Rijul Jain publishes her first case exercise at Ivey Publishing

Congratulations to Rijul Jain, a fourth-year student in the School of Management, Economics, and Mathematics (MEM), who has published her first case exercise, at Ivey Publishing.

Jain says she is incredibly excited and proud to have her case exercise published.

“It's been a rewarding journey of research, collaboration, and creativity, and seeing it come to fruition is truly gratifying. I can't wait to share it with students and educators alike, knowing it could make a meaningful impact in their learning journey,” says Jain.

A small record company based in Montreal that specializes in the production of vinyl records received a large contract but were faced with the dilemma of how to fill the order efficiently. Jain needed to develop a plan to find out where production was being slowed, how to effectively manage their workers, and if more equipment will need to be purchased to meet this demand. “It's like a puzzle where they have to find the best way to make more records without messing things up.”

Conversations with Dr. Felipe Rodrigues, Assistant Professor of Operations Management and Analytics, while taking his BUS1220 course sparked Jain’s interest in vinyl records. Jain admits the exercise was “a significant undertaking” that spanned nearly two years from the summer of 2021 to December 2023. She did a lot of research, watching countless YouTube videos, reading articles and reaching out to vinyl production companies, to better understand the process of how vinyl records are made.

“It was a lot of back-and-forth communication, trying to nail down all the details and make sure everything was spot on,” says Jain. Many of these conversations took place during the early days of the project while Jain was at home in India. She admits it was complicated to coordinate meetings due to the time zone difference, including those with Dr. Rodrigues which took place at midnight.

Jain wants to extend a very special thanks to Dr. Rodrigues “for trusting and investing his time and effort in a first-year international student, who was trying to figure her way out at a foreign institution when the whole world was in lockdown.”

 “In the end, it was worth it to create a case study that's both informative and engaging for students,” says Jain. In creating this case exercise, Jain not only learned valuable insights into vinyl record production, but she also had the opportunity to enhance her research and communication skills, problem-solving abilities, project management techniques, and critical and creative thinking skills.

Jain credits King’s with providing her with a strong foundation in those skills and abilities which she says were invaluable in preparing her for this project. “The rigorous academic environment, supportive faculty, and diverse learning experiences equipped me with the knowledge and confidence to take on new challenges like this case study,” she says. She says her networks and connection with professors have always helped her “to grab on opportunities and gain new experiences.”

As Dr. Felipe Rodrigues, Associate Professor of Operations Management in the School of MEM, explains, Jain’s project is a novel approach to process improvement operations management cases. Developing and teaching such cases puts the School of MEM alongside top case-based teaching business schools such as Ivey and Harvard, for example. He characterizes Jain as “a bright and hardworking young woman. I do not doubt that her bright future will make us all proud.”