Operations Strategy for Upper Midwest Manufacturers: An MBA Case Field from Minnesota and Wisconsin

Abstract

Imported MBA cases still open in coastal tech. This study rebuilds Frontier operations cases around manufacturers and food processors in Minnesota and Wisconsin, including supplier risk, seasonal labour and energy costs. Students employed in those firms produced more implementable bottleneck analyses. Campus and online sections used the same cases; the difference was access to a plant tour versus a documented virtual walkthrough with the same data pack. Frontier Innovation University should treat the Upper Midwest as its default operations laboratory. An American digital-and-campus university that ignores the plants around it is teaching someone else’s country.