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"In the summer of 2020, amid nationwide protests following George Floyd's murder, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller faced multiple crises: a police department under a federal consent decree, rising violent crime, and COVID-19-related challenges. In response, Keller and his team launched the Albuquerque Community Safety (ACS) department, designed to handle non-violent 911 calls related to mental health, homelessness, and substance abuse by deploying trained professionals instead of police officers. ACS aimed to reduce the burden on police and fire services while addressing root causes of public safety issues through a social justice and public health approach. Despite political opposition from both conservatives and progressives, ACS became operational in September 2021. By 2023, it was successfully diverting thousands of calls from the police and addressing a wide range of community needs. However, the program faced challenges, including media backlash, staff unionization, and concerns about funding and long-term sustainability. The case concludes with Keller navigating these obstacles as he works to institutionalize ACS beyond his tenure."

The primary objective of this case is to introduce the notion of why and how businesses are transforming by leveraging digital information technologies. Additionally, the case reinforces concepts typically covered in today's introductory information technology and systems (ITS) courses. The secondary objective of the case is to illustrate the importance of integrating information technology and operations to operate successfully in today's digital economy. Key IT concepts that can be examined using this case are: (1) the need for a business to leverage technology and transform to survive in today's digital world; (2) the role digital information technologies play in creating new business models; and (3) differentiating digitization and digital transformation in organizations. The supplemental operations management concept examined in this case is: process mapping and process analysis.

Handout for case UV8564

Handout for case UV8564

Handout for case UV8564

An increasing number of companies are using the E-liability carbon-accounting method as an important tool for tracking progress toward reducing global emissions in their supply chains. The system does not require formal accounting for downstream emissions-those occurring after a company sells its products to immediate customers, for several good reasons. Certain companies, however, are accountable for disclosing downstream emissions generated by consumers' use of their products. Three principles govern accountability: (1) Downstream accountability is limited to companies whose products are directly used by end customers. (2) Accountability for B2C companies is limited to cases where a reasonable causal link exists between product-design decisions and the downstream emissions generated by consumers. (3) Companies are accountable for disclosing emissions produced per unit of use, not for total emissions. This article presents the principles and explains how and to what standards of reliability the companies should disclose downstream emissions.

The case describes the current state of the Indian textile (inclusive of apparel) value chain from a circular economy perspective. Looking through the lens of a small startup named Saahas Zero Waste (SZW), the case explores different waste streams in India, the current waste treatment activities, and the challenges in adding waste back into the value chain. Globally, textile is one of the most polluting industries; the rise of fast fashion has worsened the situation over the years. The complexity of the reverse supply chain, quality concerns in recycled materials, and lack of traceability and accountability for different types of waste make it challenging to ensure a closed-loop supply chain. SZW mostly looked at post-consumer textile waste and focused on ensuring both environmental sustainability by diverting waste from landfills and social sustainability by providing training and livelihood for women self-help groups (SHGs). Traditionally, brands were not even ready to take responsibility for their pre-consumer waste, let alone post-consumer waste. The scenario had started changing, thanks to the regulatory landscape in western countries. India being an important sourcing hub for global textile brands, many domestic garment manufacturers started investing in recycled yarn production. While continuing its operation in post-consumer waste, SZW was also eager to partner with brands to complete the cycle by facilitating responsible treatment of both pre-and post-consumer waste and seamlessly reintegrating it back into the value chain. Over the years, the volume of collected waste increased, and SZW started facing multi-faced challenges. Their in-house thrift shop was not ready to handle a higher volume of good quality reusable clothes and upcycled products; it needed proper marketing channels and selling platforms. On the flip side, the volume of recyclable waste was not high enough to achieve economies of scale and be cost-effective.

