Operations and Service Management (code MBA550)

The submission for this assignment is 10 to 15 Power Point slides (you may convert
them to PDF). The presentation is not the typical as your slides will be crowded with
text to satisfy the requirements. An example will be provided.

Activity 2. New Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc.

Main objectives

The New Balance shoe company case study illustrates very clearly how operations
management can be used as a differentiating factor in business strategy. Observe
how New Balance develops to become a significant company. An subsequent
analysis will enable us to:

▸ Understand the practical importance of studying the company’s operational

situation.
▸ Discover the advantages and disadvantages of various management methods,
and the problems that arise when implementing them.
▸ Understand how to apply the Lean method to a specific case study.
▸ Analyze the suitability of a company’s operational decisions.

Description of the activity and instructions

This case study is set in the past. In 2005 New Balance was among the five largest
manufacturers of sports footwear in the world, and the German multinational
Adidas had recently acquired the Reebok brand. This transaction brought together
© MIU City University Miami
the second and third largest companies in the sports footwear industry. The text
picks up at this point and describes the strategies employed by New Balance that
have made the American company stand out for its uniqueness. The decisions that
involve operations management are particularly relevant to this case study. The
case study examines the unique aspects of the New Balance strategy and discusses

Actividades 1
Operations and Service Management (code MBA550)

the operational decisions that support that strategy after the company recently
initiated an improvement to its operational performance by applying lean
manufacturing concepts.

Questions:

These questions are intended to help students focus on the key elements as they
read the case.

▸ Situational analysis. Analyze New Balance's situation in the sports footwear

industry from an operational perspective. This requires using Porter's 5 Forces
and a SWOT matrix. However, this analysis should strictly adhere to the
operational perspective.

▸ New Balance Operational Decisions.

 What are New Balance’s main operational decisions as described in the
case study and its principals?
 How the company was organized from an operational perspective. Prepare
a descriptive chart and a written explanation.

▸ Future challenges for New Balance.

 What do you believe are the most important challenges facing New
Balance from an operational perspective? List them and rank them by their
impact on the organization's strategic objectives.
 What are the most significant operational risks faced by the company?

© MIU City University Miami

▸ Lean and New Balance.
 Do you think the Lean method can be applied to operations at New
Balance? Justify your answer with the theory learnt in class.
 Propose specific operational Lean amendments.

Actividades 2
Operations and Service Management (code MBA550)

▸ Operational strategy differences. New Balance has a unique strategy that differs
from other brands such as Nike. This strategy has a significant impact on
operations.
 What are the differences in operational strategy between New Balance and
Nike? Prepare a comparative table.
 What impact do these two operational management strategies have on
business results? Justify your response.

Assessment criteria

The evaluation criteria will be as follows:

▸ General approach.
▸ Operational analysis of the current situation.
▸ Implementation analysis of Lean and its differences.

Bibliography

The report should include a bibliography in APA

(https://www.citethisforme.com/apa/source-type) format, which means details of
all the bibliographic references in the report. Plagiarism is not permitted. Therefore,
any reference should be correct. If plagiarism is detected in more than one
question, it will be notified as a serious breach to course management.

Academic criteria for references should be followed.

© MIU City University Miami

▸ All the references in the text that respond to the questions should appear in the
bibliography.
▸ All the references in the bibliography should be referenced in your text.

Actividades 3
Operations and Service Management (code MBA550)

▸ An additional bibliography should not be added that suggests interesting related

references as additional reading.

The bibliographic references should focus on references used to respond to the case
study questions.

© MIU City University Miami

Actividades 4