Product Overview

This field-based case describes the approach and decisions used by Harris Corporation’s vice president of supply chain management and operations to establish a set of financial benchmarks. It requires students to use those benchmarks to decide what areas need focus to potentially raise the company's financial results and elevate its financial performance through specific actions within its supply-chain group.

Learning Objectives

This case is useful in a financial-statement-analysis course, operations-management course, supply-chain-management course, or even a financial-reporting course that devotes a class or two to financial ratios. In any of these settings, the case provides a great opportunity for discussing one company’s approach to developing a broad set of financial benchmarks. Moreover, the case lends itself to either introducing or reviewing a variety of financial ratios. Any of the specific ratios presented in the case are prime classroom learning foci through a review of their calculation, interpretation, and explanation of management actions for improvement in the arena of that ratio. The case is suitable for one 90-minute class or two 50-minute classes.