Professional Documents
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MBA 718 Syllabus
MBA 718 Syllabus
MBA@UNC
Lead Professor
Professor Jayashankar M. Swaminathan
Course Materials
Course Pack:
The course will be taught using material from the course reader and occasional handouts that will be provided digitally.
Honor Code
Integrity is one of UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School’s core values. According to our statement of core values “we hold ourselves to the highest
ethical standards.” Violations of the honor code are totally inconsistent with this core value and are simply unacceptable in any form. Any
violation of the honor code will result in an F in the course, regardless of any other grades received for the module.
In this class, an honor code violation would occur if you gave or received help on the individual assignments—the take-home problem set or
take-home final exam. An honor code violation would also occur if any assignment contained plagiarism. According to the university honor code,
plagiarism is defined as “the intentional representation of another person’s words, thoughts, or ideas as one’s own.” To avoid plagiarism, make
sure you put in quotes and reference any direct copying of another individual’s work. Also give credit and references for any “words, thoughts,
or ideas” that you paraphrase in your assignments. Each assignment should contain all relevant footnotes and a bibliography of all sources used
in the assignment. Finally, for assignments that are completed in groups, “unauthorized collaboration” is defined as getting help from someone
outside your group. If any part of this honor code statement is not clear, contact your instructor for clarification.
Quizzes (2 @ 10 points each) See below for more details Individual 20%
All deliverables should be submitted in PDF format. (Excel spreadsheets can be submitted as supplements but not as a final deliverable.)
Detailed information about the simulations and problem set is provided in separate documents on the online platform under Toolbox.
The two quizzes are password protected. You will receive the password from your instructor on the course wall when the quiz is open. You
will have 30 minutes to complete each quiz. Quiz 1 is due prior to the start of live session 4. Quiz 2 is due by the end of Week 4 (11:59 EST
Sunday of Week 4)
Preparation and Participation
In a typical class session, one or more students will be asked to begin discussion of a selected topic. As a result, we expect you to be thoroughly
prepared before coming to the class. Questions provided for the case studies will guide your thinking about the readings and cases. During case
discussions, we will build a complete analysis of the case situation and address the problems and issues it presents. Students will be asked to
make recommendations and will discuss the implementation of those recommendations. Frequently, the final portion of the class will be a
lecture/discussion of concepts and techniques brought out in the case or reading but useful in a much broader range of situations. The
classroom is a laboratory in which you (students) can test your ability to present your analyses and recommendations clearly, to convince your
peers of the correctness of your approach to complex problems, and to illustrate your ability to achieve the desired results through the
implementation of that approach.
Some of the criteria that we will use to judge effective class participation for grading purposes include
• Is the participant a good listener?
• Are points made relevant to the current discussion? Are they linked to the comments of others?
• Do the comments show clear evidence of appropriate and insightful analysis of the case data?
• Is there a willingness to participate?
• Is there a willingness to test new ideas, or are all comments “safe”?
• Do comments clarify and highlight the important aspects of earlier comments and lead to a clearer statement of the concepts being
covered?
The process of teaching and learning is a two-way street. It requires full participation and effort from both the instructor and the students. Your
instructors will be prepared to the best of their abilities for each class, and we expect the same from each one of you. If you are not prepared for
any reason, please inform them before the beginning of the class.
Cases to Be Prepared, and Required and Supplemental Readings for Each Live Session
Live
Session Case Required Reading(s) Supplemental Reading(s)
1 7-Eleven Japan Triple-A Supply Chain
2 Scientific Glass The Store Is Dead; Long Live the Store
Hamptonshire
Express; 1800
3 Flowers.com Building a Transparent Supply Chain
4 VF Corp A More Sustainable Supply Chain
5 AGCO Enabling Customization Using Standard Operations When Supply Chains Save Lives
Note that the case preparation questions for each of these cases are provided as part of the asynchronous material where the lead
Professor introduces the case. Please think through each of the questions carefully, and conduct any analysis required before the live
session. We ask that you try to submit your answers at least an hour before the live session.