Problem:

I) You are designing a grocery delivery business. Via the internet, your company will offer staples and frozen foods in a large metropolitan area and then deliver them within a customer-defined window of time. You plan to partner with two major food stores in the area.

Question 1) What should your competitive priorities be and what capabilities do you want to develop in your own core and support processes?

Question 2) Is it possible for a project to have more than one critical path? Discuss the implications of such a situation with respect to each of the following aspects:

Project risk
Total available slack
Resource dependencies
Responsibilities of the project manager

II) For the grocery delivery business addressed in (I) the grocery chains that you are planning to partner with use differing inventory control models. Company A utilizes the Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory control model and Company B uses an Economic Order Quantity model. In reviewing your business plan, the bank loan officer has noticed this. As the loan officer is not overly familiar with either model, a request has been made of you to provide a description of each model and an explanation of why partnering with these companies would or would not create a conflict within your operations.

Question 1) Provide a detailed analysis of the situation in your business model.

III) A Quality Assurance (QA) Program is essential to the success of any business.

Question 1) In establishing your grocery delivery business, what are some of the Quality Control (QC) processes that you envision employing? Why? Provide examples of potential metrics. Justify your choices. Provide thorough explanation of every question given in the problem.