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The case shows how concepts from operations management can be applied to a service setting (as opposed to manufacturing). With private equity as the setting, it aims to help students understand how to use systematic process and queuing analysis to design a professional service operation. Please visit the dedicated case website https://cases.insead.edu/durian-capital to access supplementary material.

The case shows how concepts from operations management can be applied to a service setting (as opposed to manufacturing). With private equity as the setting, it aims to help students understand how to use systematic process and queuing analysis to design a professional service operation. Please visit the dedicated case website https://cases.insead.edu/durian-capital to access supplementary material.

The case shows how concepts from operations management can be applied to a service setting (as opposed to manufacturing). With private equity as the setting, it aims to help students understand how to use systematic process and queuing analysis to design a professional service operation. Please visit the dedicated case website https://cases.insead.edu/durian-capital to access supplementary material.

On October 13, 2015, the regional director of DHL Global Forwarding (DGF) was reviewing reports in preparation for a team meeting in Bengaluru, India. DGF provided air and ocean freight forwarding services. In September, the regional director’s team had successfully rolled out a new consolidation program in three Indian cities: Hyderabad, Bengaluru, and Chennai. While glancing through the respective consolidation teams’ reports, however, several questions occurred to the director: Was DGF paying more to airlines on specific days of the week in these three cities? Should the company continue to run the consolidation program in these locations? How could DGF consolidate its clients’ requirements across these cities? Would such consolidation benefit the company? The director had just one day to come up with a new plan for presentation at the next team meeting.

Kate Wilson, retail analytics manager at Flashion-a fashion flash-sale site-is tasked with developing analytics to optimize pricing for first-exposure products on the site. Many in the industry have relied on years of experience and intuition to determine pricing, can Wilson provide new insights?

Headquartered in Hangzhou (China), Ant Financial has grown into a fintech "Unicorn." The fintech empire that the company established spanned verticals such as mobile and online payment (Alipay), money market fund (Yu'e Bao), wealth management (Ant Fortune), digital-only banking (MYbank), credit scoring (Zhima Credit ), and consumer credit portal (Ant Credit Pay) among others. After another sales record during the 2016 11.11 Global Shopping Festival along with Alibaba, Long Chen, Chief Strategy Officer of Ant Financial was contemplating the various opportunities and challenges associated with the firm's international expansion, inclusive finance in rural regions, and regulatory uncertainties.

The case describes how A. Lange & Sohne became one of world's leading watch companies. Its obsession with quality and innovation were behind its initial rise in the 19th century and, after a 40-year involuntary hiatus under the East German regime, again at the end of the 20th century. In 2016 its current CEO Wilhelm Schmid and the heads of product development and production have to decide on how to price its innovative watch collection and how to grow the Glashutte-based watchmaker.

Silver Spark Apparel Ltd. (SSAL), established in 2004 near Bangalore, India, was a wholly owned subsidiary of Raymond Ltd. The plant had significant expertise in the manufacturing of jackets. SSAL faced a significant challenge when it came to the attraction and retention of workers, with the predominantly female workers often citing family issues as a reason for quitting. In order to combat attrition, SSAL’s head of human resources had initiated various employee engagement initiatives that had helped the company reach fourth place in manufacturing and production among “India’s Best Companies to Work For, 2014.” Nevertheless, the high rate of attrition had not been stemmed, and the data for the first quarter of 2015 was alarming.

Silver Spark Apparel Ltd. (SSAL), established in 2004 near Bangalore, India, was a wholly owned subsidiary of Raymond Ltd. The plant had significant expertise in the manufacturing of jackets. SSAL faced a significant challenge when it came to the attraction and retention of workers, with the predominantly female workers often citing family issues as a reason for quitting. In order to combat attrition, SSAL's head of human resources had initiated various employee engagement initiatives that had helped the company reach fourth place in manufacturing and production among "India's Best Companies to Work For, 2014." Nevertheless, the high rate of attrition had not been stemmed, and the data for the first quarter of 2015 was alarming.

