This assignment seeks to reinforce OM course material relating to the Newsvendor model or Operations Strategy /
Lean. Be clear, concise, and cogent in your answers; answers can be provided on Word exercise document. In case of doubts contact the instructor in
advance or state your assumptions. Max
points = 50. Due by Sunday, Apr. 10, 2022, 11:59 PM ET.
Notes: Some of the questions below are a little different from the list of case questions in the original course
descriiption pdf (Appendix on HBS Cases). This is to allow for questions directed towards both qualitatively and
quantitatively inclined students and to explain / elaborate on previously posted questions. Students who do not
want to work on a detailed application of the Newsvendor problem (i.e. Le Club du Vin case) can work on
answering question set II on New Balance Athletic Shoes – this is a general, mostly qualitative, case on
competitive strategy, manufacturing processes, responding to mergers and acquisitions, operations strategy,
outsourcing / offshoring, production processes, quality management, supply chain management, lean operations.
Points for questions have been provided to help guide your choice of questions to answer. You cannot answer
this Assignment completely without answering at least 3 sub-questions. You cannot answer Newsvendor Set I
completely without answering at least one of I.3 or I.4, further different sub-questions in Set I may be connected –
answering I.4 without knowing how to answer I.3 is impossible IMO. Similarly, for Set II, at least one of II.2, II.3,
or II.4 must be answered; these sub-questions are independent. You must answer completely every sub-question –
numbered 1 through 5 – that you pick. If your answer corresponds to more than 50 points (e.g., 55 points, denoted
as 50+ below), we will accept this answer and adjust grading so recorded scores still will be out of a max of 50. As
with the previous exercises, the grading scheme will deduct points for missing, incomplete, incorrect answers