Sign In
Not register? Register Now!
Essay Available:
Pages:
7 pages/≈1925 words
Sources:
Check Instructions
Style:
APA
Subject:
Management
Type:
Case Study
Language:
English (U.S.)
Document:
MS Word
Date:
Total cost:
$ 30.24
Topic:

Production and operations management Management Case Study

Case Study Instructions:

Objectives
Utilize the necessary and truthful information for analysis.
Formulate the problem with a correct POM model or techniques.
Explore all possible alternatives and investigate each one of them.
Make decisions given all the information.
Background
With the growth of the Hard Rock Café franchise—from one pub in London in 1971 to more than 129 restaurants in more than 40 countries today—came a corporate-wide demand for better forecasting. Hard Rock Café uses long-range forecasting in setting a capacity plan and intermediate-term forecasting for locking in contracts for leather goods (used in jackets) and for such food items as beef, chicken, and pork. Its short-term sales forecasts are conducted each month, by cafe, and then aggregated for a headquarters view.
The heart of the sales forecasting system is the point-of-sale system (POS), which, in effect, captures transaction data on nearly every person who walks through a cafe’s door. The sale of each entrée represents one customer; the entrée sales data are transmitted daily to the Orlando corporate headquarters’ database. There, the financial team, headed by Todd Lindsey, begins the forecast process. Lindsey forecasts monthly guest counts, retail sales, banquet sales, and concert sales (if applicable) at each cafe. The general managers of individual cafes tap into the same database to prepare a daily forecast for their sites. A cafe manager pulls up prior years’ sales for that day, adding information from the local Chamber of Commerce or Tourist Board on upcoming events such as a major convention, sporting event, or concert in the city where the cafe is located. The daily forecast is further broken into hourly sales, which drives employee scheduling. An hourly forecast of $5500 in sales, for example, translates into 19 workstations, which are further broken down into a specific number of wait staff, hosts, bartenders, and kitchen staff. Computerized scheduling software plugs in people based on their availability. Variances between forecast and actual sales are then examined to see why errors occurred.
Hard Rock Café doesn’t limit its use of forecasting tools to sales. To evaluate managers and set bonuses, a three-year weighted moving average is applied to cafe sales. If cafe general managers exceed their targets, a bonus is computed. Todd Lindsey, at corporate headquarters, applies weights of 40% to the most recent year’s sales, 40% to the year before, and 20% to sales two years ago in reaching his moving average.
An even more sophisticated application of statistics is found in Hard Rock Café’s menu planning. Using multiple regression, managers can compute the impact on demand of other menu items if the price of one item is changed. For example, if the price of a cheeseburger increases from $7.99 to $8.99, they can predict the effect this will have on sales of chicken sandwiches, pork sandwiches, and salads. Managers do the same analysis on menu placement, with the centre section driving higher sales volumes. When an item such as a hamburger is moved off the centre to one of the side flaps, the corresponding effect on related items, say French fries, is determined.
Requirement
Using the information about Hard Rock Café provided, write a report that addresses the following areas:
Describe three different forecasting applications at Hard Rock Cafe, and why you think they are used the way they are. Name three other areas in which you think Hard Rock could use forecasting models.
The role of the POS system in forecasting at Hard Rock Cafe.
Justify the use of the weighting system used for evaluating managers for annual bonuses.
Name several variables besides those mentioned in the case that could be used as good predictors of daily sales in each cafe.
At Hard Rock Cafe’s Moscow location, the manager is trying to evaluate how a new advertising campaign affects guest counts. Using data for the past 10 months (see the table), develop a least squares regression relationship and then forecast the expected guest count when advertising is $65 000.
Instructions
Your paper must follow APA style format.
This report requires more information to support your conclusions than are provided in the case itself. You may, in some cases need to use data, charts, illustrations, photos, or more to make/support your point – turn to the text and external sources to properly support your positions. Reference the text, other books, peer-reviewed articles, and sound corporate websites (minimum of 5 references expected). Critical thinking is important – look for more than one way of addressing a problem and choose the best solution.
This paper will go be handed in through turnitin a plagiarism platform

Case Study Sample Content Preview:
Production and operation management
Students Name:
Course tittle:
Date:
Forecasting is an essential management and strategy formulation tool that should be incorporated in any business with a vision of long term operations. In order to plan for the future of businesses managers have to employ forecasting methods in their decision making. At Hard Rock Café there are various applications of forecasting that are very essential to the running of the business and each use serves a specific purpose.
One of the forecasting applications used at Hard Rock café is the Point of Sale Method. It performs sale forecasts on monthly basis using model where each item purchased from the café is recorded and the total daily data transferred to the headquarters. The financial team then uses the data to make monthly prediction of each café. The database at the headquarters helps predict expected sales of banquet, retail and concerts and also estimate the guest count to be expected in each café. To achieve more clarity, the forecasts are converted from daily to hourly sales which is then translated in to workstations.
I think the management uses POS as a forecasting tool for a variety of reasons; first, the system is an efficient record keeping tool. In addition to its usefulness in the forecasting process, it can be used to control inventory and stock valuation, establish product demands for specific items and determine sales fluctuations at different periods. The Point of Sale System means that every time a purchase is made, an entry is input at the time the sale is made; which ensures that there are missing items or thefts by the employees and any discrepancy can be easily followed up. The system plays other important roles; first it facilitates employee management where tasks, hours and sales of each employee are recorded and through them managers can identify performing and non-performing employees (Mealy, 2007).
Secondly, I think they use it because POS helps in promoting accuracy and efficiency in sales since the prices are preset. This ensures that the sales data to be used for forecasting is reliable, verifiable and easily accessible. Since the POS system is computerized, Hard Rock Café headquarters can access records from all its branches from the server in the headquarters in real time which makes it effective and less prone to breach. This also saves time and money in the long term.
The second application used for forecasting by Hard Rock Café is the Weighted Moving Average. Here, the café uses a three-year moving average on sales of each café and the results form the base under which managers are evaluated and their bonuses set. Using sales records data from three years, the head of finance department in the headquarters, Todd Lindsey computes the average and sets target for the managers. The bonus are given on the basis of the targets where, if a manager exceeds his target, he is qualified to receive a calculated bonus. Lindsey uses data from the most recent year, the previous year and two years before using weights of 40%, 40% and 20% respectively.
Moreover, Lindsey uses data from three years which means that the sample of data will be enough to make conclusi...
Updated on
Get the Whole Paper!
Not exactly what you need?
Do you need a custom essay? Order right now:
Order

👀 Other Visitors are Viewing These APA Case Study Samples:

HIRE A WRITER FROM $11.95 / PAGE
ORDER WITH 15% DISCOUNT!
Order Now