Contemporary Issues in Supply Chain
PurposeAMSC700 aims to teach students to identify and address supply chain and logistics management problems prevalent in industry. Students are required to work on a group project collectively and reflect on supply chain and logistics understanding gained in the course. The assessment should describe, analyse and evaluate the selected problem around the chosen industry and organisation. Successful projects include a variety of supply chain and logistics
management approaches learned during the course.
Group Project Report
Please read the entire document carefully and refer to the assessment marking rubric. Submit a detailed research group project report from any one of the available industries and their respective organisations as presented in Table 1. This report should be a description of the fundamental concepts learned in the class surrounding the topic of interest. In this work, conduct research around your chosen industry, organisation and the problem you have selected. Document the research findings (including references), conduct an in-depth analysis in the context of the main research question and provide recommendations. Data can be collected from secondary sources or can be generated on your own, however, it must be reasonable. In either case, appropriate reference or justification/rationale must be provided for acquiring data.
Students must NOT approach or contact any of the organisations for this assessment. The project report has two components: individual (70%) and group (30%). For the individual contribution component of the project report, no two group members can consider the same supply chain stage in their project. In other words, all the group members must use a unique stage in their individual component in the group project.
Instructional Words
Analyse – Break down and carefully examine the most important parts showing how they are related, whether they work together and why they are important.
Define – Give the exact meaning of a word of phrase. Be clear and concise.
Evaluate – Carefully assess advantages and limitations. Emphasize evidence and authoritative view.
Illustrate – Use real life examples to explain and clarify the topic. Use diagrams.
State – Give main points clearly and briefly. Usually leave out details and examples.
Required Tasks
In the group project, students are required to submit the following tasks in the order given below. Project tasks are divided into group (G) and individual (I) categories. Please refer to the group project template available on the course Moodle site for format details.1 Research question (1 page, G) (5 marks)
In the organisation of your choice from Table 1, frame a main research question to seek answers for the selected problem. The main research question should further be split into sub-questions corresponding to each group member.
2 Executive summary (1 page, G) (5 marks)
Provide a summary of the report. It should include purpose, background, main findings, conclusions and recommendations.
3 Introduction (2 pages, G) (10 marks)
Introduce the supply chain and logistics problem and elaborate its scope clearly in the industrial and organisational context. Present an illustration of the broad supply chain of the organisation considered in your main research question.
4 Integration and Value Generation (2 pages per member, I) (20 marks)
In the context of your sub-research question, select a specific supply chain stage. Based on this, present an instance of an appropriate supply chain integration scenario. Critique and evaluate the integration aspect. Generate a Value Stream Map (VSM) around the selected supply chain stage.
5 Risks and Conflicts (1 page per member, I) (10 marks)
Analyse supply chain issues such as risks and conflicts related within the selected supply chain stage. Evaluate sustainability aspects in regard to the selected supply chain stage.
6 Transportation and Logistics (2 pages per member, I) (20 marks)
Represent transport considerations through creating a network diagram. Logistics requirements should be presented in a tabular form and analysed. Provide a succinct description of both Transportation and Logistics aspects separately.
7 SustainabilityAspects (2 pages, G) (15 marks)
Address three (3) sustainability aspects and evaluate them thoroughly. Create an alternate mechanism using reverse logistics to mitigate existing sustainability concerns identified in the study.
8 Conclusion (1 page, G) (5 marks)
The conclusion should integrate the main research question objective with the key findings of all the sub-research questions and provide recommendations appropriately.
9 Evidence of wide reading of the topic (2 pages, G) (5 marks)
Reference the literature from credible sources. Provide in-text citations and a reference list using APA 6th edition referencing style.