Hogsmeadow Case Study Essay Example

a more upscale clientele. The restaurant on the premises, Honeydukes is part self-service and part assisted service.

During peak hours, some customers have to ‘save’ seats by putting their coats and bags on them. As a result, the size of the restaurant is not adequate to accommodate the traffic of customers. It is difficult for the centre to decide how much of each product to order. “We just never get this right. Every year we agonise over how much to buy,” stated Dursley; this hints that the garden centre does not have an accurate forecasting system in place.

Dursley also stated that it was very tedious to try to get the right number of staff with the right mix of skills, this implies that he does not use aggregate planning strategies. The garden centre does not have a website and does not make use of technology to carry out various tasks.

Micro-Operations at Hogsmeadow Garden Centre Question #2: List the main micro-operations at Hogsmeadow Garden Centre and describe the main input resources, transformation process and outputs for each item.

The Restaurant:

Input- Food, hungry customers, including mothers with small children Transformation – Needs are satisfied in this process where the waitresses and chefs are the necessary components. Meals are prepared by chefs by making use of the input materials.

Customers are served by staff. Output – Customer become satisfied after enjoying the meals and services provided.

Indoor Sales Area:

Input – Products and shoppers

Transformation – Sales people are the components which mean how well are their promoting skills to compel customers to shop.

Output – Satisfied shoppers when they get what they want and are satisfied with the services; that is the

desired output.

Car Parking Inputs- Maps to indicate the various areas in the garden centre. (since the garden centre is so big, then this is a good idea)

Transformation- Customers becoming acclimatize with the centre before making their purchases.

Output- Customers are satisfied with the availability of parking space, and appreciate the map to locate desired areas more easily.

Problems regarding the managing and developing of Hogsmeadow Garden Centre Question #3:

Summarize the problems faced by Don Dursley in managing and developing his centre. There are a plethora of setbacks being faced by Don Dursley in the development of his garden centre. Perhaps the most evident one is the problem of inventory management. Dursley insists that the weather is impossible to predict and plays a major role in determining inventory. The problem if determining adequate staffing is another obvious problem of Dursley. Even though there are 12 staff members working at the restaurant at lunch time, there are still long lines to buy food.

Outside of the restaurant, Dursley needs the right mix of workers to respond to fluctuations in demand. The seating at Honeydukes is not ample to serve the amount of customers dining at the restaurant. The costs incurred in running the garden centre have escalated and have exceeded the revenue generated from its operations. Based on the assumption that public transportation is not allowed on the premises, Hogsmeadow is losing customers who do not have private means of transportation. Since the centre is situated in a tourist area, this may be a large number.

Constraints being faces by Hogsmeadow Garden Centre Question #4: What are the constraints being faced by the company?

Hogsmeadow mostly sells perishable items, and these items

cannot be stored for long because they have a very short shelf life. Fluctuations in the weather often affect the demand for a product. The demand for the Centre products depends on the time of year; there is a peak in demand during the late spring/early summer period and during the build up to Christmas rather than a high number of demands throughout the year. Products tend to be more expensive than other garden centres or market stalls.

Also, the business faces a number of operating limitations such as:

• The size of the market: there should clearly be a market for the product being offered. Absence of proper market conditions would lead to low sales.
• Demand in the market: Thorough market research should be undertaken to anticipate the requirements of the customers.
• The availability of resources: Supplier availability is very important for setting up operations.
• Extent of competition: If the competition in the sector is highly stiff, then this could lead to major constraint on business success. Attempt should be made to limit the effect of competition in the market.
• Investment requirements: Liquidity is very important for business success. Business need to have minimum funds to sustain themselves in dire situations.
• Skilled labour: It has been acknowledged by businesses around the world that human resource is one of the most important resources of any organisation. Human resources help the organisations to gain competitive advantage as it is not easy to duplicate the capability of skilled labour.

Key Success Factors Question #5 What are the key success factors of the company?

Despite the problems and constraints being faced by Hogsmeadow Garden Centre, there are several success factors which help

to distinguish the centre. What are the key success factors of the company?

