ASSESSMENT 2
Supply Chain Management Research Report
(Group assignment)
(35%)
During the semester you will be working in a group of 3-5 (ideally 4) members. Each group will appoint a group leader who is responsible for organizing group meetings, setting meeting agendas, allocating tasks and submitting electronically group work. This assessment will be marked as a group mark, howevera group contribution form and peer evaluation will be applied to assess individual group member’s contribution to the group assignmentjust in eventual caseof contribution disputes, interpersonal conflictsand other group issues. If any of the group members leave the group, the remaining group members must complete the work without any concession and compensation.
The group will conduct a research about the two best practice Supply Chain Management companies in their business filed, designated by a teacher, that are easy to research, and that have been written about regularly in supply chain and logistics magazines. No direct contact is allowed with organisations unless you have a prior personal or professional relationship with them. All research should otherwise be desk research, observation and educated guesses.
You will be conducting the research by using the following research questions and guidelines:
1. Provide companies’ brief business background. Set the research context.
2. Outline, describe and explain companies’ overall supply chain model(s).
3.Compare and contrast thetwo models (similarities,differences, advantages, disadvantages) against thefollowing elements of the supply chain:
a. Demand management
b. Order fulfilment and customer service
c. Procurement and sourcing
d. Production and operations management
e. Inventory management
f. Transportation and freight logistics
g. Warehousing and distribution channels
4.Which model is more effective and efficient? Why?
5. Senior management of both businesses have decided to merge two businesses. Your group has been appointed as a project team to design a new supply chain modelfor the merged company.Design the new supply chain model that will incluede all elements of the supply chain analysed under point 3.Justify yourproposal.
You will be assessed intwo separate stages – Assessment 2A Group research presentation andAssessment 2B Group research report..
Assessment 2A - Group Research Presentation (15% of overall mark)
Due: Week 11
Each group will have strictly 20 minutes to present their findings. Each group member must contribute evenly to the group presentation. No script, either paper or electronic, is permitted during the presentation. Group is encouraged to use visual aids during the presentation such as: posters, power points, prezi, models, mock ups, paper handouts, flip charts, whiteboards, artefacts or props etc. Except the visual aid title no other text is allowed in their design, however, pictures, photos, graphs, charts, statistics, and other graphics are more than welcome.Each group will collect during the research process artefacts relevant to the research project including but not limited to: presentation visual aids, group charter, project action plan, group meeting minutes,magazine articles, and compile a portfolio that will post on the Blackboard in My Groups folder not later than the day of their group presentation.
Assessment 2B - Group Research Report (20% of overall mark)
Approximately 3000 words
Due: Week 12
Groups are required to write up a formal report based on their research findings in Assessment 2A, that fully elaborates on supply chain processes and aspects of research findings. It must be evident from the report introduction what was contribution of each member of the group to the report. Executive summary, introduction and conclusion do not count as an individual contribution.ONLYagroup leader has to submit electronically the group report to myRMIT Learning Hub’s system by the due date.A Turnitin account has been set up to enable you to check your assignments for academic integrity. You should be able to submit any number of times but will need to be mindful that after the first submission you will get an instant report but for any further attempt the system can be slow and take 2 to 3 days to generate a report so you are advised not to leave it until the last moment.This assessment will be marked as a group mark, however a group contribution form and peer evaluation will be applied to assess individual group member’s contribution to the group assignment just in eventual case of contribution disputes, interpersonal conflicts and other group issues.