Author Profile
Laseter, Timothy M.
Verve Motion: Powering the Human Workforce
Laseter, Timothy M. Sesia, Aldo
OM-1801 | Published October 14, 2024 | 11 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Beth Schaefer and Ilya Mirman, vice presidents at Verve Motion, are preparing their presentation to PepsiCo Beverages North America (PBNA). Verve Motion is the developer of the SafeLift suit, the firs... Read More
Shiftsmart: Opportunity for Fractional Labor
Laseter, Timothy M. Sesia, Aldo Bajekal, Nakool
OM-1814 | Published October 09, 2024 | 12 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Marcus Trenholm had just joined the customer success team at Shiftsmart, a company that fractionalized labor and connected gig workers with jobs and shifts. To determine whether a job was fractionaliz... Read More
Artificial Intelligence at the US Department of Health and Human Services: The AI Impact Sprint
Laseter, Timothy M. Sesia, Aldo
OM-1803 | Published October 03, 2024 | 11 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Claudette Servant, chief information officer (CIO) at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has assembled a task force made up of stakeholders from across the agency, including people ... Read More
Re:Build Manufacturing: 2023
Laseter, Timothy M. Sesia, Aldo
OM-1800 | Published September 10, 2024 | 10 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
In early 2023, Miles Arnone, cofounder and CEO of Re:Build Manufacturing (Re:Build), a reimagined conglomerate model, was facing pressing organizational challenges. Re:Build, a collection of companies... Read More
Data Centers: History and Economics
Laseter, Timothy M. Sesia, Aldo Whitney, Emerson
OM-1791 | Published June 21, 2024 | 18 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
Many executives are under pressure to develop successful data center strategies that work for their organization, according to industry-specific criteria. While data centers have been in use for decad... Read More
Cybersecurity: Managerial Basics
Laseter, Timothy M. Johnson, M. Eric Sesia, Aldo
OM-1807 | Published February 22, 2024 | 16 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This note introduces cybersecurity—what it is, why it is needed, and current practices and solutions. While the broad issue of information security is a concern for governments and individuals, this n... Read More
Competitive-Cost Analysis: Experience Curves
Laseter, Timothy M. Schwartz, Greg
OM-1799 | Published September 11, 2023 | 4 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This final note in the five-part series on competitive-cost analysis introduces the concept of the experience curve, which can be analyzed with a log-log relationship between unit cost and cumulative ... Read More
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): From Mainframe to Cloud
Laseter, Timothy M. Yemen, Gerry
OM-1794 | Published July 20, 2023 | 14 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
In 1999, the Economist questioned whether the enterprise resource planning (ERP) business model could adapt to internet computing. ERPs were software systems that businesses could use to manage the co... Read More
The Internet of Things
Laseter, Timothy M. Frazer, Anne Boatright, Benjamin
OM-1792 | Published July 14, 2023 | 7 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
The Internet of Things (IoT) can be generally explained as a network of objects that collect data regarding their surroundings and transfer it across the internet to various systems. While the additio... Read More
Data Quality and Data Engineering
Laseter, Timothy M. Frazer, Anne Boatright, Benjamin
OM-1790 | Published January 31, 2023 | 6 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
As companies increasingly rely on data and analytics to make decisions and improve their operations, it becomes clear that data quality can be a major issue. The insights gleaned from data analytics a... Read More
Cloud Computing
Laseter, Timothy M. Coughenour, Alyssa Webb, Jane Boatright, Benjamin Shaloudegi, Koushyar Whitney, Emerson Sesia, Aldo
OM-1784 | Published January 17, 2023 | 16 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This note provides a general overview of cloud computing and how businesses are using it to achieve their digital goals. Specifically, it outlines the different service models that cloud computing sup... Read More
Mixed, Virtual, and Augmented Reality in the Real World
Laseter, Timothy M. Frazer, Anne Boatright, Benjamin
OM-1783 | Published January 06, 2023 | 8 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This technical note details virtual and augmented reality and how these immersive technologies can be used in business. Specifically, this note highlights several business applications of both virtual... Read More
Ecommerce Brands: Digital Scale
Laseter, Timothy M. Thomas, Doug Yemen, Gerry
OM-1776 | Published December 21, 2022 | 16 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case uses Ecommerce Brands (ECB), an aggregator of online retailers focusing on the auto parts space, to prompt an analysis of the firm’s capabilities, scalability, and operations strategy. ECB w... Read More
Dovrex Procurement Diagnostic
Laseter, Timothy M. Lindsey, Robyn
OM-1747 | Published December 13, 2022 | 5 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The task before Siddhidhar Parulekar seemed challenging. Only eight months before, in March 2021, he had joined Dovrex Company (Dovrex) as senior director of global strategic supply chain. In an indus... Read More
Artificial Intelligence in Business: Machines and Management
Laseter, Timothy M. Frazer, Anne Boatright, Benjamin
OM-1778 | Published November 01, 2022 | 10 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This technical note offers an overview of artificial intelligence (AI) and some ways in which machine learning is leveraged to build this type of intelligence. The note also explores two schools of th... Read More
Is Governance the Key to the Metaverse?