In 2017, executives at OpenNotes, a national movement to improve the relationship between doctors and patients by sharing doctors' visit notes about patients with patients, were considering options in efforts to achieve scale. The movement hoped to reach 50 million patients by 2020. One opportunity was building an OpenNotes app for smartphones, in which patients could access their visit notes on their phones through an app compatible with Apple CareKit. But OpenNotes had other options, including partnerships with consumer groups and insurers. In addition, they would always have a role in encouraging doctors and institutions to share notes more readily. What was the best way to scale OpenNotes? Was it the app route, or some other way to pursue the group's ambitions?

The case deals with the value chain of soya and red gram, from the farm to the market. The activities are conducted through the system of cooperatives focused around the Adilabad district in Andhra Pradesh, India. The organization providing the necessary support and training to the cooperatives is Centre for Collective Development (CCD) which was set up in 2004. The case specifically deals with operations in Adilabad where CCD has helped 765 farmers trade 535.6 tons of soybean (2013-14) through the ''pool, store and sell'' business model. This number has reduced, though to 520 farmers trading 314.7 tons in 2014-2015. The case describes the circumstances leading to the same. The key decisions to be made are whether the said co-operative should proceed to invest in forward integration (processing and/or branding) in soybean processing. This becomes particularly important in Adilabad region because, while global soy meal demand appears to be on the surge, soy meal (derived from soybean agricultural output) production and hence exports seem to be decreasing, after a peak.

Set in early 2009, Part (A) of the case describes the operational challenges faced by a growing subsidiary firm of a global auto major, in an emerging economy. The case illustrates how India emerges as a key market and the Indian subsidiary evolves into a material management and logistics (MM&L) hub for its Asia Pacific and Africa (APA) region. As the volumes of APA region begin to increase, the parent company realizes the need to automate material planning and scheduling-related processes across the plants in the APA region, which were being managed manually. The company takes this opportunity to virtually integrate the entire supply chain across all the plants in the APA region, by linking sales planning, material planning, procurement, production scheduling, and delivery activities, through a common order-to-delivery (OTD) system for the APA region. The Indian subsidiary in the meantime decides to introduce a small car, specifically engineered to meet the requirements of a high-volume, but price-sensitive Indian market. The case then focuses on the challenges the APA MM&L team faces in implementing the OTD system, for the first time in India plant (to be followed by plants in Australia, South Africa, China, and Thailand), replacing the existing built-to-stock (BTS) model. Part (A) of the case ends by unfolding the age-old tension between the upstream material planning and scheduling activities and the downstream marketing and distribution networks. The various stakeholders in the system are left to grapple with these challenges before they can arrive at a consensus regarding "if and how to implement" the OTD system in order to enjoy the benefits of automation and virtual integration. Case (B) describes the outcomes of the actual implementation and provides scope for investigating the impact of OTD on the success of the small car introduced in the Indian market.

Supplement to case IMB615. Set in early 2009, Part (A) of the case describes the operational challenges faced by a growing subsidiary firm of a global auto major, in an emerging economy. The case illustrates how India emerges as a key market and the Indian subsidiary evolves into a material management and logistics (MM&L) hub for its Asia Pacific and Africa (APA) region. As the volumes of APA region begin to increase, the parent company realizes the need to automate material planning and scheduling-related processes across the plants in the APA region, which were being managed manually. The company takes this opportunity to virtually integrate the entire supply chain across all the plants in the APA region, by linking sales planning, material planning, procurement, production scheduling, and delivery activities, through a common order-to-delivery (OTD) system for the APA region. The Indian subsidiary in the meantime decides to introduce a small car, specifically engineered to meet the requirements of a high-volume, but price-sensitive Indian market. The case then focuses on the challenges the APA MM&L team faces in implementing the OTD system, for the first time in India plant (to be followed by plants in Australia, South Africa, China, and Thailand), replacing the existing built-to-stock (BTS) model. Part (A) of the case ends by unfolding the age-old tension between the upstream material planning and scheduling activities and the downstream marketing and distribution networks. The various stakeholders in the system are left to grapple with these challenges before they can arrive at a consensus regarding "if and how to implement" the OTD system in order to enjoy the benefits of automation and virtual integration. Case (B) describes the outcomes of the actual implementation and provides scope for investigating the impact of OTD on the success of the small car introduced in the Indian market.

