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Parking Space Dilemma at Express Mall

CASELET, BUSINESS ANALYTICS
ET Cases, 5 Pages
AUTHOR(S) : R. Muthukumar and Dr. Nagendra V. Chowdary

Case Preview

Parking Space Dilemma at Express Mall

It was unusually warm morning on October 10th 2017. Kumaresan Nadar (Kumaresan), the Managing Director of Express Ways, one of the oldest construction companies in Chennai, was contemplating on the parking lot’s problem at his company’s mall – Express Mall. Since the last 6 months, he had been receiving frequent complaints from the mall’s parking lots about longer waiting times at the entry and exit points.

Background

Nadesan Nadar (Nadesan), the founder of Express Ways, started his career at an age of 25 as a maintenance executive, thanks to one of his uncles who worked in the Public Works Department (PWD), Chennai. Nadesan was involved in repairing and replacing plumbing lines and electrical works in government buildings. Impressed with his good work, he was awarded many contracts. After gaining significant experience in the field, Nadesan registered as a contractor with PWD and named his firm as ‘Express Ways’. He also registered it with the Registrar of Firms as a contactor in 1985 in PWD as per the Company’s Act 1956. The 1990s saw the company’s foray into construction of bridges and concrete structures. In addition to government projects, the company undertook many private projects for various companies in Chennai. The company’s projects ranged from construction of government offices to private schools to college campuses. Nadesan’s hard work, business acumen and good public relations have helped bring the company to its current level......................

Express Mall

To benefit from the Indian consumers’ evolved spending pattern – spending more on life style categories such as restaurants, movies, shopping and entertainment – Nadesan decided to launch a mall, the Express Mall, in Chennai...........

Ideal Location

The Express Mall is located at Virugambakkam, one of the rapidly developing areas of the city. The mall is located close to several multinational giants in IT, Telecom and Automobiles. Several engineering and medical colleges are also in its vicinity..............

The Mall Building

The Express Mall is spread over an area of 1.25 acres, with a total built up area of 120,500 sq.ft. The mall comprises a building with basement plus four floors. The shopping area is spread over 63,258 sq.ft. that covers the ground floor and a part of the second floor. It houses all the top Indian retail brands. A 400-seater food court spread over an area of 10,000 sq.ft is located on the second floor.............

The Problem

Although the company faced problems since operations began, in the recent past, it was struggling everyday with operational issues. The demand–supply gap and longer waiting times at the entry and exit points were becoming a daily occurrence. After consulting some ITES experts, Kumaresan agreed that predicting the demand for the number of bays on any given day and the duration of stay was important for effective management of the parking lots. If the company could predict the traffic, it would have two options: hire more manpower for those days or increase the work force during specific intervals........

Assignment Questions

I. What do you infer from the descriptive statistics of the weekday and weekend data?

II. Examine whether the random variable, ‘duration of stay’, for weekdays and weekends follows normal distribution.

III. Which distribution should be used to represent the random variable ‘duration of stay’ during weekends?

IV. ......................

Exhibit

Exhibit I: Parking Fee Details at Express Mall

Teaching Note Preview

Parking Space Dilemma at Express Mall

Synopsis

This caselet is used to teach students/participants the basic concepts of statistics, such as measures of central tendency, variance and probability distribution, in the backdrop of the operational problem at the Express Mall in Chennai. Kumaresan, the Managing Director of Express Mall, was deliberating on how to improve the customer experience at the parking lots as he had been receiving complaints of longer waiting times at the entry as well as the exit points. He had to determine the appropriate pricing and manpower requirement based on the mall’s parking lot’s demand.

Prerequisite Conceptual Reading(s)

The students/participants must be encouraged to read the following as it would provide appropriate perspectives on descriptive statistics and probability distribution:

• Richard I. Levin and David S. Rubin, “Chapter 2: Grouping and Displaying Data to Convey Meaning: Tables and Graphs”, Statistics for Management, 7th Edition, Pearson Education, 2008
• A Aczel and J Sounderpandian, Complete Business Statistics, McGraw Hill, 2008

Case Positioning and Setting

This caselet can be used in MBA or Executive Programs to teach courses such as Business Statistics and Marketing Analytics.

Assignment Questions

I. What do you infer from the descriptive statistics of the weekday and weekend data?
II. Examine whether the random variable, ‘duration of stay’, for weekdays and weekends follows normal distribution.
III. Which distribution should be used to represent the random variable, ‘duration of stay’, during weekends?
IV. It was noticed that during weekends, customers tend to stay for a longer duration, resulting in nonavailability of parking lots. Using the data, examine whether there is evidence to support that customers stay for a longer period during weekends than weekdays.
V.............

Preamble to this Case Study Analysis

This caselet was used to offer participants/students insights about measures of central tendency and probability distribution. These measures were discussed and analysed in the light of the Express Mall’s parking lot issues. Accordingly, this caselet was orchestrated as shown in [Exhibit (TN)-I]...........

Exhibits

Exhibit (TN)-I: Suggested Classroom Orchestration

Exhibit (TN)-II: Descriptive Statistics for Weekdays

Exhibit (TN)-III: Descriptive Statistics for Weekends

Exhibit (TN)-IV: Density Plot for Weekday Data

Exhibit (TN)-V: Plot of Probability Density of Duration of Stay for Weekend

Exhibit (TN)-VI: P-P Plot for Weibull Distribution

Exhibit (TN)-VII: t-test for Unequal Variance

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Abstract

This caselet can be used to teach students/participants the concepts of statistics, such as measures of central tendency, variance and probability distribution, for determining the appropriate pricing and manpower requirement based on a parking lot’s demand. This case is based on the operational problem at Express Mall in Chennai, India. Kumaresan, the Managing Director of Express Mall, was deliberating on how to improve the customer experience at the parking lots as he had been receiving complaints of longer waiting times at the entry as well as the exit points.



Pedagogical Objectives

  • To discuss and interpret the parking space demand from descriptive statistics of the data and discuss its suitability for statistical analysis
  • To discuss and understand the distribution model that represents the given parking space demand data
  • To analyse and make decisions related to pricing and manpower based on the parking lot’s demand during different days and periods

Case Positioning and Setting

This caselet can be used in either of the following courses/programs:

a. MBA Program: Statistics for Management / Business Statistics course – To understand and gain insights into concepts such as central tendency measures and probability distribution in demand data

b. MBA Program: Marketing Analytics course – To understand and gain insights into concepts such as central tendency measures and probability distribution in demand data



This Case Pack Includes:
- Abstract
- Caselet
- Supplement
- Teaching Note (**ONLY for Academicians)


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