Kinky Feet Case Study
- Analyze and identify the problems in Kinky Feet
Irregular Orders
Kinky Feet is facing a lot of challenges including random orders which occur to change in order seasons especially during winter and summer because during the start of either season people will be looking into changing their wardrobe hence the increase in orders. However, when they settle down the company will be out of enough orders to keep their employees occupied in all seasons (Kinky Boots Case Study, 2017, p.1-2).
Inadequate Cash flow
Kinky Feet also faces little cash flow because the money is always with the retail customers. The problems arise as a result of the company allowing retailers to pay the company within a period of 60 days. This, therefore, hurts the company regarding cash flow because it might be able to pay most of its obligation on time leading to the company being in debts.
The increase in inventory especially buying of material to a considerable amount leads to most company money lying just in warehouse especially when orders are in low seasons because the production manager has been given enough powers to request for more material and is delivered without much scrutiny by the owner (Kinky Boots Case Study, 2017, p.1-3).
Lack of Extra Funds
The company also faces the challenge of enough capital to acquire new manufacturing equipment that will assist in increasing styles and color. This is because the banks have refused to offer more loans to Kinky Company and the fact that the cash flow is slow. This, therefore, calls for new ideas that will give the company extra money to buy the equipment.
The purchase of information system is also imminent, particularly when the business is trying to get its inventory, cash flows, and orders in place. The whole process, therefore, means the company may have to partner with another financial institution or get a willing partner who will bring in money to allow the purchase of required equipment (Kinky Boots Case Study, 2017, p.2-4).
Lack of efficient manager
The kinky feet company also has a shortage on the person equipped to run the business successfully. This is because Selvi who currently runs operations in the unit is overwhelmed and lack strong business skills to ensure success. Lack of experienced manager is evident especially since the production manager has its way of convincing that he needs more material, but according to the finance director, most of the purchased material lay aimlessly in the warehouse because whenever the pre-ordered material is not what is trending in the market its left for some time without being used.
Selvi is not able to see the need to buy the information system or doesn’t feel comfortable partnering with someone else. This is bad for business because strong skills need to be applied to ensure sustainability; this, therefore, means that the current manager may need to take a back seat and let someone else run the operation because employees and retailers seem to be taking advantage of her softness (Kinky Boots Case Study, 2017, p.4).
Future Dilemmas
The company is also faced with making crucial decisions in different areas on constant pestering insinuation. For instance, it needs to conduct a research if little delays are going to harm the business or not. It also needs to agree with the retailer on the exact time they are to pay for delivered goods to prevent the company from having to be short of cash flow. These dilemmas need to be sorted out immediately to come up with the way forward that the organization will take (Kinky Boots Case Study, 2017, p.4-5).
- Designate whether the problems you have identified in 1 are hard or soft system problems. You need to explain why you have made your decision.
The identified problems above can be segmented to either hard or soft. For example, the acquisition of new IS equipment’s, and production equipment is a soft system issue. This is because the company can still run successfully with its older material’s that is already in place because even if the company does not commit to purchasing a new equipment the old one will still ensure that orders are delivered on time and even analyzing the firm activities is still possible without any new purchases (Kinky Boots Case Study, 2017, p. 5).
Inadequate cash flow graduates as a hard system problem because without drastic changes the company bill will always run late and may affect that offering support skill to ensure the business runs smoothly.
The fact that the company is always in debts because of cash delays will cost the company integrity even from the financial institution because the company may be viewed not to be able to pay loans off they happen to borrow because of inconsistencies (Kinky Boots Case Study, 2017, p. 5-6).
Lack of efficient management qualifies as a hard system problem because, in the long run, bad decisions may lead to the closure of the company due to poor management. The inability to make quick decisions that will ensure the existence of business leads to in operational business unless the management is changed to include one give strong rules to be followed (Kinky Boots Case Study, 2017, p.6-7).
Lack of extra funds to ensure company investments and is a hard system problem because the inability of the business to invest to ensure future sustainability will mean that the business will not be able to guarantee its market share because of the competition (Kinky Boots Case Study, 2017, p.4-6).
- Identify key stakeholders and problem owners.
The primary stakeholders at kinky feet include both the employees and Selvi who is the owner of the business because they all benefit from the firm regarding salaries and general revenue from the organization. Problems owners refer to those directly affected by decisions that are going to be made. In the case of kinky feet company, problem owners include Selvi who is the current manager in the organization.
She is affected because according to Kevin she needs to be relieved from running the business and instead Kevin should run it because Kevin believes that Selvi will do well in designing department especially since she is the one who comes up with new ideas.
The production manager-Fred is also affected because Kevin beliefs that were investing in equipment that will be taking orders and regenerating it after the stock are over will benefit the company. This, therefore, means that in the long run Fred’s’ initial job description will change and might have to be moved from the department in the end (Kinky Boots Case Study, 2017, p.5-6).
The sales staffs are also affected because according to Kevin when they are out in the field taking orders they give retailer promises that the company strains at the time to meet their demands concerning delivery dates. The uses of Navision equipment will rid the business of making wrong orders and from suffering from a lot of requirements that the sales team keep promising the retailers (Kinky Boots Case Study, 2017, p.5-6).
- List possible models, tools, and techniques that can be used to analyze the current system. Critique each of these model, tools, and techniques in addressing the problems in the case study.
Object Oriented Analysis Model
Object oriented analysis and structured oriented analysis can be used to analyze the current system. Object oriented analysis has functionality restrictions within objects. This, therefore, will be problematic since the currents system has already set procedures and computation that require one to follow them. The object oriented analysis cannot also identify which objects would generate the necessary system design hence making one to take a lot of time in identifying objects that will make up the whole system.
The analysis in an object-oriented model does not readily show the link or communication between the objects in the system. The analysis interfaces between the objects cannot be presented in a single diagram (Kinky Boots Case Study, 2017, p.6-7).
Structured Analysis Model
Structured Analysis, on the other hand, has a primary challenge because it dictates that one phase should be established first before starting on the next step, this, therefore, outlines a problem in the design especially if an error occurs that will require the change of all initially constructed objects.
The construction of structured analysis is a costly process because the whole system is designed and built systematically hence leaving few Avenue to provide additional functions for the system. The formal model analysis does not allow code to be reused making its development costly and time-consuming on the part of developing more features (Kinky Boots Case Study, 2017, p.6-8).
List of References
Kinky shoes Case Study. 2017. Pg 1-8
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