Posted: February 26th, 2023

Discussion responses wk6 Capstone in 24 hours

Discussion responses wk6 Capstone in 24 hours. See attachment

***Respond

to two or more of your colleagues’ posts in one or more of the following ways:
(100 words or more each Colleague)

· Offer an insight you gained from the external problem of the company your colleague identified. Have you ever experienced a similar problem in the workplace?

· Ask a question about or provide an additional perspective regarding the strategy your colleague would recommend to the company to address the external problem.

Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Note what you have learned or any insights you have gained as a result of the comments your colleagues made.

1st Colleague to Respond to:

Company and Problem

Aeromar is an airline that had flights within Mexico and international service to the U.S. News about it shutting down was announced. Their reasons were the inability to recover after losses from the 2020 pandemic. “The Mexico City international airport said in a statement that Aeromar owed about $27.5 million in fees, services and other debts” (The Associated Press, 2023). The airline, with 700 employees, had specific routes that targeted Mexican resorts. In 2020, there was a huge downturn in their ability to generate profits since there were periods of resorts being closed, cease travels, and the general public not seeking the long-time profitable routes due to fears of exposure. Aeromar is the second airline in Mexico to announce its closure for these reasons.

Strategy

            “Adapt or Die,” a quote used often including in the hit movie “Moneyball.”  It refers to the need to make the necessary changes to remain alive, Charles Darwin describes this as “Survival of the Fittest.” Aeromar did not have enough anticipation to consider what would happen if their main source of income ceased to exist.

“… analyze what opportunity exists in the future and how it might evolve over time. Gather more data and facts associated with it before finalizing any decisions. Clearly diagnose the risks and challenges anticipated in pursuing this opportunity and come up with the mitigation plan to address them” (Reddy, 2018).

While we cannot always know what may lie ahead, there are general practices of business continuity that help organizations prepare for scenarios that could cause their operations to halt. This may be a power outage, systems cyber-attack, weather related impacts, and market changes among others.

Aeromar depended greatly on leisure travel, and failed to diversify routes, services, revenue streams that could have provided some cushion during the downturn. Many restaurants were hurt during the pandemic, but many that survived adopted by offering delivery, different packaging, to go options and connecting with up-and-coming services that offered delivery to customer’s front doors (allowing them to still offer products while mitigating the risk).

References

The Associated Press. (2023, February 15). 
Hit by pandemic, small Mexican airline Aeromar shuts down. ABC News. Retrieved February 15, 2023, from https://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/hit-pandemic-small-mexican-airline-aeromar-shuts-97232700

Reddy, N. (2018, February 12). 
Want a successful business? Build an effective strategy
. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2018/02/12/want-a-successful-business-build-an-effective-strategy/?sh=4debe0a869bf

2nd Colleague to Respond to:

The company I’m referring to is Hartford Healthcare which is a multi specialty healthcare organization in Connecticut. The problem it was facing was supply chain issues especially during the COVID pandemic surge. There was such a high demand for all PPE items that were produced overseas they weren’t able to access what they needed.  HHC prides itself on being a “lean” organization. Meaning that there supplies are stocked in a way that supports a small buffer of extra but does not allow for an over abundance. The thought is that it minimizes waste via decreasing extra supplies that may expire, decreasing the amount of space needed to store supplies, etc. What was not considered in this strategy, however, was a national health crisis that would require a massive amount of supplies in a short period of time.  While I do believe the lean strategy is a good one, at least the company vulnerable to not being able to provide supplies in a timely fashion. I would consider what supplies would be essential for a large healthcare organization, and increase the buffer stock, or the amount of extra that are on hand, to accommodate unexpected supply, needs such as occurred during the pandemic. HHC has done this, and has created an offsite warehouse that houses PPE, and other essential supplies, to be able to respond to a crisis such as the COVID pandemic.

Reference:

Anderson, M. (2021, May 19). Hartford HealthCare CEO says he’s committed to getting more domestic PPE. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/supply-chain/hartford-healthcare-ceo-says-he-s-committed-to-getting-more-domestic-ppe.html