OM-1777 | Published October 06, 2022 | 5 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Bridget Lively, an information technology consultant, was intrigued by new ideas involving potential applications of “markets” to societal problems. An avid Wikipedia editor and previously very active... Read More
Shiftsmart: Redefining Job Access and Labor Management
Laseter, Timothy M. Sesia, Aldo
OM-1762 | Published October 03, 2022 | 9 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
In January 2022, Shiftsmart cofounder and CEO Aakash Kumar wanted to capitalize on the company’s momentum. Shiftsmart connected workers on a shift-by-shift basis to some of the world’s largest corpora... Read More
In the Cloud
Laseter, Timothy M. Coughenour, Alyssa Webb, Jane
OM-1734 | Published January 10, 2022 | 25 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Charu Thomas, cofounder and CEO of Ox, a software platform provider that helped retailers improve online order fulfillment, was proud of how her business had grown and earned positive feedback from in... Read More
Re:Build Manufacturing—Reimagining the Conglomerate
Laseter, Timothy M. Sesia, Aldo
OM-1757 | Published December 08, 2021 | 16 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
In October 2021, Miles Arnone, CEO of Re:Build Manufacturing (Re:Build), was thinking about Re:Build’s next acquisition. Arnone contemplated the pros and cons of each of three candidate companies as h... Read More
Three Notch’d: Economies of Scale in Brewing
Laseter, Timothy M. Morris, Jack
OM-1750 | Published October 29, 2021 | 13 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
In August 2021, George Kastendike, CEO of Three Notch’d Brewery (Three Notch’d) in Charlottesville, Virginia, laid down the phone as he finished a conference call with two of his early investors. In t... Read More
Fidelity Investments: Betting on Digital Strategy
Laseter, Timothy M. Luk, Victoria
OM-1746 | Published October 18, 2021 | 5 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Julie Busby, operational excellence lead for Fidelity Investments (Fidelity), needed to help a customer call center manage its diverse set of clients. Despite efforts to categorize tasks based on call... Read More
Rivian Charging Ahead
Laseter, Timothy M. Sesia, Aldo
OM-1749 | Published October 05, 2021 | 16 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
In fall 2021, start-up Rivian was poised to begin delivery of its first electrical vehicles (EVs) to external customers after several delays. The company had over 70,000 preorders for its R1T (pickup ... Read More
Competitive-Cost Analysis: Learning Curves
Laseter, Timothy M. Schwartz, Greg
OM-1745 | Published September 03, 2021 | 4 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This fourth note in the five-part series on competitive-cost analysis introduces the concept of the learning curve, which can be analyzed with a log-log relationship between unit cost and cumulative v... Read More
A Rock and a Hard Place: The Conundrum of Online Grocery after COVID
Laseter, Timothy M. Lert, Devin
OM-1733 | Published July 16, 2021 | 19 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
In the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic, US retailers were scrambling to develop a sustainable business model for e-commerce grocery (e-Grocery). By 2021, many grocers were experimenting with dif... Read More
Cost of the Cold Chain: Perishable Shipping Solutions
Laseter, Timothy M. Ritchie, Ryan
OM-1700 | Published October 09, 2020 | 20 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
As he closed the books on September 2020, Mark Nelson breathed a sigh of relief. He and his business partners had just successfully raised $8.7 million of capital for their business venture, Perishabl... Read More
Kitchenware.com
Laseter, Timothy M. Rabinovich, Elliot Ryan, Michael
OM-1600 | Published July 25, 2018 | 5 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The president and founder of Kitchenware.com, reflects on her recent efforts to drive profitability with a more in-depth cost-to-serve analysis of her company. The need for continued sales growth, cou... Read More
Grayson Wholesale: Wishing for Control
OM-1590 | Published December 05, 2017 | 8 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The owner of a Cape Town, South Africa–based business, Grayson Wholesale Supplies, struggles to manage his cash flow and get his inventory under control (Grayson Wholesale has no formal order-cycle pr... Read More
Sarak Wholesale: Wishing for Control
OM-1570 | Published May 19, 2017 | 8 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The owner of a Cape Town, South Africa–based business, Sarak Wholesale Supplies, struggles to manage his cash flow and get his inventory under control (Sarak Wholesale has no formal order-cycle proces... Read More
Corning Incorporated: Accelerating 160 Years of Innovation
OM-1510 | Published February 02, 2014 | 14 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Less than six months into his new role as innovation officer for Corning Incorporated (Corning), Marty Curran was worried. Corning had just announced an across-the-board restructuring in anticipation ... Read More
Elektrikraft: Global Sourcing Initiative (A)
