MGT5PSC

FOUNDATION OF LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Assignment 2: Group Business Report

Descriptions and Instructions

Assignment 2 requires students to write a business report. Students need to communicate with their
peers to form groups based on mutual willingness (no more than FOUR students per group).
Students from the same group are expected to collaborate in Assignment 2 unless otherwise stated.
The suggested length of the report is around 2,000 words. Assignments 2 should be submitted as a
single file (preferably pdf format) via Turnitin in LMS on or before the due date. The due date of
Assignment 2 is by 23:59 on Sunday of Week 8. Assignment 2 carries 30 marks. Each group needs to
work on the topic:
• Supply Chain Relationship (Integration, Coordination, and/or Collaboration).

To support your arguments, each group needs to conduct an in-depth analysis of at least one focal
company in making use of the resources and/or capabilities in logistics and supply chain management.
For example, with a topic on IT, students can discuss how IT can improve a firm’s performance in
supply chains and provide a competitive advantage in the industry:
1. Analyse from a theoretical perspective (i) what information systems and technology are referring to
in the supply chain domain, and (ii) why they are critical to supply chain management, and (iii)
how they can help improve efficiency or responsiveness of a supply chain. The analysis needs to
be comprehensive and covers all possible areas of a supply chain that can benefit from the use of
information systems and technology. Relevant references should be given to support the
statements.
2. Combine with the practice by choosing a relatively well-known company (or a couple of companies
for comparison if needed) to support the claims made in (1) above. For instance, students can use
Wal-Mart as an example to discuss in detail (with facts, statistics, summary tables, figures, and
diagrams, etc.) to facilitate the discussion of how the company made use of information systems
and technology to give itself a competitive edge. Students can briefly review the background of
Wal-Mart prior to discussing how the company has invested in information systems and
technology earlier to improve operational efficiency and visibility. Wal-Mart’s satellite system,
data processing centre, barcode and RFID technologies and how these investments have
significantly improved the efficiency and/or responsiveness of Wal-Mart’s supply chain thus
giving the company a leading position in the trade can also be elaborated.
Note that the above is just an example to give some suggestions.

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Required Format
The report needs to have a Cover Page, i.e., the first page that provides the necessary information such
as the report title, assignment number, title of the case, student number, student name, and submission
date, etc. Besides, the report should adopt the following format:
(a) Executive Summary (Summarize the topic of the investigation, the findings – both the theoretical
overview of the function and the actual practices of the case company, and the conclusions of the
study in one page).
(b) Table of Contents (List the sections and subsections with corresponding page numbers on a
separate page).
(c) List of Figures (List the figure numbers and captions with corresponding page numbers on a
separate page whenever figures are used in the report).
(d) List of Tables (List the table numbers and captions with corresponding page numbers on a
separate page whenever tables are used in the report).
(e) Overview of the Chosen Topic (Give a comprehensive and thorough analysis and discussion of
the topic assigned to you for investigation. This may include its definition, role in a supply chain,
state of the art, pros, and cons, as well as how companies can leverage it to gain competitive
advantage).
(f) Real-World Case (Provide an overview of the company that is used as an example to illustrate
how a firm can leverage the supply chain function in question to gain competitive advantage).
(g) Discussion (Demonstrate using adequate evidence that the points discussed in (e) can be
witnessed in the company identified as an example. In this regard, comparison table (theories vs
practices), figures, charts, etc., should be used as liberal as possible to aid the discussion).
(h) Issues identified (Identify the issues encountered by the case company in leveraging the supply
chain function and how these issues are resolved or overcome by the firm to achieve success).
(i) Conclusion (Summarize the study and give insight based on the analysis and the findings).
(j) References (List the references used in the report in Academy of Management Referencing
Style).
(k) Appendix (Show any additional information about the case company that will be useful for the
reader to see how the firm leverages the supply chain function in question to gain its competitive
advantage).

Marking Criteria
• Richness of information presented/reported.
• Organization of presentation/report.
• Application of relevant theories, concepts, approaches, and techniques learned from the course.

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 • Depth of analysis.
• Adequacy of evidence to support arguments and conclusions.
• Choice of appropriate example company and relevant elaboration given.
• Presentation/Report writing skills.
• Efforts invested in the assignment.

Note
1. Use summary tables, charts, and figures where appropriate to aid your analysis and discussion. The
figures and tables should be inserted in the sections and subsections immediately after they are
mentioned instead of in the List of Figures and List of Tables.
2. All references, if any, must be provided in Academy of Management Referencing Style.
3. Longer or shorter report (within reasonable margins) is acceptable as long as it is professionally
presented, with the required tasks as stated above completed.
4. The assessment of the assignment will be based mainly on the thoroughness of the investigation,
comprehensiveness of the analysis, and convincingness of the evidence to support arguments as
presented in the report. The more effort students invested in analysing the case and writing the
report the higher the marks will be. Only doing the minimum will certainly not be good enough
and might lead to poor result.
5. If you need an extension you must apply before the submission due date. The University requires
fair, consistent and transparent treatment of late submission of assessment tasks. The procedure for
late submission is documented in the Late Submission of Assessment Tasks document (Ref. no.
112027D). It states:
The standard penalty for late submission of assessment tasks is 5% of the marks for that task for
each delay in submission of a day or partial day up to a maximum of five (5) working days after
the due date. Assessment tasks will not be accepted after the earlier of the following occurrences:
• The fifth (5th) working day after the due date; or
• Feedback on the assessment task has been given.
These penalties apply only to individual assessment tasks worth 15% or more of the total assessment
for the subject. Late submission of take-home examinations is not permitted.
Submission of special consideration applications for assignments, mid-semester tests and final
examinations should be made online at: https://www.latrobe.edu.au/students/admin/forms/special-
consideration/submit-or-review-application