North South University

Human Resources Club

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Club Office –NAC 101, North South University, Bashundhara Residential Area, Block B, Dhaka-1229, Bangladesh

E-mail: nsu.hrclub@gmail.com, raiyansp@gmail.com

 North South University
Human Resources Club
___________________________________________________________________________
Instructions

 You will get 25 minutes time to read the case.

 After that, you will get another 45 minutes to prepare the solution.
 For the group presentation, you will get 10 minutes.

Introduction

In early 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread throughout all parts of the world, local
governments were forced to impose some form of lockdown measures to curb down the
infection and its spread. In order to do so, educational institutions, transportations,
entertainment industry, private corporations and other small businesses were closed for
months at a stretch. Consumer panic buying resulted in local grocery stores running out of
regular household items, foods, and hygiene products. The fear of the spreading infection
meant people stayed in without those necessities, and regular delivery would include human
interaction and would further increase the risk of infection. Lockdown also meant that the
supply chain broke down, and food, hygiene products became a critical resource that
couldn't reach consumer households (Singh et al., 2020). Taking advantage of this situation,
many different business models improved, adapted, and rearranged their services to reap
the benefits of the changed way of life caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, betting that at least
some of the changes would become a new normal. One of those innovations came in the form
of last-mile delivery of food, medicine, and hygiene products. In the supply chain, the last-
mile delivery arrangement is the most critical part of the whole chain as it is closely related
to consumers. Traditional attended home delivery by delivery vans is costly. A simulation
study with real-world data from Finland, for instance, indicates that traditional van-based
delivery options cut costs between €2 and €6 depending on customer density (Punakivi et
al., 2001). Thus, alternative delivery concepts taking services to the air, is certainly
promising to lower the cost. Last-mile delivery refers to the transfer of goods from the last
warehouse or storage facility to the consumer's household or workplace. Since consumer
expectation of delivery speed keeps increasing, businesses are welcoming innovative and
modern delivery methods to achieve same-day delivery and improve the delivery speed and

Club Office –NAC 101, North South University, Bashundhara Residential Area, Block B, Dhaka-1229, Bangladesh

E-mail: nsu.hrclub@gmail.com, raiyansp@gmail.com

 North South University
Human Resources Club
___________________________________________________________________________
accuracy of perishable consumable items made to order. The most recent innovation in this
regard is using drone technology in order to deliver products such as food, essential
medicine, and household products directly from vendors to the consumer household.

Crisis Drives Innovation: Wing, An Alphabet Company

Wing drone delivery has been an Alphabet project since 2010 under Google X, and in 2018
Wing graduated and became an independent organization owned by Alphabet. The company
started prototype delivery in 2014, and in January 2019, it officially started delivering daily
necessities to locals in Australia. Later the same year, it became the first drone delivery
company to receive a Federal Aviation Administration license in the United States. This
provided Wing the ability to operate inside the United States independently under FAA’s
approval. As of September 2020, the organization operates in three different locations:
Australia, United States, and Finland.

Although Wing has been in operation since 2019, the operation received global recognition
and instant growth resulting from the COVID-19 crisis and subsequent lockdown, which
meant drone delivery suddenly became a rational alternative to conventional delivery
channels.

Aircraft and Navigation Technology Blessings:

Globally, 27% of the total CO2 emission is credited to transportation. Hence, creating an
innovative alternative to conventional transportation is the only way forward to lessen the
impact of global warming on our already suffering planet. Replacing conventional delivery
models with battery-operated drones, offers a zero-emission option, owing additional value
for the consumers as responsible consumerism increases.

Club Office –NAC 101, North South University, Bashundhara Residential Area, Block B, Dhaka-1229, Bangladesh

E-mail: nsu.hrclub@gmail.com, raiyansp@gmail.com

 North South University
Human Resources Club
___________________________________________________________________________

Positive Impact of Wing on Communities and Business Sustainability

Wing has three distinct agenda that drives their action, operation, and initiatives. So far,
Wing drone delivery has had a significant impact on communities, local businesses, and
towards a sustainable solution to last-mile delivery management.

1. Engaging Neighborhood Businesses: Wing has significantly impacted local businesses,

especially during the trying times of COVID-19. For local business entities, without
committing to additional resources, the Wing coverage meant they have a much larger area
of operation and many more households they can cater to. Wing has been an automated
delivery mechanism and thus, it is significantly cheaper than employing people to do the job.

2. Serving Consumers: Wing has been reaching underserved populations who themselves
have limited mobility due to disability or vulnerability to communicable disease. With Wing
service, the products are no longer exposed to the risk of being stuck in traffic, as a result,
customers can utilize the true potential of 70 miles per hour delivery drones.

3. Committed to Sustainability: Since the days of its inception, Wing has been committed to
creating an alternative delivery model that is more merciful towards the green environment
and does almost zero damage to the environment. A drone delivery alternative means
reduced traffic on the streets, reduced greenhouse gas emission from conventional traffic,
and improved road conditions. A zero-emission Wing drone even passively generates
significantly less carbon footprint than a car or a motorbike.

Club Office –NAC 101, North South University, Bashundhara Residential Area, Block B, Dhaka-1229, Bangladesh

E-mail: nsu.hrclub@gmail.com, raiyansp@gmail.com

 North South University
Human Resources Club
___________________________________________________________________________

Role of Wing during COVID-19

Wing drones can increase the instant delivery radius of food, medicine and perishables from
five kilometers to ten kilometers, increasing household coverage up to four times. During the
COVID-19 pandemic, drones have become a critical tool used in creating a robust supply
chain while maintaining social distancing (Wolf, 2020). The crisis has also driven innovation
in many other sectors as businesses adapted in order to survive and serve. It is the crisis that
led to the identification and quick adaption of such services by society. The crisis can drive
innovation, and scale-up innovation as policymakers are forced to weigh and utilize the
possible potential of services like Drone-based delivery mechanisms during times like the
COVID-19 pandemic.

Barriers to Consumer Adoption

A rising concern in many communities has been over the camera set on these drones, which
helps the Drone to be on a secure and collision-free route. Although Wing claimed the camera
does not store and route data and only uses telemetry and shape data for machine learning
and plotting a course, this remains a concern in communities. Privacy issues remain a
concern, particularly from drones that can capture imagery, and are used close to private
personal space such as homes and apartments (Daly, 2017), or as drones are used in new
ways, including research approaches Resnik & Elliott, 2019). However, "People don't really
understand how limited their rights to privacy are legally,” says Loretta Alkalay, former FAA
counsel (Kiger, 2019). She also said that for the most part, people's concerns about drones
being used to spy on them are overblown.

Club Office –NAC 101, North South University, Bashundhara Residential Area, Block B, Dhaka-1229, Bangladesh

E-mail: nsu.hrclub@gmail.com, raiyansp@gmail.com

 North South University
Human Resources Club
___________________________________________________________________________

Discussion Questions:

1. Wing wants to enter the Bangladeshi market, and you are a member of the management team.
Suppose one of you in the team is the Head of Public Relations. According to the case, there may
be a tendency among the general public to have a skeptical attitude towards drone privacy issues.
As a Head of Public Relations, what will be your strategies to remove this fear among the people
of Bangladesh?
2. In our country, Wings can be a very attractive way for business owners to deliver products. How
would you persuade retailers and stakeholders in Bangladesh to accept this drone service?
3. How might it be argued that Wing’s drone operation is a green delivery solution?

GOOD LUCK!

Club Office –NAC 101, North South University, Bashundhara Residential Area, Block B, Dhaka-1229, Bangladesh

E-mail: nsu.hrclub@gmail.com, raiyansp@gmail.com