Laseter, Timothy M. Goldberg, Rebecca
OM-1484 | Published November 12, 2012 | 20 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case pairing is used in multiple Executive Education courses to define Strategic Sourcing, as well as in Darden's Operations Strategy course elective. The chief procurement officer had finished h... Read More
Elektrikraft: Global Sourcing Initiative (B)
Laseter, Timothy M. Goldberg, Rebecca
OM-1485 | Published November 12, 2012 | 3 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The meeting of the electricity meters commodity strategy task force lasted all day, and the team made significant progress. After hours of deliberation, the task force decided that it would employ the... Read More
Air International Thermal Systems
Laseter, Timothy M. Sheppelman, Todd Stewart, Steve
OM-1480 | Published November 08, 2012 | 19 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The automotive industry was particularly hard-hit by the 2008 financial crisis. But even more severely hit were the smaller component and systems suppliers to car companies such as Air International T... Read More
Bedrock, Ltd.
Laseter, Timothy M. Yoxtheimer, Adam
S-0206 | Published April 30, 2012 | 3 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Recent economic events that started in the United States but are occurring globally have caused coal markets to decline both in price and volume. Bedrock has recently engaged a general management cons... Read More
Coastal Shipping
Laseter, Timothy M. Hammer, James
S-0205 | Published April 23, 2012 Exercise
Collection: Darden School of Business
In this exercise/case, each student is a new associate assigned as the lead of a work stream handling Coastal's product specifications to learn whether the company is unnecessarily over-specifying key... Read More
U.S. Government Contractors
Laseter, Timothy M. Bollinger, Marty
BP-0558 | Published April 12, 2012 | 7 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Until 2009, U.S. Government Contractors (USGC) had been growing by 12% to 15% a year, but starting in 2009, growth slowed to 2% to 4% a year as customer spending decelerated. Traditional competitors s... Read More
Belton Semiconductors (B)
Laseter, Timothy M. Murphy, Michael Pederson, Matt
BP-0557 | Published April 10, 2012 | 1 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
After more intense debate, Belton’s COO has acquiesced and agreed with the manager of a large management consulting firm on every major point. But a senior partner on the assessment, as well as the co... Read More
Belton Semiconductors (A)
Laseter, Timothy M. Murphy, Michael Pederson, Matt
BP-0556 | Published April 10, 2012 | 6 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The manager of a large management consulting firm has evaluated Belton’s operating model and recommended changes to get the organization back on its historical growth trajectory. He has led a competit... Read More
Edison2
Laseter, Timothy M. Hetman, Yaroslav McHale, Carly
OM-1461 | Published February 24, 2012 | 12 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The founder and CEO of Edison2 and his internationally renowned team of designers, engineers, and professional race car drivers had worked tirelessly for three years to design and build the Very Light... Read More
Zappos Customer Loyalty Team
Laseter, Timothy M. Carter, Scott Goldberg, Rebecca
OM-1452 | Published October 13, 2011 | 15 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Zappos' senior leadership must decide whether to continue to schedule the call center shifts based on seniority or to consider a new plan that makes use of Uber-style surge pricing to pay workers high... Read More
RelayFoods.com
OM-1431 | Published August 25, 2011 | 9 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
In less than two years, the founders' innovative model for addressing last-mile challenges in an online grocery retailing operation was working. Although still consuming cash, the three-month-old pilo... Read More
Canyon Mining Corporation: Heavy Mobile Equipment Procurement
Laseter, Timothy M. Katz, Arnon Choi, Sihyun
OM-1392 | Published October 04, 2010 | 11 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Canyon Mining intends to negotiate a long-term contract for haul trucks to use for surface mining, and a team from Censeo Consulting Group is tasked with developing a methodology to track cost changes... Read More
TONA Foundry
Laseter, Timothy M. Byme, Silas Swerdlow, Dorian
OM-1348 | Published September 12, 2008 | 4 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case and “DOSA Motor Manufacturing” (UVA-OM-1349) provide data for the parties in a negotiation exercise. DOSA is seeking to buy a die-cast aluminum housing for a new motor design and has initiat... Read More
DOSA Motor Manufacturing
Laseter, Timothy M. Byme, Silas Swerdlow, Dorian
OM-1349 | Published September 12, 2008 | 3 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case and "TONA Foundry" (UVA-OM-1348) provide data for the parties in a negotiation exercise. DOSA is seeking to buy a die-cast aluminum housing for a new motor design and has initiated negotiati... Read More
Mega Oil Corporation
Laseter, Timothy M. Kelly, Dorothy C.
