Write Executive Summary Introduction [0.5 page] Here you explain briefly the purpose of your case. What issue did you address? Why did you address it? You will need to provide enough background to enable the reader to understand the problem being investigated. - Background and problem statement - What specific sub-topics were considered in the case study? - What was proposed as the deliverable(s) - Structure/outline for the remainder of the report Analysis [1-2 pages] This section contains the bulk of the actual work that was accomplished in the case study. Each team should create sub-sections as appropriate detailing the work carried out (i.e., what) and the process adopted (i.e., how). Provide model description: Clearly state the supply chain management problem, decisions to be made, information given, performance measure of the solution and the methodology. State all the assumptions clearly. Give an Excel implementation, whenever appropriate. Show mathematical model, formula, analytical procedure, calculation and results. This is a “cookbook” section detailing how you carried out your investigation. It should provide enough details so that the audience could replicate your investigation and arrive at the same results. III. Discussion of Results [1-2 pages] - Case study results (key findings; new insights, etc.) - Discussion (including your own assessment of the value of the results; their immediate/future applicability) - Sensitivity analysis (how do the results change with the change of parameters). How well the deliverables were met? If not met fully, provide reasons. This is the main part of the report that will be read by the users of the model. Here you can explain the significance of your findings by relating what you discovered to the problem you set out to investigate in the introduction. Did your investigation accomplish its initial purpose? Did it answer your question(s)? Are your results useful? Why or why not? Did you discover information that you had not anticipated? Was your method appropriate? Did your investigation raise new questions? Are there implications from your results that need to be explored? The key to success in this section is to link your findings to the questions and problems raised in the introduction. Conclusions [0.5 page] - Restate the problem and a brief summary of the results - Recommend future actions based on the results In this last section you focus on the main things you have learned from the investigation. If your investigation was aimed at making a practical decision here you can recommend appropriate actions. What you say in this section depends on the context of your case. Appendices This is a section where you can list your raw data (e.g., in tables). Pages in this section do not count towards the total number of pages and may include, for example, listing of your data and additional plots that you could not fit in the main body of the report. On Case study Gateway was founded in 1985 as a direct sales manufacturer of PCs with no retail footprint. In 1996, Gateway was one of the first PC manufacturers to start selling PCs online. After many years of selling its PCs without a retail infrastructure, Gateway introduced an aggressive strategy of opening Gateway retail stores throughout the United States in the late 1990s. Its stores carried no finished goods inventory and were primarily focused on helping customers select the right configuration to purchase. All PCs were manufactured to order and shipped to the customer from one of the assembly plants. Initially, investors rewarded Gateway for this strategy and raised the stock price to more than $80 per share in late 1999. However, this success did not last. By November 2002, Gateway shares had dropped to less than $4, and Gateway was losing significant money. By April 2004, Gateway had closed all its retail outlets and reduced the number of configurations offered to customers. In August 2007, Gateway was purchased by Taiwan’s Acer for a price of $710 million. By 2010, Gateway computers were sold through more than 20 different retail outlets including Best Buy and Costco. As you can imagine, this was quite a transition for the company to experience. In contrast, Apple has enjoyed tremendous success since it opened its first retail store in 2001. By 2010, Apple had more than 300 stores worldwide, and retail sales represented about 15 percent of the company’s total net sales. Unlike Gateway, Apple has always carried product inventory at its stores. Given its product designs, Apple has relatively little variety that it carries in its stores. Each of its stores has a relatively high level of sales with its Regent Street store in London reaching sales of 2,000 pounds per square foot in 2009. In the 2010 annual report, Apple listed retail sales totaling almost $10 billion, a growth of 47 percent relative to the previous year. The following questions highlight supply chain decisions that have a bearing on the difference between Apple’s and Gateway’s performance: