個案總覽

Buoyed by the success of Le BockAle, originally a micro-client, WIPTEC president Martin Ball believed he could benefit greatly from serving a wide range of micro-, small, medium, and large clients at his company's new distribution centre in Longueuil, Quebec. Because of their large order volumes, his medium and large clients were already generating substantial revenues for WIPTEC. While micro- and small clients did not generate similar revenues, Ball reasoned that if they could capture untapped marketplaces, they would experience exponential growth, and if he supported them during their growth phase, he would be rewarded with much higher business volumes. Ball had thus pledged to provide local businesses with the logistical support they needed to grow, but traditional warehousing principles were not flexible and scalable enough to handle the resulting product variations and fluctuations in order size. He had therefore asked his project manager to work with the system integrator to choose one or more technologies that could integrate micro-clients and improve existing processes to reduce service costs for existing clients. The system integrator had shortlisted a few person-to-goods (PTG), goods-to-person (GTP), and automation sortation technologies and submitted them to the project manager for further discussion.

The case begins in January 2014, when Brad Parsons, CEO of the NEA Baptist Health System, decided to take advantage of the inauguration of a new hospital to begin a profound organizational transformation. The deployment of a new management system called the Baptist Management System (BMS) to lay the foundations for a patient-centred culture of continuous improvement was launched. A few years earlier, the Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation (hereinafter, Baptist Corporation) had hired Skip Steward as chief improvement officer. Together Parsons and Steward spearheaded the transformation at NEA Baptist, designated the model site for the entire corporation. The development of the new management system was based partly on systems seen elsewhere (such as at Denver Health) but also, and more importantly, on the reflections of its leaders and their own learning experiences. As Steward said, "Everything is an experiment!" This case explores three major questions: 1) What are the key success factors for the successful deployment of a management system? 2) What skills do the organization's leaders need to guide the transformation and introduce the new management system? 3) How can they ensure the sustainability of that new management system?

The case begins in January 2014, when Brad Parsons, CEO of the NEA Baptist Health System, decided to take advantage of the inauguration of a new hospital to begin a profound organizational transformation. The deployment of a new management system called the Baptist Management System (BMS) to lay the foundations for a patient-centred culture of continuous improvement was launched. A few years earlier, the Baptist Memorial Health Care Corporation (hereinafter, Baptist Corporation) had hired Skip Steward as chief improvement officer. Together Parsons and Steward spearheaded the transformation at NEA Baptist, designated the model site for the entire corporation. The development of the new management system was based partly on systems seen elsewhere (such as at Denver Health) but also, and more importantly, on the reflections of its leaders and their own learning experiences. As Steward said, "Everything is an experiment!" This case explores three major questions: 1) What are the key success factors for the successful deployment of a management system? 2) What skills do the organization's leaders need to guide the transformation and introduce the new management system? 3) How can they ensure the sustainability of that new management system?