OM-1169 | Published February 04, 2008 Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Scoping the situation at the Mega Oil Corporation, a major management-consulting firm, had been the easy part. The firm is seriously behind its best competitors and risks falling further behind unless... Read More
dVider LLC
Laseter, Timothy M. Lian, Pat Toussaint, Sheldon
OM-1361 | Published January 12, 2008 | 19 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Consultants have been engaged to recommend the ideal operations strategy for Stickers by dVider, to support a dramatic increase in demand anticipated by the company as a result of its aggressive growt... Read More
Pyrex
Laseter, Timothy M. Baran, Leena
OM-1323 | Published January 31, 2007 | 11 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The global sourcing department at World Kitchen faces a make/buy decision that could result in closing a 90-year-old facility in Pennsylvania. Concerns about labor costs and capital investment both co... Read More
Cooking.com
Laseter, Timothy M. Rabinovich, Elliot Ryan, Michael
OM-1321 | Published January 31, 2007 | 12 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
The president and founder of Cooking.com is examining the concept of cost-to-serve in her Internet retailing company. The need for continued sales growth, coupled with the necessity of keeping costs d... Read More
TRX, Inc.: The Offshoring Decision
Laseter, Timothy M. Heckel, Ken
OM-1296 | Published May 31, 2006 | 16 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case examines a pending offshoring decision by TRX, Inc., a transaction-services provider to the global travel industry. The COO is considering shifting all nonmanagerial workers to a facility to... Read More
Competitive-Cost Analysis: Cost-Driver Framework
Laseter, Timothy M. Heckel, Ken Huang, Angela
OM-1254 | Published March 17, 2006 | 9 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
The first in a five-part series on competitive-cost analysis, this note introduces cost drivers, presents a conceptual framework for organizing them, and explains various applications of competitive-c... Read More
Competitive-Cost Analysis: Cost-Modeling Techniques
Laseter, Timothy M. Heckel, Ken Huang, Angela
OM-1255 | Published March 08, 2006 | 5 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
The second in a five-part series on competitive-cost analysis, this note provides a general discussion of four specific tools that will further assist in analyzing cost drivers for competitive analysi... Read More
Competitive-Cost Analysis: Scale and Utilization Calculations
Laseter, Timothy M. Heckel, Ken Huang, Angela
OM-1256 | Published March 08, 2006 | 7 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
This third note in a five-part series on competitive-cost analysis provides detailed guidance on calculating scale curves and utilization effects. Read More
Sammy Snacks (A)
Laseter, Timothy M. Eakes, David Fairchild, Gregory B.
OM-1177 | Published November 10, 2005 Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Sam, a Labrador retriever, is the inspiration behind his owner's retail business that sells super premium pet food. As she expands the company's retail footprint, the founder considers two options wit... Read More
Teek Automotive, Ltd.
Laseter, Timothy M. Davis, Edward W.
