identity and authorization

tamerrabee3

Intro_ERP_Using_GBI_Story_en_v3.0.pdf

Home >Information Systems homework help >identity and authorization

CASE STUDY

Product

SAP ERP 6.08 Global Bike

Level

Beginner

Focus

Company Background

Authors

Simha Magal Stefan Weidner Jeff Word

Version

3.0

Last Update

July 2016

MOTIVATION

A general understanding of GBI (the enterprise) prior to embarking on hands-on exercises and case studies in the SAP ERP client is critical for success. This narrative provides a historical background for how GBI began and an overview of its operations and strategy. This information will be used extensively throughout the curriculum material.

NOTES

The Global Bike (GBI) data set has exclusively been created for SAP UA global curricula.

Global Bike Group

Background and overview of GBI strategy and operations.

CASE STUDY

Company History

Task Get to know the company’s history.

Short Description Read the below narrative to learn about the company’s history.

Time 15 min

The Global Bike Group has a pragmatic design philosophy that comes from

its deep roots in both the off-road trail racing and long-distance road racing

sports. Nearly 20 years ago, its founders designed their first bikes out of

necessity—they had races to win and the bikes that were available at the

time did not perform to their extremely high standards. So, they took matters

into their own hands and built legendary bikes that would outlast and

outperform the competition. From these humble origins, Global Bike

Incorporated was born and continues to deliver innovative high-performance

bicycles to the world’s most demanding riders.

This heritage of entrepreneurial spirit and quest for design perfection is still

the cornerstone of GBI’s corporate philosophy. GBI produces bikes for the

most demanding competitors—whether the competition is on pavement or

dirt, for money, fame or just bragging rights.

John Davis earned his racing scars in the mountain racing circuit in America,

where he won numerous downhill and cross-country championships. Early

on, John realized that the mass-produced bicycles available were inadequate

in many ways for the type of racing he was doing. So, John stripped four of

his old bikes down to the bare metal and rebuilt them into a single

“Frankenstein” bike that he rode to win the national championship. Once

news of his Frankenstein bike got out, John’s friends and even his

competitors began asking him to build them a Frankenstein bike too. While

recovering from an injury in 1990, John started producing the first series of

Frankenstein bikes in his garage—each one custom-built from cannibalized

parts from other bikes. As more and more orders came in, John successfully

expanded Frankenstein Bikes from his garage operations into a full-blown

manufacturing facility in Dallas and began producing custom trail bikes

which he sold through a network of specialized bike dealers throughout the country.

At nearly the same time, halfway around the world in Heidelberg, Germany,

Peter Schwarz was studying engineering and competing in regional touring

races on weekends. In between his races and studies, Peter worked at a bike

shop in Heidelberg, fixing student bikes and tuning the touring bikes that he

and his friends rode for competitions. As Peter’s reputation as a fierce

competitor and mechanical wizard grew, he also began to design and build

road bikes based on an ultra-light composite frame that he had created for

one of his engineering courses. Peter’s innovative use of carbon composite

materials allowed him to build a frame that was significantly stronger and

one tenth the weight of competing frames. As a student, Peter did not have a

great deal of financial resources, so he partnered with a local company that

manufactured his frame designs as a contract manufacturer. Soon, Peter’s

frames were being used by racers all over Europe and he started Heidelberg

Notes

CASE STUDY

Composites to market and design frames which would be fabricated by a

contract manufacturer on a larger scale. Heidelberg Composites sold its

frames to specialized bike stores throughout Europe and directly to racing

teams, eventually becoming the leader in lightweight touring frames in Europe.

Through a twist of fate, Peter and John met each other in 2000 and

immediately recognized their mutual passion for performance and

complimentary business models. Each had been looking for a partner in

another racing field and each had been looking for a partner in a different

market. They quickly realized that a merger between their two companies

would be extremely synergistic and that the combination of their product

lines and regional distribution channels would generate a great deal of

efficiencies.

So, in 2001, Heidelberg Composites and Frankenstein Bikes merged to form

Global Bike Incorporated. Today, John and Peter share the responsibilities

for managing GBI’s growing organization as co-CEO’s. John is responsible

for sales, marketing, service & support, IT, finance and human resources

groups and Peter is responsible for research, design, procurement and manufacturing groups from an organizational reporting perspective.

Figure 1:

Organizational Structure

However, GBI is a process-centric organization, so John and Peter prefer to

think of the processes that they are responsible for, rather than the functional

areas of the company that report to them. From this perspective, Peter is

responsible for Idea-to-Market and Build-to-Stock and John is responsible

for Order-to-Cash and Service & Support, as well as the supporting services

for all four key processes. The simple way to look at their responsibilities

would be to say that Peter spends money and builds products and John sells products and brings in money.

Board of Directors

John (Co-CEO)

VP Marketing Chief

Information Officer

Chief Financial Officer

VP Human Resources

Peter (Co-CEO)

VP Research and

Development VP Operations

CASE STUDY

Figure 2: Enterprise Process Map

CASE STUDY

Corporate Overview

Task Develop an organizational chart for GBI’s enterprise structure.

Short Description Read the below narrative to gather all relevant information for sketching GBI’s current company structure.

Time 15 min

Due to several tax and export issues, GBI’s headquarters is located in Dallas

and GBI is registered as a US company, following US GAAP accounting

standards. GBI operates a subsidiary company, GBI Europe, which is based

in Heidelberg and is subject to IFRS accounting standards and German tax regulations.

