Brenna Schneider furrowed her brow with concern as she arrived at the converted mill building that was home to

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Degrees in Lawrence, Massachusetts. It was early November

$2$

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$2$

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$$and the city remained in the red zone as a COVID

$-$

$1$

$9$

$$hot spot. The cumulative number of COVID

$-$

$1$

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$$cases in the city was inching towards

$7$

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$0$

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$$in a city of

$8$

$1$

$,$

$0$

$0$

$0$

$$people and the

$7$

$-$

day rolling average of cases exceeded

$1$

$0$

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$$per day. To make matters worse, Lawrence is also home to virtually all of her workers. With the safety of her workers foremost on her mind, along with the larger responsibility the company had for producing customer orders, including critically needed personal protection equipment

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PPE

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$,$

$$she thought about how to keep

$9$

$9$

Degrees

$$

$$operations safe and productive in the coming weeks. Brenna Schneider furrowed her brow with concern as she arrived at the converted mill building that was home to

$9$

$9$

Degrees in Lawrence, Massachusetts. It was early November

$2$

$0$

$2$

$0$

$$and the city remained in the red zone as a COVID

$-$

$1$

$9$

$$hot spot. The cumulative number of COVID

$-$

$1$

$9$

$$cases in the city was inching towards

$7$

$,$

$0$

$0$

$0$

$$in a city of

$8$

$1$

$,$

$0$

$0$

$0$

$$people and the

$7$

$-$

day rolling average of cases exceeded

$1$

$0$

$0$

$$per day. To make matters worse, Lawrence is also home to virtually all of her workers. With the safety of her workers foremost on her mind, along with the larger responsibility the company had for producing customer orders, including critically needed personal protection equipment

$($

PPE

$)$

$,$

$$she thought about how to keep

$9$

$9$

Degrees

$$

$$operations safe and productive in the coming weeks.

Schneider also had started to work with her team on an intensive strategic planning process to map out

$9$

$9$

Degrees

$$

$$post

$-$

COVID strategy. This included deciding how to leverage learnings and new relationships in the medical field, while growing their capability in a manufacturing world where their rapid production capabilities would become even more relevant. Schneider knew that as they grew, they would need to use a strategic vision to supplement the entrepreneurial agility they had relied on in the past months. Working through a process which ultimately involved representatives from every level of the company, the team defined four pillars for long

$-$

term success: speed, agility, technology, and people. They also secured broad agreement on the company

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s core values, which were integrity, inclusivity, innovation, quality, and investing in people. Using these frameworks to guide them, teams developed both short

$-$

term goals

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including increasing speed of production and investing in the culture

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$$and a long

$-$

term vision to create more and better jobs by diversifying

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$9$

Degrees

$$

$$customer base going forward

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$2$

$7$

$$Schneider knew that in Lawrence, creating

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$5$

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$$new jobs would reduce the poverty rate by

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$\%$

$.$

$2$

$8$

$$With this as her guidepost, she surveyed the factory floor to prepare herself for another long day.

Answer the following

$$

$$What about the way

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$9$

Degrees was founded prepared it for a shock like COVID

$-$

$1$

$9$

$?$

$$

$$How well has Schneider managed the operational challenges of transitioning from manufacturing garments to Personal Protective Equipment

$($

PPE

$)$

$?$

$$

$$What advice would you give Schneider

$$

s incoming COO as someone with deep manufacturing experience joining an entrepreneurial high

$-$

growth company?

$$

$$Looking forward to a future without COVID

$-$

$1$

$9$

$,$

$$what should Schneider do to position the company for further success?