Business Case Analysis: Just in Time for the Holidays

JUST IN TIME FOR THE HOLIDAYS
By
Institution
Case analysis: Just in Time for the Holidays
The North Pole Workshop has been in the lucrative business of producing toys for children for many years. A sudden upsurge in demand that has occurred severally within three years has affected the current production. Therefore, a proper method in terms of planning, production, and evaluating trends is required to ensure the team meets the required customer demands.
Problem statement
Santa Clause, who, together with his esteemed team, makes a variety of toys to be distributed to children worldwide during Christmas, owns the North Pole Workshop. The team uses letters from children to analyze their behavior using special software. The workshop operates at full throttle due to a sudden surge in demand, for Timmy the Tinsel Town Train. This has occurred thrice in three years despite the team constant market analysis of the children’s’ demand using the planning software. The team is perplexed since the children’s rating of their service is above their assumed proportion and technological trends are improving daily.
Similarly, the delivery system employed by Santa cannot keep up with increase in demands. The use of reindeer-drawn sleigh carriage is getting dangerous with increasing air traffic and haphazard change in weather patterns. The GPS installed in his sleigh helped him in improving delivery efficiency and contemplates modifying his sleigh with mechanical transmission capability. The team finds difficulty in keeping up with the occasional surge in demand of newer toys that usually occur close to Christmas. Santa considers using the methodology of trend spotting, something his wife supports as children change their desires based on latest television ads and movies. The team also learns that Meowrrr, their latest product-with high prospectus among 15-year-old girls, faces a dull public view before inception. Despite this, Barry Fiddledip, the Chief Bedazzler, suggests distributing the Meowrrr in Europe, Asia, and Africa markets, which have not faced destabilization from the propaganda in Teen Scene magazine, mostly distributed in America. Counterwaite differs with Barry’s suggestion to distribute Meowrrr in North America as preteen girls’ preferences change often concerning celebrity preferences.
Additionally, Cindy suggests upgrading of the manufacturing and procurement system so that the team gets a real-time sense in demand. The team is not on one page concerning the best marketing method, whether to implement better software to track surge in demand or to concentrate on flexible manufacturing.
How North Pole Workshop can respond better to shift in demand
These suggestions highlight the required procedures to follow in order to solve the dilemma experienced at the workshop. The commentaries from Johnson, Horst, Warren, and Anne respond to this situation effectively.
Erick M. Johnson suggestions
Santa ought to start creating fads rather than responding to demands. It is difficult to satisfy the interest of children since their desires change whenever they see a different toy that appears cool. He suggests the North Pole...