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HBA1 Operations Final Review

4 min read

HBA1 Operations Final Review

Review for HBA1 Operations Course.

Vibe Check

Alright, let’s just sit back and be real for a sec. What did we really learn in this course? A few frameworks, a few math equations we can throw at problems, and a general outline to analyze cases. It’s very “doable”. As I hope this note reveals, there isn’t much to this final exam.

Readings

Like read these if you feel like it, it’s content heavy but they’re comprehensive as to the concepts we learned in class.

Outline

Step 1: Introductory

This part is quite straightforward, we are aiming to synthesize case information in a easy to read format.

  1. Identify our role (name + job title)
  2. Identify the challenges we’re facing, the core issues to be solved
  3. identity the potential decisions that the case outlines for us
  4. Implications and constraints for our decision
    1. Time constraints (we can only survive 6 more months…)
    2. Financial constraints (we have $100k to spend…)
    3. Etc.

Step 2: External Analysis

Here, we identify every important part of the industry, what’s happening, trends, etc.

We can use these three points for projecting the future of the industry, and therefore, the company.

  • industry market size ($)
  • market growth (%)
  • market share (%)

Then we also want to look at:

  • Industry consolidation or fragmentation
  • PEST analysis
  • Any seasonality present?

Finally, for each major competitor identified, talk about the following:

  • Their market share
  • Their strengths and weaknesses
  • how we compete, how they compete

Step 3: Supply Chain Analysis

Here, we look into our own supply chain, we can even look at the supply chain of the industry/competitors.

  • Identify supply chain flows
    • Materials
      • Where are materials being sourced and built?
      • What channels of distribution are used?
    • Information
      • How are relationships built between suppliers and customers?
      • How is customer information gathered and accessed?
    • Finance
      • What incentives exist within the supply chain? (credit…)
      • How might incentives optimize the chain’s overall performance?
  • Demand side uncertainty options:
    • functional: there is consistent demand for this product
    • innovative: there is inconsistent or risky demand (not many people need this)
  • Supply side uncertainty:
    • stable: there is a consistent supply
    • evolving: there is an inconsistent supply of this product (not many people supply this)
  • Type of supply chain based on the above
    • Efficient
    • Responsive
    • Risk-hedging
    • Agile

Step 4: Competitive Priorities

Now, using our background in the environment and supply chain, we get to identify what we should prioritize to remain competitive, as well as the capabilities necessary for the supply chain.

  • Competitive Priorities
    • Order Qualifiers: What do customers require of their suppliers? (the need)
    • Order Winners: Why would customers select one supplier over another? (the want)
    • Non-Competitive Priorities: What do customers not requires/care of their suppliers?
    • Competitive Priorities Ranking
      • Cost
      • Quality
      • Flexibility
      • Delivery/Service

Step 5: Value Chain

The value chain is every step of our internal operations or processes that contribute or provide value to the consumer. Basically, how are we adding value to the supplier.

Step 6: Internal Analysis

  • Generic History of the company. How did they grow or get to where they are now?
  • Culture
  • Financial Statements
    • Income Statement
      • How is the revenue growth compared to market growth?
      • Margins compared to this industry?
    • Balance Sheet
      • Cash and Cash Equivalents on hand? Debt and Equity? Does this affect the financial feasibility of any investment?
    • Ratios

Step 7: Challenges

  • What are the challenges being faced? Should they be solved and under what timeline (soon or later)?
  • Root cause / fishbone analysis

Step 8: Recommendations

  • Come up with many options, there are a few easily identifiable ones or ones included in the case.
  • For each, see if they are in line with our above analysis, and if they are feasible given our constraints.

It’s a bit hard to write a framework for this as the analysis you will need to do here is quite dependent on what the actual recommendation and challenges are.

Tools

Graph View