SATTVA eTECH is an electronics company involved in design and development of embedded new products. The senior manager of the company is working on the planning and execution of a defense project. Further, the manager is also evaluating the various alternative strategies to tackle uncertainties in the project network.

Vertical integration, a major competitive advantage at Tiffany, is entrenched for two reasons: a deeply held belief that great houses of luxury should craft their own designs, and an equally strong conviction that diamond traceability is the best means of ensuring social and environmental responsibility. Tiffany's focus on sustainability began about 25 years ago, in the context of growing awareness about the toxic chemicals used in extracting precious metals and about "conflict diamonds" from countries at war. Since then the company has been an industry leader in addressing environmental and human rights concerns. Its stones are laser-inscribed with microscopic codes indicating their provenance so that Tiffany can ensure its chain of diamond custody.

Bollore Logistics Canada is an international freight forwarder based in Saint-Laurent, Quebec and part of the transportation and logistics division of the Bollore Group, a French multinational headed by the Bollore family. Freight forwarders provide their clients with transport solutions by coordinating the modes of transportation used, customs clearance and documentation, port handling, and supervision of all shipping aspects. This case features Marc Gagnon, a new recruit in the sea freight export department of Bollore Logistics Canada, who has to respond to calls from three clients. The three have asked about different shipments and transactions (transport of mining equipment to New Caledonia, pharmaceutical products to Chile, and circus show materials to Greece). Each client request involves international maritime shipping calling for the choice of a specific Incoterm (version 2020, as defined by the International Chamber of Commerce) and the corresponding estimate. For each of the three situations, the characteristics of the buyer and seller are described, along with their respective business objectives, their relationship, the merchandise and the destination. The three cases are presented in increasing order of difficulty.

The case describes operations of one of the early entrants in the Online Grocery Delivery industry in India, AtMyDoorsteps.com (AMD). After having run the company for three years, the founder, Sushant Junnarkar, is looking for big ticket funding. As he prepares his pitch, he wonders whether his business is lucrative enough for investors. What changes could be possibly made to the existing model to improve profitability for the company? He intends to revisit some of the strategic and tactical decisions that he had made at the time of inception of AMD. Junnarkar's final decision would determine the fate of his pitch to investors and subsequently the future sustainability of his venture.

In 2017, the co-founders of BlaBlaCar-the world's largest long-distance carpooling company-reflected on the evolution of their venture and the way forward. BlaBlaCar had reached critical mass and size; yet staying still was not going to be enough to be relevant and competitive in the hyper competitive sharing economy sector. The co-founders felt that the time was now to capitalize on the trust that the platform had built with its members and explore adjacent opportunities. The options in front of them represented a wide variety of ways to grow but how should the team prioritize and figure out which of the opportunities represented a viable business strategy for their company?

Three years after launching his brick-and-mortar store, X Fire Paintball and Airsoft, Steve Herbert Sr. and his sons began selling products on Amazon.com's third-party Marketplace and online sales expanded rapidly. Over time, X Fire noticed that products of which it had once been the only seller were now being sold by Amazon straight from X Fire's suppliers, effectively cutting X Fire out. Amazon was also ignoring the minimum advertised price (MAP) set by manufacturers. How should X Fire defend itself? Now Amazon representatives were approaching X Fire to encourage them to sell on Amazon's smaller but growing Canadian Marketplace. How should X Fire respond to this opportunity?

Decentralized supply chains - with a greater number of hubs and depot locations - are designed to be more responsive to disasters around the globe by getting primary relief items such as food, water and medicines to beneficiaries quickly. This case explores the centralized vs. decentralized tradeoff for the secondary support supply chain of an international humanitarian organization (IHO). Using data from a real organization (unnamed), it asks whether supply chains for secondary support items should be the same as those for primary relief goods, and how earmarked funds impact the supply chain configuration. It presents information on donations, secondary support demand and response in mega disasters, and optimized data and simulation results. These allow for extensive data analytics, interpretation, and Excel modeling skills to be utilized, as well as students' intuition.