Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management - McGraw-Hill Introduction to Business

[VIDEO] How Robots Are Saving the Dairy Farm

May 12, 2017

For most non-rural people, the classic image of a dairy farm likely involves a solitary, bucket-toting farmer trudging out to the barn to milk the cows before dawn. As this video shows, though, modern American dairy farms are far more advanced than most city slickers would imagine. From automated milking machines to robot feeders, these high-tech tools help dairy farmers cut costs while also improving efficiency.

Questions:

What are the advantages of automation on dairy farms?
How have labor Continue reading →

Operations Management, Human Resources, Labor Relations, Hiring, Automation, Farming

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management, Chapter 12: Labor Management and Unions, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media, Videos

Lab-Made Meat Could Be the Future of Food

May 11, 2017

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According to estimates from the U.N., by 2050 the global food industry will need to produce 455 million tons of meat annually in order to keep up with demand. Today’s meat makers already produce 259 tons per year, leaving behind an enormous environmental impact in the process. More than 70 percent of the world’s water consumption comes from meat and dairy production along with 38 percent of land use and 19 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Environmentalists fear that Continue reading →

Food, Product Development, Innovation, Packaging, Sustainability, Synthetic Meat

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Restaurants Add Locations But Lose Customers

May 9, 2017

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While retailers have seen sales drop in the years since the Great Recession, restaurants have largely enjoyed a boom time. American eateries benefitted from a shift in consumer spending habits away from products and towards “experiences” like meals and travel. And as demand increased, so did the supply of restaurants. Chipotle, for instance, has added 57 stores so far this year on top of the 240 locations it opened in 2016.

The burrito chain’s aggressive expansion is even more astounding Continue reading →

Economics, Food, Product Development, McDonald’s, Chipotle, Product Distribution, Supply and Demand, Restaurants, Subway

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 2: Economics, Chapter 7: Management & Leadership, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion, Chapter 17: Accounting

[VIDEO] Meet the Enormous Boats That Carry Your Stuff

April 28, 2017

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Today’s globalized supply chains depend on enormous shipping boats to ferry cargo from one end of the world to the other. It wasn’t always this way, though. This video takes a look at how standardized containers aboard gigantic vessels have transformed logistics since the 1970s.

Questions:

How did containerization make shipping more efficient?
Why are supply chains and logistics so important to modern companies?

Globalization, Supply chains, Product Distribution, Shipping, Containerization, Logistics

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 15: Distribution, Videos

The Tricky Relationship Between Bankers and Regulators

April 27, 2017

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The 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform act stands as one of the most complicated pieces of legislation ever devised. The law includes more than 22,000 pages of rules, which is equivalent to about 15 copies of Tolstoy’s epic novel War and Peace. These guidelines tell banks how much money they must set aside, how they can advertise, what sort of investments they can make, and many other stipulations and requirements.

As you can imagine, keeping track of all those regulations Continue reading →

Ethics, Human Resources, Banking, Regulation, Dodd-Frank, Wall Street, Wells Fargo, Compliance

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 7: Management & Leadership, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management, Chapter 18: Financial Management, Chapter 20: Money and Financial Institutions, Bonus Chapter A: Business Law, Bonus Chapter C: Managing Risk

2017 Has Been a Rough Year for Retail So Far

April 20, 2017

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After losing a lot of ground during the Great Recession, today’s economic environment seems perfect for retailers looking to return to their glory days. Gas prices are low, wages are rising, and GDP has grown for the past eight years in a row. Still, even these seemingly ideal conditions can’t help this ailing industry. Nine retail chains have filed for bankruptcy in 2017, including HH Gregg and Payless. Meanwhile Macy’s, Sears, J.C. Penney and RadioShack each announced that they would Continue reading →

Retail, Amazon, Product Distribution, RadioShack, Macy's, E-commerce, Sears, Point of Sale, Autonomous Vehicles

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

[VIDEO] Why Do Airlines Sell Too Many Tickets?

April 14, 2017

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This week United Airlines angered millions when a video surfaced of a man being brutally dragged off of an overbooked flight. People not only felt horrified at the violence of the incident, but they also questioned why the company needed to overbook flights in the first place. As this video shows, though, the answer is not so easy.

Questions:

Should airlines be allowed to overbook flights?
What risks do airlines face if they do not overbook a flight?

Operations Management, Ethics, Transportation, Product Distribution, Air Travel, United Airlines, Overbooking

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Videos

United Airlines Causes Outrage over Passenger Removal

April 11, 2017

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On Monday morning, people across the world woke up to find a disturbing video circulating in their social media feeds. The clip showed two men forcibly grabbing a passenger out of his seat on a United Airlines flight and then dragging his body down the aisle. Blood ran down the victim’s face and fellow passengers screamed in horror. Soon the video went viral as millions of social media users directed their outrage towards United for allowing this brutal incident to Continue reading →

Ethics, Customer Service, Transportation, Air Travel, Crisis management, United Airlines, Word of Mouth

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 3: Globalization, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Instagram Gets Down to Business

April 7, 2017

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By the end of the year, the photo sharing app Instagram expects to earn $3 billion from ad sales. That’s a huge jump from the $60 million the social network made in 2015. In that time, Instagram has collected more than 600 million users, a number bested only by its parent company Facebook. About 8 million of these accounts belong to companies who use the platform primarily for promotion.

Soon, though, some brands will be able to develop closer relationships Continue reading →

Marketing, Operations Management, Social Media, Branding, Innovation, Instagram, Mobile

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 6: Entrepreneurship, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 13: Marketing, Chapter 14: Product and Price, Chapter 15: Distribution, Chapter 16: Place and Promotion, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media

Fast Food Chains Slowly Adopt Automation

March 29, 2017

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From factory floors to Wall Street financial firms, robotic labor is becoming an increasingly important part of production for many companies. And according to the head of Yum Brands, fast food could be the next industry to adopt automation on a wide scale. This week CEO Greg Creed said that robots could start replacing humans at Yum-owned chains like Pizza Hut and Taco Bell by the mid-2020s.

Other fast food companies have already begun to experiment with automation. Wendy’s, for Continue reading →

Operations Management, Food, Human Resources, Innovation, Fast food, Automation, Production, Robotics

Chapter 1: Taking Risks and Making Profits, Chapter 4: Ethics and Social Responsibility, Chapter 9: Production and Operations Management, Chapter 11: Human Resource Management, Bonus Chapter B: Technology and New Media