Operation Strategies Case Study

Holiday Candle Company

Bob Venture is the owner of Holiday Candle Company and would like to expand his company's operations. For the past two years, Bob has sold candles via internet, but sales have steadily grown beyond his ability to produce the candles alone from his garage workshop. Because future sales growth looks very promising, Bob has decided to open a small manufacturing plant to produce the candles. Sales have primarily been to customer in the United States with occasional orders from others countries. In addition to selling via internet, Bob would like to start selling his candles to specialty stores in the United States. With the new plant, he would also like to consider expanding the products he offers in the near future.

1) Discuss what you think should be Bob's competitive priorities.

2) Referring to the Elements of Operations Strategy in chapter 2, discuss different aspects of the operations strategy that you think Bob needs to develop.