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• Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2020

  Vanguard Retail Operations (A)

  Willy C. Shih and Antonio Moreno

  The first two cases in this series are set in the financial services industry, and explore whether it is better for back-office workers to be generalists who provide the flexibility of being able to handle the complete range of transactions that the company faces or specialists who focus on a subset of the overall transaction mix. The objective is to introduce the advantages of demand pooling in reducing the variability associated with the forecasting of highly variable workloads, while also demonstrating the benefits to worker learning and efficiency improvements that can come from specialization.
  
  The case is set at the Retail Investor Group Operations of the Vanguard Group, the mutual funds and ETF giant. Karin Risi, the managing director, is faced with a back-office operation that hasn’t kept up with massive transaction growth, one that is struggling under the weight of mounting client phone call and transaction volumes, client complaints, and buckling employee morale. And worse, the press was taking notice. The (A) case details the complexity in the growing backlog and frames the question of whether they should pursue a specialist model. The (B) case, for distribution in class, details the impact of an initial segmentation of workload into eight categories and poses additional questions for class discussion and analysis.

  Keywords: pooling; generalist model; specialist model; Operations; Service Operations; Management; Financial Services Industry; United States;

  Citation:

  Shih, Willy C., and Antonio Moreno. "Vanguard Retail Operations (A)." Harvard Business School Case 620-104, June 2020.  View Details

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• Supplement | HBS Case Collection | June 2020

  Vanguard Retail Operations (B)

  Willy C. Shih and Antonio Moreno

  The first two cases in this series are set in the financial services industry, and explore whether it is better for back-office workers to be generalists who provide the flexibility of being able to handle the complete range of transactions that the company faces or specialists who focus on a subset of the overall transaction mix. The objective is to introduce the advantages of demand pooling in reducing the variability associated with the forecasting of highly variable workloads, while also demonstrating the benefits to worker learning and efficiency improvements that can come from specialization.
  
  The case is set at the Retail Investor Group Operations of the Vanguard Group, the mutual funds and ETF giant. Karin Risi, the managing director, is faced with a back-office operation that hasn’t kept up with massive transaction growth, one that is struggling under the weight of mounting client phone call and transaction volumes, client complaints, and buckling employee morale. And worse, the press was taking notice. The (A) case details the complexity in the growing backlog and frames the question of whether they should pursue a specialist model. The (B) case, for distribution in class, details the impact of an initial segmentation of workload into eight categories and poses additional questions for class discussion and analysis.

  Keywords: pooling; generalist model; specialist model; Service Operations; Management; Financial Services Industry; United States;

  Citation:

  Shih, Willy C., and Antonio Moreno. "Vanguard Retail Operations (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 620-105, June 2020.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2017 (Revised March 2020)

  Fuyao Glass America: Sourcing Decision

  Willy Shih

  In today's global economy, what are the factors that go into production location choice? This case is set in the world's second largest automotive glass producer as it expands from China into the United States. To meet a very aggressive cost target, management is faced with the alternatives of fulfilling the contract from its new Ohio factory, which can only produce above the target cost because it is still on a learning curve, or it can fulfill from its Tianjin, China, factory, which can produce below the cost target but will incur extensive shipping costs and require a far greater amount of inventory holding. This case examines a core question facing managers who want to produce physical products for world markets.

  Keywords: supply chains; globalization of supply chain; manufacturing footprint; manufacturing; Manufacturing strategy; Global Strategy; Supply Chain; Globalization; Supply Chain Management; Production; Logistics; Strategy; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; China;

  Citation:

  Shih, Willy. "Fuyao Glass America: Sourcing Decision." Harvard Business School Case 618-007, August 2017. (Revised March 2020.)  View Details

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