Case Hazel

Summary

Hazel used to have a stable permanent job for long before being fired due to the downside program of her company. After being fired, she tried to find a new job in 8 months, but there was no positive signal for her. Surprisingly, Hazel had a chance to start a business by herself when she accepted to mow a neighbor’s lawn. There were many people want Hazel to take care of their lawn, which made her decide to stop seeking a new job and focused on this type of business. After 1 year, Hazel’s business of mowing lawn seem to be very good, in which she decided to perform other supplement services and hired part-time workers.

Question

Case Hazel

1. Hazel is the operations manager of her business. Among her responsibilities are forecasting, inventory management, scheduling, quality assurance, and maintenance.

1. What kinds of things would likely require forecasts?

As a role of the operations manager, Hazel needs to forecast a plenty of things to make sure about the running status of her business. First, it is about the potential of her business. Only in one year, Hazel has experienced a significant change in her business. Starting from a sudden chance with the lawns from her neighbors, Hazel now considers it as her real business with a brilliant number of customers. However, something come quickly cannot hold for long. Hence, forecasting the potential of this service will tend to be the first thing Hazel needs to consider in order to make decision for changing the types of services, or keep continuing to grow the business. Second, it is about the weather and climate, which plays a crucial role to the status of lawns. The demand for the services can change quickly with a change in weather and climate, in which more or less people needs the services of Hazel. In the case, Hazel hired several part-time workers, so if she can forecast weather and climates, she will know the demand for her services in order to hire enough workers for efficiency. Third, it is also the consideration for the equipment used in gardening services. If there is a breakthrough in technology to mow lawns easier, so people may not need the service of Hazel anymore. Hence, forecasting this factor will help her to determine the future of her business.

1. What inventory items does Hazel probably have? Name one inventory decision she has to make periodically.

To run the business of mowing lawns, there are several lists of items Hazel may have. First, the inventory items may be agriculture products like: fertilizers, grass seeds, lawn grass or plants. Besides, they could be gardening materials and equipment like: mower, or grass cutters. Or even it can be some vehicles to use for a special use in gardens.

One inventory decision Hazel has to make periodically may be the use of fertilizers because fertilizers can make the lawn grow well and have a good looking. So Hazel may need to use periodically.

1. What scheduling must she do? What things might occur to disrupt schedules and cause Hazel to reschedule?

About the schedule, Hazel needs to consider at first the demand of customers to her services. Based on the demand, Hazel can set up a reasonable schedule for mowing lawns of customers. Moreover, depending on the places, she can make a schedule can serve both benefits of her business and her customers. Besides, the schedule for the use of her employees, the flow of supplies like order, deliver, or arrival need to put in consideration.

There are several factors can disrupt Hazel’s schedule, which cause her to reschedule like the change in weather like heavy rain, flooding. Besides, it can be a problem from her staffs when they got sick, or even the disruption from the equipment being broken. Especially, if her fund is in trouble, things need to be reschedule for a better outcome.

1. How important is quality assurance to Hazel’s business?

It is very important to the survival of Hazel’s business. If the quality of her service is low, customers will stop using her services. Furthermore, they also tell other potential customers not to use Hazel’s service due to poor quality. So Hazel will lose both customers and potential customers, and the life of her business is in trouble.

1. What kinds of maintenance must be performed?

For the business of gardening like the case of Hazel, the maintenance arises as one of the crucial points. First, it is the maintenance for gardening tools and materials. For instance, it is the checking process of grass seeds, fertilizers, or the checking condition of gardening tools to make sure they still work. Besides, it is important to maintain the relationship with customers because without customers, Hazel will easily run out of business. And one way to build up a good relationship is serving a high quality service to keep customers stay with the business for long.

1. In what ways are Hazel’s customers most likely to judge the quality of her lawn care services?

There may be some base for customers to judge the quality of her lawn care services.

First, it is from the judgment of other customers. And from that, a customer of Hazel’s service can determine the quality.

Second, it is the working performance of Hazel’s business. If her business can run efficiently, and make customers satisfied with quick responses, the customers can judge a high rate for her gardening services. Besides, customer care services are also important to provide a plenty of supplement benefits to customers. The creditability in here play a crucial role.

Third, the price can be considered to be a good point to determine. A competitive price with the same quality can make customers rate a good status for the service of Hazel.

1. What are some of the trade-offs that Hazel probably considered relative to:

1. Working for a company instead of for herself?

If working for a company, Hazel will not have to invest in gardening tools, hire part-time workers. She can save a huge amount of money used for investing the services. Furthermore, Hazel will have more time to relax if she does not run business. However, she may only have a lower payment compared to the profits of her business, and she cannot have the right to manage everything if she is only a normal staff.

1. Expanding the business?

By expanding the business, Hazel can have a greater return for herself because now her services capability can serve for a higher number of customers. However, with the trade-off, Hazel needs to have additional investments to put in the process of expanding her business, which can cause the cost of her business increase, and customers will find a substitute service provider rather than Hazel. Moreover, she may face a greater risk, which can result in a lost to her business.

1. Launching a Website?

If launching a Website, it becomes a good channel for Hazel to spread the publicity of her business to more potential customers. So her services can attract more customers. However, on the other hand, the cost for running a website is high, and sometimes it does not work effectively, which cause the cost result a loss for Hazel.