A clinical assistant professor of Supply Chain Management at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas has been honored by the North American Case Research Association for his collaboration with an Arkansas company to produce a case study on the introduction of a new product.
David Graham Hyatt created the teaching case, “Delta Plastics of the South: Conserving Water in the Delta” and the accompanying instructor’s manual after conducting interviews with company leadership and an honors colloquium project in Fall 2015. At this year’s association conference, held in Las Vegas in October, the case was one of two bronze award-winning entries for best case, selected from 113 eligible cases submitted.
The ongoing project was made possible by support from the Walton College Worthen Case Fund and a grant from the Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center.
The case concerns Delta Plastics’ introduction of Pipe Planner, a product that helps calculate the hole sizes in plastic irrigation pipe widely used by farmers in the delta regions of Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi and Louisiana. Use of the product lowers irrigation costs and lessens the water draw on the shrinking Mississippi Alluvial Aquifer, which provides most of the water for irrigation in the delta.
