Dunkin’ Donuts Prepares for Rapid Growth Dunkin’ Donuts has a strong following of customers around the world who rely on the restaurant chain’s coffee, donuts, and other baked goods to get their day started. Established in 1950, Dunkin’ Donuts still uses the original proprietary coffee blend recipe created by its founder William Rosenburg, but what started as a small donut shop in Quincy, Massachusetts, has grown into a global business generating more than $800 million in revenue in 2015. And as the restaurant chain has grown, its business operations have become increasingly sophisticated. Today, Dunkin’ Donuts franchises are backed up by a complex supply chain managed by National DCP (NDCP)— the exclusive supply chain management cooperative for more than 8,900 Dunkin’ Donuts stores in the United States and 51 other countries. Founded as a membership cooperative in 2012 with the merger of five regional food and beverage operating companies, NDCP’s mission is to support the daily operations of Dunkin’ Donuts franchisees and facilitate their growth and expansion plans. The company employs 1,700 people and maintains seven regional distribution centers along with another 32 logistics hubs. Recently, NDCP began a massive multiyear project, dubbed “Project Freshstart,” to consolidate and upgrade its systems and transform its business processes throughout every area of the company—from accounting to customer service to warehousing and distribution. The goals of the project are to improve customer service, lower costs, and create supply chain efficiencies through inventory- and order-management improvements. According to Darrell Riekena, CIO at NDCP, the company began the process by asking “what capabilities and corresponding systems were needed to drive business process changes using leading-edge technologies, without a lot of customization.” NDCP spent considerable time researching and evaluating implementation consulting partners and technology providers before opting to implement SAP’s Business Suite in partnership with Deloitte Consulting. NDCP selected the SAP system as the underlying technology for its business transformation because of SAP’s track record and experience with wholesale distribution. SAP’s software also offered NDCP the analytics and reporting tools the company felt were critical to supporting their plans for growth. According to Riekena, it was essential for the company to choose a technology platform that was flexible and could serve as the foundation for the company’s future expansion. Deloitte was chosen as NDCP’s implementation partner because it offered an extensive background in process redesign and a proven project methodology developedby a centralized staff who will have immediate access to customer histories and will be able to provide real-time updates on order status and issue resolution.

Critical Thinking Questions

1. Because NDCP is a membership cooperative, Dunkin’ Donuts franchisees are both owners and customers. What might be some advantages to such an ownership structure in terms of getting the support of all stakeholders for a massive project like the one NDCP undertook? What might be some disadvantages?

2. How important do you think the communication and change management aspects of this project were? Why do you think so many companies underestimate the importance of those facets of an enterprise-level project?

3. What are some of the risks for a company that chooses to make changes to so many parts of its business and underlying technology at once? What are some of the things a company could do to mitigate those risks?

Argosy Gaming Company is the owner and operator of six riverboat gambling casinos and hotels in the United States. Argosy has developed a centralized enterprise data warehouse to capture the data generated at each property. As part of this effort, Argosy selected an extract-transform-load (ETL) tool to gather and integrate the data from six different operational databases to create its data warehouse. The plan is to use the data to help Argosy management make quicker, well-informed decisions based on patrons’ behaviors, purchases, and preferences. Argosy hopes to pack more entertainment value into each patron’s visit by better understanding their gambling preferences and favorite services. The data will also be used to develop targeted direct mail campaigns, customize offers for specific customer segments, and adapt programs for individual casions

Review Questions

1. What are the key components that Argosy must put into place to create an environment for a successful BI and analytics program?

2. What complications can arise from gathering data from six different operational databases covering six riverboat gambling casinos and hotels?

Critical Thinking Questions

1. The Argosy BI and analytics program is aimed at boosting revenue not at reducing costs. Why do you think this is so?

2.   must Argosy take to have a successful program that will boost revenue and offset some of the increases in costs?