Operations Management

Case Study 2

Summary

Dr. Julia Barr opened Creature Care Animal Clinic, a veterinary clinic, but it did not work as well as she thought. She created overnight services for surgical patients only. However, as time went on, the number of patients asking for specialized services increased. One of the nurses was specialized in grooming too, so she began to alternate jobs. The number of customers requesting the package of examining, grooming, and even minor surgical procedures increased. Moreover, most of the staff was not trained to provide those services. Here a dilemma appeared, Dr. Barr did not really know what kind of service she was offering.

Questions

1. Identify the operations management problems that Dr. Barr is having at the clinic.

They do not have their business strategy clearly defined, what started just as a veterinary clinic turned into a pet care clinic too. They need to be more specific and make sure they have a clear objective. Do they want to be a veterinary clinic? Or pet care? Or both? It could be a great idea to keep offering that service package of examining, grooming and surgical procedures, however, they need to create a business strategy based on that. If they want to make their business bigger that way they first need to hire specialized people, fix the schedules…

2. How would you define the “service bundle” currently being offered? How is this different from the initial purpose of the clinic?

I would define it as a mess that could turn into a great service package. Who knows, it could be the key to success. The initial purpose of the clinic was to just offer veterinary services, but since some of the pets started overnight for additional services, people saw there a good deal and they started leaving their pets in a clinic. I would say it is different from the initial purpose because they just wanted a clinic, and it is turning into a pet care business too.

3. Identify the high-contact and low-contact segments of the operation. How should each be managed?

On the one hand, the high-contact segment of the operation where there is a lot of interaction with the customer is at the front desk, when the clients come in and speak about what their pet’s issue is.

On the other hand, the low-contact segment of the