Hacer lase CASE Hazel asked him how much be'd be willing to pay. Soon Hazel was mowing the lawns of five neighbors. Other neigh- Hazel bors wanted her to work on their lawns, but she didn't feel that she could spare any more time from her job search. uzel had worked for the same Fortune 500 company for However, as the rejection letters began to pile up, Hazel Malmost 15 years. Although the company had gone knew she had to make an important decision in her life. On a through some tough times, things were starting to turn around. rainy Tuesday morning, she decided to go into business for Customer orden were up, and quality and productivity had herself-taking care of neighborhood lawns. She was relieved improved dramatically from what they had been only a few to give up the stress of job hunting, and she was excited about years earlier due to a companywide quality improvement pro- the prospect of being her own boss. But she was also fearful of gram. So it came as a real shock to Hazel and about 400 of her being completely on her own. Nevertheless, Hazel was deter- coworkers when they were suddenly terminated following the mined to make a go of it. new CEO's decision to downsize the company. At first, business was a little slow, but once people realized After recovering from the initial shock, Hazel tried to find Hazel was available, many asked her to take care of their employment elsewhere. Despite her efforts, after eight months lawns. Some people were simply glad to tum the work over to of searching she was no closer to finding a job than the day her, others switched from professional lawn care services. By she started. Her funds were being depleted and she was getting the end of her first year in business, Hazel knew she could more discouraged. There was one bright spot, though: She earn a living this way. She also performed other services such wu able to bring in a little money by mowing lawns for her as fertilizing lawns, weeding gardens, and trimming shrub- neighbors. She got involved quite by chance when she heard bery. Business became so good that Hazel hired two part-time de nimighbor remuri that now that his children were on their workers to assist her and, even then, she believed she could opvo, bobody was around to cut the grass. Almost jokingly, expand further if she wanted to 4. Working for a company instead of for herself? b. Expanding the business? c. Launching a website? Questions 1, la what ways are Hazel's customers most likely to judge the quality of her lawn care services? 2. Hizel is the operations manager of her business. Among her responsibilities are forecasting, inventory management, scheduling, quality Assurance, and maintenance. a What kinds of things would likely require forecasts? b. What inventory items does Hazel probably have? Name coc inventory decision she has to make periodically. What scheduling must she do? What things might occur to disrupt schedules and cause Hazel to reschedule? 2. How important is quality Assurance to Hazel's business? Explain. What kinds of maintenance must be performed? 3. What are some of the trade-offs that Hazel probably con- sidered relative to: CASE Hazel Revisited will lead to an increase in productivity. Another would be a chain saw, which would be used for trec pruning. What trade-olfs should she consider in her analysis? 4. Hazel has been fairly successful in her neighborhood, and now wants to expand to other neighborhoods, including some that are five miles away. What would be the advan- taxes and disadvantages of doing this? (Rofar to p. 30 for the Hazel Case.) 1. What competitive advantage does Hazel have over a pro- fessional lawn care service? 2. Hazel would like to increase her profits, but she doesn't be- lieve that it would be wise to raise her prices considering the current state of the local economy. Instead, she has given some thought to increasing productivity. Explain how increased productivity could be an alterna- tive to increased prices. b. What are some ways that Hazel could increase productivity? 3. Hazel is thinking about the purchase of new equipment. One would be power sidewalk edgers. She believes edgers