OM-0863 | Published November 10, 2005 | 13 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Senior consultant Cecilia Marks must outline an initial sourcing strategy for the chassis systems division of Teek Automotive, Ltd. (Teek). In recent years, Teek has been refocusing its manufacturing ... Read More
PepsiCo: QTG Emerging Channel Investment
OM-1210 | Published November 09, 2005 | 18 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case examines the opportunity for the Quaker-Tropicana-Gatorade (QTG) division of PepsiCo to invest in either or both of two small but fast-growing retail channels: the Dollar Channel and the Nat... Read More
MusicToday, LLC: Managing Inventory for Night Train
Laseter, Timothy M. Ashton, Jay Gu, Vincent Goldberg, Rebecca
OM-1204 | Published October 20, 2005 | 9 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Musictoday, a music merchandising company based in Charlottesville, Virginia, began as a much smaller outfit working for the Dave Matthews Band. It grew to manage a significant, complex value proposit... Read More
Dollar Tree Logistics
Laseter, Timothy M. Wu, Yu Huang, Angela
OM-1180 | Published July 01, 2005 | 17 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case explores the decision of a fast-growing company to expand its distribution network. Financial information is provided in it so students can understand the basic distribution network design c... Read More
Tork Corporation: Competitive-Cost Analysis
Laseter, Timothy M. Hammer, James
OM-1171 | Published April 04, 2005 | 8 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This disguised case examines the issue of outsourcing to a low-cost country based on a thorough analysis of competitive-cost drivers. The case demonstrates that labor cost is only one potential advant... Read More
AES Corporation (B): Global Sourcing Initiative
Laseter, Timothy M. Ranjan, Rajiv
OM-1168 | Published February 16, 2005 Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case describes the process and presents the results of the reverse auction for electric meters forecast in the A case. Read More
Department of Defense: Contract Labor Sourcing (A)
Cross, Tom Laseter, Timothy M. Burns, Heather Consulting, Censeo
OM-1183 | Published August 15, 2004 | 11 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Contract labor services were typically sourced through small businesses, with large, nationally (and globally) recognized firms making up a small portion of total spend; however, large businesses coul... Read More
Department of Defense: Contract Labor Sourcing (B)
Cross, Tom Laseter, Timothy M.
OM-1184 | Published July 05, 2004 | 2 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case details the sourcing strategy that was developed for the Department of Defense so it could more efficiently spend money on contract labor sourcing. Read More
Eagle Industries: Office Supplies Sourcing
Cross, Tom Laseter, Timothy M.
OM-1181 | Published July 05, 2004 | 16 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
Eagle Industries was in the midst of an ongoing strategic sourcing project to reduce costs. The strategic sourcing team analyzed indirect purchases and identified office products as an opportunity are... Read More
Department of Homeland Security: Office Products Sourcing
Cross, Tom Laseter, Timothy M.
OM-1182 | Published July 05, 2004 | 5 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
DHS had become a leader in implementing strategic sourcing among federal government agencies, with 14 commodity councils established to support the initiative. This case traces the work of the office ... Read More
Musictoday, LLC: Implementing a Periodic Review Inventory System
Laseter, Timothy M. Ashton, Jay Gu, Vincent
OM-1114 | Published June 17, 2004 | 11 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case is used in Darden's first-year core operations class as part of a module on supply chain management. The Musictoday company provided online retailing services for such clients as the Dave Ma... Read More
FreshDirect: Expansion Strategy
Chatterjee, Debashish Laseter, Timothy M.
OM-1115 | Published June 17, 2004 | 14 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
FreshDirect, a home-delivery business, wants to use the additional capacity in its meat-processing facility to expand into national competition. The description of the beef supply chain in this case w... Read More
Cyntergy Electric, Inc.
OM-1104 | Published February 16, 2004 | 12 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This disguised case, based on experiences at a major utility, offers insight into the implementation and evolution of a shared service organization. Initially developed for a custom executive educatio... Read More
AES Corporation (A): Global Sourcing Initiative
Laseter, Timothy M. Ranjan, Rajiv Syeda, Amena Katz, Arnon
OM-1167 | Published February 11, 2004 | 19 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case is appropriate for courses in operations management and business communications. It examines the procurement strategy of a global energy company by describing the overall change program led ... Read More
Whirlpool Corporation Global Procurement
OM-1071 | Published August 05, 2003 | 13 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case introduces a framework for cost modeling. Two data sets (one for injection-molded plastic parts and another for compressors) allow students to apply the cost-driver framework in conjunction ... Read More
CFNA Credit Corporation: Call Center Outsourcing
OM-1072 | Published August 05, 2003 | 10 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case provides an opportunity to apply cost-modeling techniques in the context of the growing trend in "offshoring" white-collar work. This data-rich case gives students the opportunity to test th... Read More
eBags: Managing Growth
Laseter, Timothy M. Rabinovich, Elliot Rungtusanatham, Johnny Lappi, Todd Heckel, Ken
OM-1179 | Published | 16 pages Case
Collection: Darden School of Business
This case examines a set of expansion options for a successful Internet luggage retailer, with a particular emphasis on the operational complexities. Read More
Digital Twin: Representing the Real
Laseter, Timothy M. Frazer, Anne Boatright, Benjamin Whitney, Emerson
OM-1785 | Published | 8 pages Technical Note
Collection: Darden School of Business
A digital twin can be described as a digital model of a real object. But what makes it different from a prototype? How are digital twins being used in business settings outside manufacturing? How do t... Read More