Sustainable Lawn Care Case Study - Operations Management

1. Define Lawn Care’s current strategic mission, strategy, competitive priorities, value chain, and how it wins customers. What are the order qualifiers and winners? Draw the major stage in its value chain without an application service.

The Lawn Care Company produces high grade fertilizer which is sold to customers for do-it-yourself application. Its strategic mission is to be the world market leader in the highest quality grass seed and fertilizer in the Lawn care segment with a strategy to service "the right product to the right customer at the right time." The company targets high end customers such as golf courses and parks as a strategy to expose people to the first moment of truth of the beautiful lawns that result from using its product, with the intention of luring residential customers to use the product on their own lawns. The competitive priorities of the company are to produce the highest quality fertilizer, offer convenient delivery service to customers, at the best price. The value chain includes suppliers, selection of the inputs (people, information, chemicals and equipment to produce the products), to determine the core processes to deliver its products, to develop the outcomes of the sales, and to track the post-sale services. The company wins customers by offering products that you can apply yourself that result in the greenest grass at a good price. However, the company is losing customers to competitors so needs to reevaluate how competitors are winning customers. Some customers, specifically golf courses and parks, are dissatisfied with Lawn Care’s products, claiming that The Lawn Care Company’s fertilizer ruins their grass and pollutes waterways. The Lawn Care Company defends their product by blaming the issues on faulty application of their product by the customer. Competitors are offering application services and therefore, assume the liability of correct application, taking the ownership of issues caused by its products...