Ethical Dilemma: Strategies, Risks, and Challenges in Operations Management - AUS Case

Q1. Strategy trade-offs in High-Quality and Low-Cost Automobile Manufacturers

As a buyer for a discount retail chain, you find yourself caught in a maelstrom. Just last month, your chain began selling an economy-priced line of clothing endorsed by a famous movie star. To be price competitive, you have followed the rest of the industry and sourced the clothing from a low-wa region of Asia. Initial sales have been brisk; however, the movie star has recently called you screaming and crying because an investigative news outlet has reported that the clothes with her name on them are being made by children.

Outraged, you fly to the outsourcing manufacturing facility only to find that conditions are not quite as clear-cut as the news had reported. You feel uncomfortable riding through the streets. Poverty is everywhere. Children are chasing foreigners and begging for money. When you enter the plant, you observe a very clean facility. The completely female workforce appears to be very industrious, but many of them do appear to be young. You confront the plant manager and explain your firm’s strict international sourcing policies. You demand to know why these girls aren’t in school. The manager provides the following response: “The truth is that some of these workers may be underage. We check IDs, but the use of falsified records is commonplace in this country. Plus, you don’t understand thealternatives. If you shut this plant down, you will literally take food off the table for these families.

There are no other opportunities in this town at this time, and there’s no comprehensive welfare system in our country. As for the young women, school is not an option. In this town, only boys receive an education past the sixth grade. If you shut us down, these girls will be out on the street, begging, or stealing. Your business offers them a better existence. Please don’t take that away!”

Please provide short answers to the following questions.

Q1. Strategy trade-offs must be considered in operations. Describe what these might be for a high-quality automobile manufacturer and then a low-cost automobile manufacturer.

Q2. How can financial and productivity measures be both good and bad for tracking a firm’s performance?

Q3. How could Artificial Intelligence (AI) help to improve the quality of education (services) at AUS?

Q4. What OM tools/techniques could help the AUS management in launching a new service (distance/blended learning program)?

Q5. What are the main risks and opportunities associated with globalizing operations?

Q6. Describe key supply chain risks associated with an airline such as Emirates and suggest suitable risk mitigation strategies.

Q7. How is Coronavirus affecting the performance of operations across different businesses? Suggest suitable actions for an airline to cope with this situation.

Q8. What do you think are the main obstacles to successful supply chain management? Why?

Q9. As an operations manager, how would you improve the quality of education (services) at AUS.

Q10. Can noncritical activities (activities that are not on the critical path within the project network diagram) become critical? If so, how? How could a project manager deal with this issue?

Q11. What do you say to your company, the movie star, the media, and the protestors picketing your stores?

Q12. Is the best option to shut down and try someplace else? Why?

Q13. Suggest suitable strategies to deal with this dilemma.

Q14. What other approaches have airlines attempted to speed boarding?

Q15. What process analysis tools do you think could be used to tackle this problem?