1. Linking Products to Operations Processes Instructions The characteristics of a firm's product and its production processes are often determined by customer needs and expectations. Follow the links below to learn more about each company's products/services and customers. Rawlings http://www.rawlings.com Gateway http://www.gateway.com SAP http://www.sap.com Monitor http://www.monitor.com Using information provided on the Web sites, respond to the following questions: What types of products or services does each company provide? For each company, is the production process likely to be characterized by standardization, modular design, or customization? Explain. Cooper Interaction Design has trademarked the term "goal-directed design" and is especially interested in software interfaces. Follow the link to their Web site for more information about how this helps businesses create products that "balance the needs of marketing and engineering with the goals of people." Discuss the implications of their view regarding the nature of software development and design. Cooper Interaction Design http://www.cooper.com
2. Operations Management in a Software Company Instructions Software is a series of commands that instructs a computer to take various actions. A modern software program may contain millions of commands that must be written by programmers. Many companies develop, reproduce, and distribute software. Three such companies are listed below with links to their Web sites. Visit the Web sites to learn more about each company. Return to answer the questions below. Red Storm http://www.redstorm.com SAS Institute http://www.sas.com Trilogy http://www.trilogy.com What major inputs are required by a software company? Would you describe each of the software companies you visited as a manufacturer or service firm? Explain why. Many software companies have their headquarters in California's Silicon Valley. Where are the headquarters for the three companies above? What are likely to be the most important factors affecting the software company's decision about where to locate their headquarters? Software companies are interested in quality. Discuss the definition of quality in the context of software companies. Is Trilogy's notion of quality likely to be the same as that of Red Storm? Explain.
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education