I’m going to Bookmaster to buy a book,” Luke Chris yelled as he walked out of his apartment. “I’ll be back in about ninety minutes,” he continued as his roommate lay on the sofa after a hard night of partying. As he drove to the bookstore he caught a red stoplight at the first highway intersection. He always hated this intersection because the light took four minutes to complete a cycle. After seven traffic lights he arrived at the book store parking lot only to find a city bus blocking the driveway entrance, so he parked on the street and walked about one thousand feet to the store entrance. At the store door, he encountered a lady in a wheel chair exiting the store so he patiently held the doors opens for her and her friend. After his 30-minute ordeal to get to the store he went up to the information booth, waited until the current customer completed their query, and then asked Millie, the customer relations associate (CRA), if they had the book. After a quick search on the store’s computer she said, “Yes, we have copies. The book is $89.95.”
“I’ll take you to the book,” Millie said with a smile.
Upon wandering the aisles of books, she came to the shelf where the book should be residing. But after a careful search, the book was missing. The store computer said they had two copies but they were not on the shelf as expected.
After an extended search only one Bookmaster store across town had this book.
“Do you want to drive over there and get it,” Millie asked again with a smile. “Or would you like me to order it for you? It only takes a couple of days to get the book over to this store.” “No, I don’t want to drive over to that store—
it’s 15 miles away,” Luke said with a sigh.

Case Questions for Discussion:

1. Draw the “bricks and mortar” process stages of the value chain by which hard copy books are created, produced, distributed, and sold in retail stores. How does each player in the value chain make money?
2. Draw the process stages for creating and downloading an e-book today. How does each player in this new electronic/digital value chain make money?
3. Compare and contrast value chain design and structure in the previous two questions from customer and management viewpoints. What are the advantages and disadvantage to each value chain design?
4. What is the role of operations in each of these value chain designs and structures?