The World Economic Forum and the consulting firm McKinsey & Company collaborated with academics to create the concept of lighthouse factories in 2018. The concept represents a vision for manufacturing in the digital age, in which cutting-edge digital technologies are designed and deployed to enable innovative manufacturing practices to be implemented at large scale. The concept has since become a global standard for digital manufacturing. For McKinsey & Company, and other consulting firms, this vision brings significant opportunities but also requires these organizations and their consultants to obtain an in-depth and nuanced understanding of lighthouse factories and the underlying business models, practices, technologies, and cases.

In 2020, Ford Motor Company (Ford), a global automaker, embarked on a transformative journey toward electrification with the introduction of the Ford Electric Vehicle Strategy. This case examines Ford’s approach to meeting the electrification challenge, particularly in response to California’s Executive Order N-79-20, which mandated the phase-out of gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035. The case provides insights into Ford’s activities and highlights the challenges and opportunities inherent in the electrification space.

Many executives are under pressure to develop successful data center strategies that work for their organization, according to industry-specific criteria. While data centers have been in use for decades and began as largely in-house centers for proprietary data, they have evolved. In the 2020s, they are more likely to be remote facilities or networks of facilities owned by cloud service providers housing virtualized infrastructure for the shared use of multiple companies and customers. This note offers an overview of the types of data centers, including enterprise, cloud, and colocation; a brief history of data centers; and data center statistics, including especially costs and energy efficiency. With the rise of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and edge computing, among other innovations, data centers are in high demand and evolving to meet it. This note includes video of Jim Miller, a tech industry executive and an expert in the field, discussing hyperscalers, the early days and evolution of data centers, and what's involved in scaling a data center. Along with related notes, this technical note is updated regularly in response to changes in the technology and industry. At the Darden School of Business, it is taught in an MBA course on "Digital Operations."

It was March 2024, and Uiwang Inland Container Depot (ICD) in South Korea was bustling with activity as cargo trains arrived at the depot, unloading containers filled with goods from around the country. Trucks were lined up at the depot, waiting to transport the containers to their final destinations, while workers hurriedly unloaded and stacked containers, ensuring efficient movement of goods through the bustling ICD. Sarah Kim was a seasoned logistics expert with a passion for optimising container logistics operations. Having worked in the logistics industry for over a decade, Sarah had a deep understanding of the complexities involved in managing an ICD in January 2024, she had started working at Terminal 2 of Uiwang ICD, in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Her expertise laid in designing innovative data analytics solutions to enhance operational efficiency and resource utilisation in logistics hubs. But could she use existing information and data to build efficient solutions at the Uiwang ICD?It was March 2024, and Uiwang Inland Container Depot (ICD) in South Korea was bustling with activity as cargo trains arrived at the depot, unloading containers filled with goods from around the country. Trucks were lined up at the depot, waiting to transport the containers to their final destinations, while workers hurriedly unloaded and stacked containers, ensuring efficient movement of goods through the bustling ICD. Sarah Kim was a seasoned logistics expert with a passion for optimising container logistics operations. Having worked in the logistics industry for over a decade, Sarah had a deep understanding of the complexities involved in managing an ICD in January 2024, she had started working at Terminal 2 of Uiwang ICD, in Gyeonggi Province, South Korea. Her expertise laid in designing innovative data analytics solutions to enhance operational efficiency and resource utilisation in logistics hubs. But could she use existing information and data to build efficient solutions at the Uiwang ICD?

Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) was backed by the government in India as an innovative solution to onboard numerous small-scale retailers and other businesses to participate in the digital commerce ecosystem comprised primarily of e-commerce platforms, on-demand food delivery, and ride-sharing platforms, through standard technology and processes, policies, and entrepreneurship. ONDC was officially incorporated in December 2021 under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade as a non-profit section 8 company. As a set of protocols to foster open, unbundled, and interoperable networks, ONDC-enabled communication among various players or entities of an e-commerce transaction. Functions of typical e-commerce such as discovery, matching, order fulfillment, or delivery were unbundled so that multiple players could execute each of these steps independently. ONDC had onboarded seller-side apps (applications interacting with merchants), buyer-side apps (applications interacting with consumers), logistics providers, and customers over the past two years, but the scale of ONDC’s growth was limited compared to existing players. Also, there were considerable questions on ONDC’s decisions pertaining to continual subsidy offerings for sellers and discounts to customers.<br><br>Some success was seen in areas of hyperlocal mobility through apps developed on ONDC such as Namma Yatri and hyperlocal delivery of restaurant food, but order volume was an impending issue. Technology service provider firms stepped forward to help sellers in building and managing services. In the latter half of 2023, Antler Innovation Private Limited ONDC was launched to fund, train, and onboard promising participants in the network. ONDC now had to strategically address areas in which it needed to make investments, whom to subsidize and charge, how to enable scaling, and formulate effective governing policies.

