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Assignment Chap2 Case Study Gabucan

Dutch tomato growers have significantly higher productivity than Italian and Greek growers due to their use of computerized, climate-controlled greenhouses that allow precise control over humidity, nutrition, and the ability to harvest crops year-round. Their yields are about ten times greater per square yard. They also have a supply chain advantage through an integrated Dutch trading company that sells their large output to supermarket chains across Europe and worldwide. This close relationship with supermarkets allows them to closely match supply and demand.

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433 views

Assignment Chap2 Case Study Gabucan

Dutch tomato growers have significantly higher productivity than Italian and Greek growers due to their use of computerized, climate-controlled greenhouses that allow precise control over humidity, nutrition, and the ability to harvest crops year-round. Their yields are about ten times greater per square yard. They also have a supply chain advantage through an integrated Dutch trading company that sells their large output to supermarket chains across Europe and worldwide. This close relationship with supermarkets allows them to closely match supply and demand.

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the anonimous a hole
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Gabucan, Ferdie Mar B.

Operations Management (TQM)

BSBA BE 3-1 CBM 0011 – 3

Assignment: Chapter 2, Case study

Reading Why Productivity Matters

It is sometimes easy to overlook the importance of productivity. National figures are


often reported in the media. They may seem to be ho-hum; there’s nothing glamorous about
them to get our attention. But make no mistake; they are key economic indicators—barometers,
if you will, that affect everybody. How? High productivity and high standard of living go hand-
in-hand. If a country becomes more service-based, as the United States has become, some (but
not all) high-productivity manufacturing jobs are replaced by lower-productivity service jobs.
That makes it more difficult to support a high standard of living. Productivity gains can offset
inflationary pressures related to wage increases. Productivity increases result in lower cost per
unit. Those savings not only generate higher profits, they also help pay for wage increases.
Productivity levels are also important for industries and companies. For companies, a higher
productivity relative to their competitors gives them a competitive advantage in the marketplace.
With a higher productivity, they can afford to undercut competitors’ prices to gain market share
or charge the same prices but realize greater profits! For an industry, higher relative
productivity means it is less likely to be supplanted by foreign industry.
Questions

1. Why is high productivity important for a nation?

A country's productivity is related to its economic situation. The factor mentioned


above corresponds to a country's level of living. It is significant for a country as it
promotes a higher level of life for its citizens; as mentioned in the text, increased
productivity, and a high standard of living to go hand in hand. It encourages more
competition among businesses, which contributes to a rise in the gross domestic product.
This is a provision that aids a nation's challenges. Productivity must be maintained in
advanced and already industrialized countries to retain the degree of economic situation
they currently have and to support the growth in their nation's GDP.

2. Why do you suppose that service jobs have lower productivity than manufacturing jobs?
If we take that literally, working in manufacturing requires a lot of energy.
Manufacturing workers have daily quotas that they must meet to sustain the firm's
productivity. On the other hand, service employees give services to their clients based on
their expertise, which may not require many people to carry out. Some services may not
have to be supplied in a specific amount; employees in this field may give direct
assistance to their clients. Nonetheless, both domains have the same goal: to fulfill a
particular market quota or service demand. 

3. How can a company gain a competitive advantage by having higher productivity than its
competitors have?

There is always a reason why a company has been established —to maximize the
potential profit. One reason a firm obtains a competitive advantage over its competitors is
through increased productivity. A company's continuous manufacturing and quality
control results in higher demand than its competitors. This indicates that the higher a
company's productivity, the larger its potential profit. It is to recognize that they have a
competitive edge. 
Reading Dutch Tomato Growers’ Productivity Advantage

Tomato growers in the Netherlands have a huge productivity advantage over their competitors
in Italy and Greece. Although those countries are sun drenched while the Netherlands are
anything but, computerized, climate-controlled greenhouses, and a “soil” spun from basalt and
chalk that resembles cotton candy, allows for precise control of humidity and nutrition, and
enables growers to produce their crops year around. Growers in Italy and Greece generally
grow their crops outdoors or in unheated greenhouses, and can only manage two crops a year.
Dutch growers are able to achieve yields that are about ten times per square yard of those of
Italian and Greek growers. And the Dutch have a supply chain advantage: an integrated Dutch
trading company works closely with supermarket chains in Europe and suppliers around the
world, so farmers are able to sell their output in high volume, rather than locally the way many
farmers in other countries do. That enables Dutch growers to more closely match supply with
supermarket demand. Finally, the Dutch tomato has been engineered to achieve a firmness that
allows growers to harvest and ship tomatoes at their peak, while the “outdoor” farmers
typically need to harvest their tomatoes before they are fully ripe to allow for firmness during
shipping.
Questions

1. What factors enable Dutch tomato growers to achieve much higher productivity than the
Italian and Greek growers?

The Dutch utilized their options to outperform the Italian and Greek growers in
terms of productivity. They devised strategies for gaining an advantage over their
competitors. They employed technology to increase the amount of harvesting they could
do in a year, giving them a substantial edge over their competition. They utilized
computerized, climate-controlled greenhouses and soil made of basalt and chalk,
allowing them to precisely regulate the nutrition and humidity of tomatoes; they even
designed the tomatoes to supply them at their peak, and with the assistance of a Dutch
trading company that works in the supermarket chain for suppliers all over the globe,
they were able to deliver a large volume of production not only in their European
neighbors but also across the world.

2. Discuss the importance of the Dutch growers’ supply chain.

The supply chain of Dutch growers illustrates how adept they are. Since they
outperformed their competitors in terms of production, the following action is to locate
consumers who will consume their goods. It is a significant benefit since it demonstrates
how their tomato products can be sold internationally with the assistance of a Dutch
trade firm that has access to the world's supermarket network. As a result of their ability
to offer an incredible amount of production while also being resourceful, they have
become a significant supplier of tomatoes locally and worldwide.

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