Material planning, finance, administration, HR and IT functions are

consolidated at the Dallas headquarters. The Dallas facility manufactures

products for the US and export markets and its warehouse manages product

distribution for the central US and internet retailers. GBI also has

warehouses for shipping and export in both San Diego and Miami. San

Diego handles West Coast distribution and exports for Asia, while Miami handles East Coast distribution and Latin America exports.

GBI Europe has its headquarters in Heidelberg Germany. The majority of

research and development is housed in the Heidelberg offices. Heidelberg is

also the main manufacturing facility for GBI in Europe. The Heidelberg

warehouse handles all shipping for southern Europe. The Hamburg

warehouse handles all shipping for the UK, Ireland, Middle East and Africa.

GBI sells its bikes throughout the world and employs approximately 100

people, 2/3rds of the employees are in the US and the remaining 1/3 in

Europe.

Notes

Organizational Chart

CASE STUDY

Product Strategy

Task Get familiar with GBI’s product strategy.

Short Description Read the below narrative about GBI’s product strategy.

Time 15 min

GBI is a world class bicycle company serving the professional and

“prosumer” cyclists for touring and off-road racing. GBI’s riders demand the

highest level of quality, toughness and performance from their bikes and

accessories.

Product development is the most critical element of GBI’s past and future

growth. GBI has invested heavily in this area, focusing on innovation,

quality, safety and speed to market. GBI has an extensive innovation

network to source ideas from riders, dealers and professionals to continuously improve the performance, reliability and quality of its bicycles.

In the touring bike category, GBI’s handcrafted bicycles have won numerous

design awards and are sold in over 10 countries. GBI’s signature composite

frames are world-renowned for their strength, low weight and easy

maintenance. GBI bikes are consistently ridden in the Tour de France and

other major international road races. GBI produces two models of their

signature road bikes, a deluxe and professional model. The key difference

between the two models is the type of wheels used, aluminum for the basic model and carbon composite for the professional model.

GBI’s off-road are also recognized as incredibly tough and easy to maintain.

GBI trail bikes are the preferred choice of world champion off-road racers

and have become synonymous with performance and strength in one of the

most grueling sports in the world. GBI produces two types of off-road bike,

a men’s and women’s model. The basic difference between the two models is the smaller size and ergonomic shaping of the women’s frame.

Notes

Figure 3 GBI Finished Products

GBI also sells an accessories product line comprised of helmets, t-shirts and

other riding accessories. GBI partners with only the highest quality suppliers

of accessories which will help enhance riders’ performance and comfort

while riding GBI bikes.

CASE STUDY

Figure 4 GBI Trading Goods

CASE STUDY

Manufacturing Strategy

Task Get familiar with GBI’s manufacturing strategy.

Short Description Read the below narrative about GBI’s manufacturing strategy.

Time 10 min

GBI operates two production facilities, Dallas and Heidelberg. Each facility

has three assembly lines and can produce around 1000 bikes per year. Total

production capacity is roughly 6000 bikes per year, but can be increased by 15%-20% by using overtime hours and part-time workers.

GBI has outsourced the production of both off-road and touring frames and

the carbon composite wheels to trusted partners who have specialty facilities

to fabricate the complex materials used. GBI maintains very collaborative

research and design relationships with these specialty partners to ensure that

innovations in both material and structural capabilities are incorporated into

the frames. GBI primarily assembles semi-finished goods into finished goods

at its production facilities. Finished goods are either stored in the local

warehouse or shipped to other regional distribution centers to fulfill

customer orders.

Notes

Figure 5

GBI Raw Materials GBI Semi-Finished

Goods

CASE STUDY

Distribution Network

Task Get familiar with GBI’s distribution network.

Short Description Read the below narrative about GBI’s distribution network.

Time 10 min

Given the highly specialized nature of GBI’s bicycles and the personalized

needs of riders, GBI sells its bikes exclusively through well-known and

respected Independent Bicycle Dealers (IBDs). These dealers employ staff

members who are experts in off-road and tour racing to help consumers choose the right GBI bike and accessories for their individual needs.

Notes

Figure 6

GBI Customers in US and Germany

Due to the highly technical nature of its products, GBI has embraced the

Internet primarily as an information channel, maximizing its potential for

educating consumers and partners and marketing its products to a large audience.

Since GBI’s main sales channel is through specialty resellers and there are

complex tax issues associated with selling in multiple states and countries, they have a limited amount of internet sales.

CASE STUDY

Partner Network

Task Get familiar with GBI’s partner network.

Short Description Read the below narrative about GBI’s partner network.

Time 10 min

GBI has established an extensive partner operation to ensure process

continuity between GBI and its partners to deliver best-in-class products for

its customers. Special attention has been paid to nurturing strong

relationships with suppliers and GBI is generally the largest customer of its main suppliers.

Notes

Figure 7 GBI Vendors in

US and Germany

CASE STUDY

IT Strategy

Task Get familiar with GBI’s IT strategy.

Short Description Read the below narrative about GBI’s information technology strategy.

Time 5 min

During 2009, GBI integrated a shared services model for all IT functions,

located in the Dallas office. Along with this move to centralized IT, GBI also

implemented SAP ERP (version 6.0). Prior to this, divisions were running

multiple, independent application environments. All ERP functions are

centralized with the primary objectives to reduce costs and deliver best-in-

class technology to all divisions globally. This centralized approach offers

GBI an advanced business platform under a highly controlled environment,

which enables consistency of operations and process integrity across the

globe.

Notes