Dental Associates

Dated – September 21st, 2015

Dental Associates of Northern Virginia (A)

By

Christopher Marshall

MGMT55142 - Operations Management

Professor Americo Cunha

Context of the Case –

Dental associates of Northern Virginia was founded in 1965. Since then it has grown from having two dentists to fifteen, with plans of adding more dentists to this well reputed chain. Dental Associates have conveniently located practices set up in in the greater D.C metro area. Every doctor had their own private practice so that patients could develop a certain level of comfort with a particular doctor but at the same time be able to use any of the other offices in the event of an emergency. They provided general dentistry procedures as well as speciality procedures and cosmetic treatments.

As time has gone by and with the advancement of technology patients are now beginning to demand better quality crowns as they are now able to afford various procedures due to the more income or insurance plans. All locations have been inserting crowns since its inception but now patients want the best quality, the firm therefore has gone back and forth between purchasing crowns from an external source to having porcelain crowns made in house. The latest development is in the advancement of all porcelain crowns, Dental Associates of Northern Virginia have negotiated a good wholesale price of US $150 a crown and US $15 for the impression materials to make the mould. This has been an ongoing issue since 1998 when the company realised that it needs to outsource its crowns again, due to the fact that the crowns made in house for the past twenty years were not as great quality as what was available in the market.

The originators of this group together decided that one dentist will oversee the Business Operations of the entire group, while others will be head administrator for each one of the six locations. Dr. B, was elected as the Group Administrator, he would consult his head administrators...