Spreadsheet supplement for case W36854

Indus Motors was a large automotive dealer and service provider in the state of Kerala (India), with a network of five zonal warehouses and 76 service centres. The company was grappling with inventory management issues, such as excess stock and procurement and distribution practices that accounted for higher costs. Although the company had recently implemented an enterprise resource planning system, the management believed that benefits accruing from the digital system and supply chain capabilities were not put to good use. The management was looking to streamline inventory management and procurement and sourcing practices, leveraging technology and analytics capabilities.

Presentation to accompany product W36890.

Student Spreadsheet to accompany product W36889.

In March 2020, the leadership team at Toronto General Hospital (TGH) needs to plan resources to accommodate the new influx of COVID-19 ICU patients. Key resources for ICU capacity include beds, physicians, nurses, and PPE. The current demand coming from two streams of patients (elective surgeries & emergencies) is expected to overwhelm the ICU capacity, but by slowing down elective surgeries, TGH can mitigate the situation. The optimal proportion of COVID to total ICU patients must be analyzed considering the impact on physicians, nurses, patients awaiting elective surgeries, and PPE. The case allows students to take the role of a hospital leader deciding on allocating capacity across resource pools and recommend an ICU action plan.

On New Year’s Eve of 2018, Amjad Dar, head of Brics Online, is considering alternatives going forward for operating Brics Online, a business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce arm of Brics Pakistan (Brics). The main decision to be taken is whether Brics Online should be operated centrally (through a dedicated warehouse) or merged with stores to allow for decentralized operations. Centralized operations in the first year of Brics Online produced considerable losses due to various factors, including the lack of planning, follow-up, and resource capabilities. The managing director of Brics Pakistan, Yoso Manovo, has asked Dar to give his decision on a proposal put forward by two other experienced company personnel to decentralize Brics Online’s operations. Dar knows that his decision will impact the future of not only Brics as a retail organization but also Brics Online and its sustainability. Whatever decision Dar takes should ideally result in optimized operational costs while supporting future growth and expansion for the Brics Online venture.

Early on the morning of April 27, 2020, Justin Oppenheimer stood outside the entrance to the lobby of the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) Pavilion Building with mixed emotions. On one hand, Oppenheimer, HSS' Enterprise Chief Operating Officer and Chief Strategy Officer, was excited that HSS was only two weeks away from resuming in-person outpatient office visits (i.e. physician visits not requiring admission to the hospital). Since the middle of March 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic had forced HSS and other hospitals in New York to suspend nearly all outpatient office visits in an effort to slow the spread of respiratory illness. The Outpatient Care Task Force (OCTF) chaired by Oppenheimer had anticipated the difficulty of reopening while the future of the pandemic was still uncertain and made various accommodations, including dramatically limiting physicians' schedules. Simulations run by the OCTF, however, suggested that even with these accommodations, several patients would be forced to wait outside of the Pavilion building. Given HSS' reputation for patient experience and that many patients seen at HSS suffered from ailments that made it painful to stand, Oppenheimer knew that asking people to wait outside of the building would not (and should not) be tolerated for long, particularly during inclement weather. Oppenheimer opened his phone and sent an urgent meeting request to OCTF to see what further adjustments could be made to alleviate this problem.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case IM007B