• Key Success Factors are those functions, activities, or business practices, defined by the market and as viewed by the customers that are critical to the vendor/customer relationship.
• Key Success Factors are defined by the market and by the customer, not by the company.

They revolve around skills, processes, and systems. Outstanding performance in those areas results in “order winners. At the Hogsmeadow Garden Centre, there are a number of key success factors which helps them to measure their achievements and to determine how well they are progressing towards their goals and objectives. The Hogsmeadow Garden Centre is located in a tourist area and thus attracting persons from all over the world.

The Garden Centre also provides a wide variety of products such as plants, pets, ornaments and toys which offers various choices. Additionally the ambience of the centre is differentiated and is a competitive advantage over the company’s competitors.

Furthermore the centre has a reputation for excellent service and opens everyday to accommodate customer’s schedule. The centre also seeks to attract ‘personality gardeners’ from television to make special appearances; giving the idea that it is an established and trusted company. Those are the key success factors in which The Hogsmeadow Garden centre uses or practices that is critical to having good buyer /seller relationship and to help the garden centre in achieving its goals and objectives

Recommendations

At present, Hogsmeadow Garden Centre is experiencing an increase in customers, despite this, sales are not growing proportionately with this increase in customers, at the same time, and costs are growing more rapidly than sales. There are measures that can

be taken to alleviate these problems being face by the centre. To combat the problem of inventory and demand, Dursley should forecast demand in the medium range to predict sales, plan for production and develop a budget. This will help with more comprehensive issues and will help to support Dursley’s future management decisions regarding staff and products.

The centre should use Market Research to ascertain customers’ wants and preferences. The centre should use the multiplicative seasonal model to forecast demand as there appears to be two seasons when demand is at its highest. Dursley should consider using ABC analysis, to divide inventory into three different classes depending on how much annual revenue it generates and how difficult it is to source the product. This should result in less waste from inventory. After having a more accurate demand forecast Dursley can now consider problems in staffing to respond more effectively to changes in demand.

He must use aggregate planning techniques to adjust staff needs to demand fluctuations. Dursley should keep the staff necessary to meet the average demand and meet all demand above average by subcontracting workers. This should prove to reduce staff costs. Dursley should also move employees along the job design continuum to until they are a part of self-directed teams. This will serve to increase their responsibility and motivate them, giving the garden centre more flexibility in its workforce. Dursley may also implement a gain sharing program, which will serve a multipurpose.

It will help to further motivate employees and it will lead to reduction in costs in the long run as quality will improve. In modern day, it is imperative for companies to utilize technology

to assist in business, the garden centre should consider implementing inventory technology that will accurately the record the items in storage, this will improve the overall efficiency of the centre and cut costs in the long run. The centre should also launch a website for customers who are unable to visit the centre so that they can make purchases online.

The restaurant, Honeydukes has out grown it’s a capacity, they should consider expanding the space that the restaurant occupies to accommodate customers at peak hours. They staff in the restaurant should be re-arranged to facilitate customers at peak hours. Perhaps, have three cashiers to reduce the waiting time in the lines, four waiters to serve customers, three cooks and two persons cleaning up. They may also prepackage popular kids’ meal boxes to reduce the waiting time. Dursley must also think of innovative ways to increase revenue.

He may allow public transportation access to the premises by charging them an annual fee. He may offer rental services of plants and decorations. He may also consider creating a recreational area to host small ceremonies and weddings.

Resources Needed to Implement this System Question #7: What resources are needed to successfully implement your suggestions?

In order to successfully implement the various suggestions given, at the Hogsmeadow Garden Centre, a number of resources would be required. These resources will be both tangible and intangible.

Tangible resources include: technology, financing, human resource and physical resources. The intangible resources would be those built on image, brand name, goodwill and reputation. In terms of technology a computer system would be needed.

The X-Cart would be beneficial in this situation. It is an e-commerce shopping cart software and would

be ideal for the company. It is fast and secure, easy to customize, has tons of features; offers professional design creation and it is search engine friendly. An inventory tracking system was also suggested.

