flourishing construction market in Hong Kong. The deputy managing director, is evaluating an opportunity to pursue a blanket regulatory approval for Unicon's custom-designed concrete products with its largest customer, the Hong Kong Housing Authority. This opportunity promised to offer cost savings to both Unicon and this customer, although questions remain about the broader implications for Unicon's manufacturing operations and other customers. At the same time, management must develop a plan to expand its manufacturing capacity if Unicon hopes to capitalize on the rapidly expanding market and fend off new competitors from mainland China.

The basics of project management are described and applied to a simple tutorial problem. Microsoft Project, as one software tool, is used in the context of the tutorial project. The steps for project management, as well as the calculation of the critical path, using Critical Path Method, are presented.

A product development manager must plan the launch of a new toy for the upcoming Christmas season. This exercise provides a basic introduction to applying project planning techniques and associated calculations, and can be used in conjunction with computer project planning software. Activity times and their precedence relationships are explicitly given, and the students can plan and replan the project to meet the schedule deadline. (A Microsoft Project files, products 7A97D002A, 7A97D002B and 7A97D002C are available for use with this case.)

Simulation is commonly used as a decision tool by managers in marketing, engineering, production, finance and many other disciplines. Managers simulate processes to gain a better understanding of their processes, diagnose problems, train new employees, and explore possibilities. Both the advent of powerful personal computers and the development of graphically driven simulation packages have contributed to this greater adoption. This note describes process simulation and illustrates the techniques with a tutorial model of a deli operation. (An Extend simulation file, product 7A96D009, is available for this case.)

The environmental coordinator at the Chatham Assembly Plant of Navistar International Corporation, must develop a total waste management program which addresses both corporate waste reduction objectives and regulatory requirements. At the time of the case, a plant-wide waste audit had just been completed by an outside contractor in response to the introduction of provincial legislation, referred to as 3R Regulations. The environmental coordinator must assess the competitive implications of different alternatives, design the program, decide which materials will be recycled, identify who will be involved in implementation, and take into account the reaction of different stakeholder groups. (A sequel to this case titled Navistar: Environmental Management (B), case 9A96D002, is available.)