MMM267 Business Logistics

For this task, you should assume that you are a supply chain professional who has been engaged by an Australian business organization to undertake research examining specific aspects of their operations and supply chain management practices with regards to ensuring sustainability and provide your recommendations.

Specific Requirements

For this assignment, you are to select any ASX-listed business organization and write an in-depth research report on their operations and supply chain practices with particular emphasis on how well they have (or haven’t) faced the various global challenges (pandemic, geopolitical conflicts etc.) and what they have possibly learnt that could enable them to be better prepared to face further massively disruptive events in future.

 

Notes:

• Students are advised NOT TO SELECT A SERVICE BUSINESS (e.g., banks, airlines, telecom businesses etc.) for the purpose of this assignment unless they have actual work experience in such a service organization. This is because it may be particularly difficult to access, filter and retrieve relevant information concerning their operations and supply chain relative to manufacturing or retail businesses. If you are insistent on choosing a service organization then please first consult a unit teaching team member before proceeding with the task.

• If a student wants to do this research report on an organization that s/he is working for or has worked for in the past, then they can choose to do so even if the organization is not on the ASX 200 list of companies, provided the organization is based in Australia or its product has a presence in the Australian market.

• Any student who is repeating this unit and had submitted a similar assignment in a past trimester must select a different company/organization this time.

Please bear in mind that digital information retrieval is a key aspect of this assessment. Before you start to write your report, you must first make sure that there is adequate information available about the organization’s operations and supply chain practices available in the public domain (i.e., company website, reliable third-party websites with relevant contents, etc). It is recommended that you select a large, well-known company rather than a small, obscure business. Typically, students have found retail businesses and mining/manufacturing companies to be ideal for this assignment from the point of view of accessing adequate data and information. Please bear in mind that digital information retrieval is a key aspect of this assessment.

Your report should identify relevant sustainability aspects of the organization’s current operations and supply chain. In your write-up, you are expected to articulate accurate understanding and suitable incorporation of at least one but not more than two relevant operations/supply chain management (SCM) theory or concept that you can choose from any of the weekly class or prescribed chapter readings up to and including Week 6 of the trimester.

Your submitted research report must specifically address/focus on the following three key aspects:

1. Provide a brief descriptive profile of your chosen business organization (e.g., nature of the business, level of competition it faces, target customers, recent financial performance etc.)

2. Identify some of the major suppliers/sources of supply for your chosen business organization and provide a descriptive analysis of the company’s current operational and supply chain practices. ‘Current’ here can mean either before or during the COVID-19 pandemic or present/post-pandemic. In writing your

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descriptive analysis, it is very important that you clearly articulate your understanding of at least one but ideally not more than two aspects of OM/SCM theory as covered in any of the weekly classes till Week 6. You can pick and choose one or two aspects of theory that best fits the context of your chosen business.

3. To what extent do you think are the business organization’s operations management and supply chain practices sustainable? What evidence can you find through your online research about the business organization’s ongoing relationship with its key suppliers? In your opinion, how resilient are the operations and supply chain practices of your chosen business organization to any future disruptive events? Based on your research findings on the company’s supply chain practices, provide some recommendations to maintain/improve the sustainability of their sourcing policies and resilience to future disruptions going forward.

Word limit: 3,000 words (+/- 10%) excluding tables, figures, list of references and any appendices.

Citations - academic and non-academic sources:

You must appropriately cite a minimum of six (6) academic/scholarly sources. These can include academic journal articles or chapters from academic books (including your prescribed textbook, which counts as ONE scholarly source). Suitable academic journals can be found by conducting a search of the Deakin Library academic databases. Please note that Wikipedia is not an acceptable scholarly source for the purpose of this assignment.

Much of the information regarding your selected organizations required can be obtained from only non-academic (sometimes identified as professional or industry) sources, which includes the organization’s own website. This is often the only way to find out up-to-date information about a business or organization. Any non-academic sources, if used, must be included in your reference list, but these will NOT be counted as part of your academic/scholarly sources.

Following are some of the suggested non-academic sources:

Organization web sites:

• Annual Reports

• Annual Reviews

• Media Releases

• Stock Market Analysis

Credible media websites (including but not limited to):

• The Age

• The Australian

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• The Australian Financial Review (AFR)

• The ABC

• Business Review Weekly (BRW)

Non-academic sources:

Deakin Library Homepage: ?click on a-z databases and type the database name, choosing from these excellent options:

• IBIS World (industry market reports and company research)

• Factiva (articles in the media)

• Newsbank

• TV news broadcasts

• TV documentaries

Any other non-academic sources e.g., credible personal interviews (please give full details if used).

While this unit prefers the Harvard referencing style, students can adopt any acceptable academic referencing style as long as they are consistent.

Formatting:

• Font: Size 12 Times New Roman, Calibri or Arial

• Line spacing: 1.5, no indentation, but one extra line spacing between paragraphs

• Margins of 2.54 cm

• Headings and sub-headings

• Alphanumeric or decimal outline/numbering system up to three levels for sections

• Page numbers: Roman numbering and Arabic numbering used appropriately

• Header and/or footer: student name, ID number, unit code and assessment task name

Suggested research report structure:

This is an academic research report and must therefore adopt a critical/analytical perspective. You need to research your selected organization thoroughly, demonstrate a sound grasp of the relevant literature and draw from a range of theoretical frameworks from your textbook/lecture materials/external research to inform and underpin your analysis. This critical analysis then flows on to the specific recommendations you make. A suggested (but not mandatory) research report structure is as follows:

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• Title Page

• Table of Contents

• Executive Summary

• Background and Introduction

• Description and critical analysis of supply chain practices of the chosen business

(must include at least one but not more than two OM/SCM theory aspects from Weeks 1 – 7)

• Recommendations on improving/maintaining sustainability and resilience

• Conclusion

• References

Please note that above structure is a suggestion only and students are allowed to depart somewhat from the suggested structure in accordance with their best judgment of how to present their work.