The Inventory Tracker Plus could be adopted by the company. It is an easy to use inventory accounting software, used for tracking income, expenses and inventory within an organisation. In order to implement these suggestions funds would have to be considered, hence, the financial resources. The managers would have to inspect their finances to ensure that enough funds are available or if they need additional funds.

Investigation of existing funds would be done through inspecting cash balances, bank overdrafts, shareholders capital, working capital ((e. g. nventories, debtors) already invested in the business), creditors (suppliers), bank overdrafts, bank loans and other loans. This would be done to concretise the current financial position of the firm. In addition to the amount that the business currently has the managers will have to show that they are also able to raise additional funds.

There are several ways to do this. The raising of funds will be dependent on the strength and reputation of the management team and that of the firm as a whole. The strength of the relationships with existing lenders and investors will also be a determinant in the firm’s ability to raise funds.

The managers may also want to analyse the attractiveness of the market in which the business operates, to solidify whether or not that market attracts investment readily. The possibility of being listed on a quoted stock exchange could also be explored assuming that the company isn’t already listed on such. Human Resource is

also very instrumental in making the correct decisions for the firms. Existing staffing resources would need to be considered. The total number of staff that is currently on the payroll is of great importance. Staff can be categorised by function, location, experience, qualification and remuneration.

Also very important point to look at is natural wastage and that is the existing rate of staff loss. This is to get the statistics on staff turnover. Overall standard of training and specific training standards in key roles is also another factor to examine when determining existing staffing resources. An assessment of key intangibles such as morale and the business culture would also be beneficial. The managers of Hogsmeadow should also bear in mind the physical resources in order to successfully implement the suggestions put forward.

These will include the production facilities, the marketing facilities and information technology. In looking at production facilities management should examine the location of the existing production facilities, capacity, investment and the maintenance requirements. The current production processes such as quality, methods and the organization and the extent to which production requirements of the strategy can be delivered by the existing facilities is also of importance. Marketing for the organisation will be inclusive of the current marketing management process and the current distribution challenges.

These will have to be examined and adjusted accordingly. For information technology the firms IT systems would have to be analysed and new ones put in place where the system is lacking. Intangible resources are also necessary for the new implementations. These resources include: goodwill, reputation, brands and intellectual properties. Goodwill represents what someone is willing to pay for the business. It is

the difference between the value of the firm’s tangible assets and the actual market value of those assets. The reputation of the company is also of importance.

A question such as “does the business have a good track record of delivering on its strategic objectives? ” could be asked by management. If the answer is yes then this could be used to gather the necessary support from employees and suppliers. Strong brands are often the key factor in whether a growth strategy is a success or failure. Intellectual property is key commercial rights protected by patents and trademarks. These should be recognised by management and protected.

Could This Be Implemented In Jamaica? Question #8 How difficult or easy would it be for Jamaican firms to adopt these strategies?

It would be easy for Jamaican firms to adopt these strategies as a result of three factors:

1. Resources are readily available Jamaican firms can easily adapt to these strategies because of the availability of resources such as people and land. These resources are the primary tools needed to adopt to these strategies. Without “people” which is human resource work cannot get done properly. Also Jamaican workforce is very qualified and has a lot of experienced and skills. Lands are readily available and are located in convenient locations. This facilitates easy transportation of raw materials and finished goods.
2. Jamaican firms operate in a global economy It is easier for firms to adopt to these strategies and new ones since Jamaican firms operate in a global economy.
3. Effective and Efficient use of Technology Technological advances have opened up new opportunities for firms in Jamaica. By using technology effectively, it becomes possible to
   

do more with fewer resources, as a result achieving greater output. It is also safe to say that business/ firms use technology for marketing advantages. These firms realized that they succeed at a faster rate from the use of technology than those firms that don’t.

INSIDE THE GARDEN CENTER OUTSIDE THE GARDEN CENTER

Ornaments sold at the Garden Centre Garden Centre Car Parking Lot (capacity 350 cars) Restaurant at Garden Centre