in What Ways

1. In what ways are Hazel’s customers most likely to judge the quality of her lawn care services?
Answer: Hazel’s customers will judge her work based mainly on the appearance of the lawn after
her service (e.g. landscape, height of the grass, the health of the plants and the absence of
unwanted weeds)
Her work will also be judged based on her efficiency in doing her work, taking into consideration
the productive hours spent in doing the service and the waiting time before Hazel could render
the service.
2. Hazel is the operations manager of her business. Among her responsibilities are forecasting,
inventory management, scheduling, quality assurance, and maintenance.
a. What kinds of things would likely require forecasts?
Answer: The following are the things that require forecasts:
No. of customers who would want their lawn to be mowed

The frequency of customers in requiring the service
The expenses that will be incurred during a certain period
How much supplies/equipments in lawn mowing to be ordered
When to order the supplies/equipments needed
b. What inventory items does Hazel probably have?

Answer: Fertilizers
Herbicides
Grass seeds
Pesticides
Tools in gardening (e.g. rake, grass cutter, spade, etc)
Fuel for her lawn mowers
Name one inventory decision she has to make periodically.

Answer: The lead time or when to order and the EOQ or how much to order supplies
c. What scheduling must she do? What things might occur to disrupt schedules and cause Hazel
to reschedule?
Answer: Arranging the schedule of when to serve which customer to avoid overlapping of time
in serving the customers, considering the amount of time needed in finishing a job before she can
start with another.
The things that might occur to disrupt schedules and will cause Hazel to reschedule are fortuitous
events such as storms, floods, earthquake and other calamities. Other reason may include rain or
bad weather, equipment failure, and if she gets sick or has a family emergency.
d. How important is quality assurance to Hazel’s business? Explain.

Answer: Quality assurance is of utmost importance because it is one of her edges in competing
with professional lawn care services. Since lawn mowing services are almost the same for every
competitor, the quality of her work will be her competitive advantage.
e. What kinds of maintenance must be performed?

Answer: Storing equipment in places which minimizes corrosion or deterioration
Checking if the tools are in well condition; equipment maintenance
Storing fertilizers in a dry place and checking their expiration dates, if any
Keeping abreast of new methods in lawn mowing
Making sure that the facilities are clean
Proper communication with the customers via telephone lines
3. What are some of the trade-offs that Hazel probably considered relative to:
a. Working for a company instead of for herself?
Answer: If she works for a company, work is standardized and is well-defined whereas if she
works for herself, she is not entirely sure of what to do.
If she works for a company her work is more formalized (she has to obey company rules and
policies) while if she is self-employed, she can set her own policies and she has more control of
her time.
b. Expanding the business?
Answer: More capitalization is needed to finance the expansion.
This would mean more customers to serve but higher cost will be incurred.
More workforce to employ to meet the increasing demand.
Higher revenues will be earned but there is no guarantee that demand would not be as high as she
expected, in which case higher carrying or holding cost the inventory may be incurred
Most of her time will be spent on her business instead of other things that she wish to do
c. Launching a Web site?

Answer: She will widen the scope of her market but high maintenance cost of the site will be
incurred.
Her business will be more accessible and more efficient in responding to customers’ needs, but
there is a probability that she might be able to meet the needs of the increased demand.
4. The town is considering an ordinance that would prohibit putting grass clippings
at the curb for pickup because local landfills cannot handle the volume. What
options might Hazel consider if the ordinance is passed? Name two advantages and
two drawbacks of each option.
1. Provide a new kind of service wherein she will offer to pick up grass clippings
and dispose them properly.
Advantages:
-She can utilize the grass clippings as fertilizers for her business by
decomposing them.
-She can also earn higher revenues by selling fertilizers made out of grass
clippings
Disadvantages:
-She will incur costs in finding a space to store/decompose the grass
clippings
-She will need one or more vehicles to collect and transport the grass
clippings.
2. Expand her business through backward integration. She will breed goats, cows
and other grass-eating animals and feed them the grass-clippings.
Advantages:
-she may generate higher revenues by selling these animals at a reasonable price (with minimal
costs on feeds because of the grass clippings)
-She will have a wide range of business.
Disadvantages:
-Additional capitalization is needed.
-She may not be able to focus on her lawn mowing business.

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1. In what ways are Hazel’s customers most likely to judge the quality of her lawn care services?

Answer: The following are the things that require forecasts:

No. of customers who would want their lawn to be mowed

b. What inventory items does Hazel probably have?

Name one inventory decision she has to make periodically.

d. How important is quality assurance to Hazel’s business? Explain.

e. What kinds of maintenance must be performed?

c. Launching a Web site?

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