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Humanitarian aid organizations, while providing aid services, require inputs and utilize business processes like other for-profit firms. Many charity organizations depend on donations for revenue. The level of public trust in charities can affect donations. To support the American public and protect individuals from dishonest charity agencies, charity watchdog organizations

Humanitarian aid organizations, while providing aid services, require inputs and utilize business processes like other for-profit firms. Many charity organizations depend on donations for revenue. The level of public trust in charities can affect donations. To support the American public and protect individuals from dishonest charity agencies, charity watchdog organizations publish ratings of charities to assist the public in donation decisions. The ratings focus on a variety of topics orienting how much of donation funds go directly to the cause not administrative or soliciting costs. In the American Red Cross, a new process was engineered to make procuring consulting services more efficient and cost effective. This project was focused on investigating areas of improvement for the new process. Deliverables included process suggestions for business unit managers, process suggestions for sourcing managers, and detailed process flowcharts highlighting potential modifications in the new process. Overall, it is critical to keep consulting costs low to ensure that watchdog organizational ratings stay positive and public trust in the American Red Cross remains high.
ContributorsDonahue, Nancy Elizabeth (Author) / Brooks, Daniel (Thesis director) / Mokwa, Michael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor)
Created2015-05
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Description
The purpose of this project is to provide our client with a tool to mitigate Company X's franchise-wide inventory control problem. The problem stems from the franchises' initial strategy to buy all inventory as customers brought them in without a quantitative way for buyers to evaluate the store's inventory needs.

The purpose of this project is to provide our client with a tool to mitigate Company X's franchise-wide inventory control problem. The problem stems from the franchises' initial strategy to buy all inventory as customers brought them in without a quantitative way for buyers to evaluate the store's inventory needs. The Excel solution created by our team serves to provide that evaluation for buyers using deseasonalized linear regression to forecast inventory needs for clothing of different sizes and seasons by month. When looking at the provided sales data from 2014-2016, there was a clear seasonal trend, so the appropriate forecasting model was determined by testing 3 models: Triple Exponential Smoothing model, Deseasonalized Simple Linear Regression, and Multiple Linear Regression.The model calculates monthly optimal inventory levels (current period plus future 2 periods of inventory). All of the models were evaluated using the lowest mean absolute error (meaning best fit with the data), and the model with best fit was Deseasonalized Simple Linear Regression, which was then used to build the Excel tool. Buyers can use the Excel tool built with this forecasting model to evaluate whether or not to buy a given item of any size or season. To do this, the model uses the previous year's sales data to forecast optimal inventory level and compares it to the stores' current inventory level. If the current level is less than the optimal level, the cell housing current value will turn green (buy). If the currently level is greater than or equal to optimal level or less than optimal inventory level*1.05, current value will turn yellow (buy only if good quality). If the current level is greater than optimal level*1.05 current level will be red (don't buy). We recommend both stores implement a way of keeping track of how many clothing items held in each bin to keep more accurate inventory count. In addition, the model's utility will be of limited use until both stores' inventories are at a level where they can afford to buy. Therefore, it is in the client's best interest to liquidate stale inventor into store credit or cash In the future, the team would also like to develop a pricing model to better meet the needs of the client's two locations.
ContributorsUribes-Yanez, Diego (Co-author) / Liu, Jessica (Co-author) / Taylor, Todd (Thesis director) / Gentile, Erica (Committee member) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
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Description
The key to success is hard work and determination. Achieving success is always under construction. This project began as a simple analysis of the firm's progress, as at the time it was in desperate need of new clients and a marketing strategy to strengthen its visibility on campus.Through this evaluation,

The key to success is hard work and determination. Achieving success is always under construction. This project began as a simple analysis of the firm's progress, as at the time it was in desperate need of new clients and a marketing strategy to strengthen its visibility on campus.Through this evaluation, our team found that the firm was in an abysmal state and the previously noted problems were not the only issues of concern. From our research we found that in order for the firm to grow and become a successful student run consulting firm, there are several interorganizational issues that need to be understood and addressed. The intention of New Venture Group and the Consulting Scholars academic program is to provide students the opportunity to garner practical learning experiences. These potential opportunities are not taken full advantage of because of the afflicting problems that exist. The purpose of this thesis is to understand what problems exist within the firm and the next steps that should be taken to resolve them.
ContributorsBaskin, Connor (Co-author) / Farr, Austin (Co-author) / Chou, Alexandra (Co-author) / Laub, Jeffrey (Thesis director) / Taylor, Todd (Committee member) / Department of Supply Chain Management (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Department of Finance (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
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Description

Suitcases packed, armed with a PowerPoint presentation of matrices and frameworks, and an eloquent vocabulary of “synergies” and “core competencies,” another consultant prepares to deliver million-dollar advice to some of the leading executives of Fortune 500 companies. We all know who they are, but we have no idea what they

Suitcases packed, armed with a PowerPoint presentation of matrices and frameworks, and an eloquent vocabulary of “synergies” and “core competencies,” another consultant prepares to deliver million-dollar advice to some of the leading executives of Fortune 500 companies. We all know who they are, but we have no idea what they do. In 2019, over 20% of the graduating MBA class from Harvard university chose to pursue management consulting, a number that has been progressively increasing from years prior. With over 300 million people in the United States, and another 8 billion across the globe, a decision is being made every nano-second. From which stock to buy to which color socks to purchase, to every innovative (and incompetent) decision made, consultants have a hand in it all. While consultants contribute a healthy service in stimulating the economy and keeping big business, in business, there are a multitude of pitfalls that can occur in the profession and have drastic legal and ethical implications. <br/> To further examine this dichotomy of theoretical versus applied consulting, I decided to put my consulting skills to the test. By partnering with the New Venture Group, we delivered consulting services to Marni Anbar, the founder and creator of the DiscoverRoom, a hands-on, self-directed initiative allowing students to explore their curiosity in fields ranging from evolutionary studies to geology and astronomy. In response to the DiscoverRoom’s increasing demand and capacity to grow, New Venture Group consultants engaged with Marni Anbar in an attempt to analyze the important question of “what steps (from a business perspective) should Marni consider to further the DiscoverRoom (in a way that can make it both profitable and continue to serve as a creative space to further child development)?” <br/> This project was a hands-on way to examine the fundamentally complicated relationship that exists between consultants and their clients, and whether or not it was possible for college students to advise an initiative to remove the disparities that exist in STEM education in one of the worst-rated states for public school education in the country. By applying the research and findings uncovered when analyzing the theory of management consulting to this real life engagement, several parallels were discovered. As in the case of many consultants, our solution was never implemented due to external factors, which further creates a gap in allowing us to analyze whether or not our proposed solutions contained any value or not. As seen in our case, consultants often fall victim to not having their solution implemented due to a variety of external environmental trends and factors. This “incomplete” understanding of the picture further creates an aura of skepticism behind consultants and the work they do.

ContributorsTahiliani, Krishn Rajesh (Author) / Brian, Jennifer D. (Thesis director) / Koretz, Lora (Committee member) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05