MBA5003 - Managing Logistics and Technology Assignment

Assignment Task

Assessment details

Students have to attend to the Discussion Participation tasks posted in Weeks 4,6,8 and 10 in the LMS.

The Assessor will assess you on the following You should answer words the given question by pressing the REPLY button, and the provide at least two posts in response to other students' answers.

Remember to get good grades in this your posting should be a minimum of one short paragraph and a maximum of two paragraphs.

While discussing with your peers, you can agree or disagree however you must explain why with supporting evidence and concepts from the readings or a related experience. Include a reference, link, or citation when appropriate.

Operations Plan

This assessment will require students to develop a detailed Operations Plan for an operation relating to a specific product (not a company) to be delivered across international borders from one country to another. The main assignment tasks are the following:

1. Identify a specific product (not a company) with which you are familiar. Provide a brief description of the product

2. Describe, in general, the key operations in this company and how these operations relate to the company’s strategy, its competitive priorities, and the key performance indicators used by the company

3. Using the operations model presented in Unit 5003 Modules A, B, and C, define in detail one of these operations, clearly identifying the transforming and transformed resources, the transformation process, and the outputs and outcomes of the operation

4. Provide a critical review of this key operation and its management that might underpin its future improvement and contribution to the company’s competitive priorities

5. Present this in an Operations Plan for this operation (based on your analysis and review) which highlights the resources and key management decisions that might need to be made to secure improvement in the operation.

Developing an Operational Plan

Operational planning takes the broad strategies and objectives outlined in the Strategic Plan, turns them into specific tasks and allocates the people and other resources of the organisation to get them done. It addresses the question – ‘What do we need to do to make it all happen and know we are on track?’ It provides the staff and volunteers in the organisation with their day to day and week to week tasks, lets them know where they are going and gives them a measure of what they are expected to achieve. It makes sense that the people who are most directly responsible for ensuring that the outcomes are achieved are included in the development of the workplans.

Specific activities are nominated that are necessary to achieve the strategies and goals set by the board or management committee. Specific staff, timelines and resources are allocated to these activities which then form the basis for reporting and evaluation. Assignment task requires a description of the allocation of resources, a timeline, and the performance indicators against which the plan will be measured and assessed. This will involve a description of:

• Allocation of Human Resources (Who is responsible?)
• Allocation of Financial Resources (How much budget?)
• Setting Timelines (When does this happen?)
• Setting Performance Indicators (What are we aiming to achieve?)

Supply chain Group Report

Students will organise themselves in small groups to investigate the supply chain of a real-life business organisation (preferably a multinational organisation or a large scale enterprise) and propose recommendations to optimise the supply chain management and operations using a high level IS with particular focus on feasibility and implementation (practical success) . You must prepare and present a report ,

• Discussing the possible improvements and their practical implementation focusing on the supply chain activity of the chosen enterprise.
• Furthermore, try and define key terms and concepts draw on key logistics and supply chain management strategies that are influenced by a variety of business context.
• Apply logistics and supply chain management strategies to assist functional areas.
• Understand and be able to research the impact that IS has on organisations and the consequent changes that have occurred to the role of business managers.

Also remember to be analytical within your report and examine key terms and theoretical relationships in depth. The Business Report should be written in appropriate business language so that your analysis and discussion have an objective tone. Your writing should be clear and concise and be in your own words. Use headings to guide the reader and include tables or diagrams that make the case clearer.

Definition In the workplace, reports are often required to as a formal account of a situation. They are produced after consideration of all relevant factors and analysis using relevant concepts in the field. The recommendations and their implementation are then based on this analysis, using business language appropriate to the audience. In the academic context, reports similarly require research and analysis to demonstrate your learning and ability to apply course concepts and theories leading to feasible recommendations.

This MBA5003 - Management