Select any Australian business organization of your choice (or an international business organization with a noticeable presence in the Australian market). It can be either a service or a manufacturing business or a combination of both. Investigate the organization’s current supply chain in depth and write a 3000-word research report.
MMM267 – Business Logistics T1 2019 Assessment 1 – Research Report DUE DATE AND TIME: Monday, Week 8, 29/04/2019, 11:59PM AEST PERCENTAGE OF FINAL GRADE: 40% HURDLE DETAILS: N/A Learning Outcome Details Unit Learning Outcome (ULO) Graduate Learning Outcome (GLO) ULO 1: Demonstrate an understanding of the set up and management of an efficient and sustainable supply chain. GLO 1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities Appropriate to the level of study related to a discipline or profession. ULO 2: Identify, evaluate and apply different approaches to supply chain management including the design and delivery of operations within a variety of different organisations using appropriate technology & tools. GLO 1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities Appropriate to the level of study related to a discipline or profession. GLO 3: Digital literacy Using technologies to find, use and disseminate information. ULO 3: Explain and critically evaluate the role of supply chain management and its cross-relations with other organisational functions with a view to ensuring ethical & sustainable SCM practices. GLO 1: Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities Appropriate to the level of study related to a discipline or profession. GLO 4: Critical thinking Evaluating information using critical and analytical thinking and judgment. GLO 5: Problem solving Creating solutions to authentic (real world and ill- defined) problems. Page 2 of 8 Assessment Feedback: Students who submit their work by the due date will receive their assignment marks and feedback on CloudDeakin on Monday, 20/05/2019, by 11:59PM. Description / Requirements Select any Australian business organization of your choice (or an international business organization with a noticeable presence in the Australian market). It can be either a service or a manufacturing business or a combination of both. Investigate the organization’s current supply chain in depth and write a 3000-word research report. Your report should identify and review relevant sustainability aspects of the organization’s current supply chain. In your write-up, you are expected to demonstrate appropriate understanding and usage of at least one relevant supply chain management (SCM) theory/concept covered in the weekly lectures & prescribed readings up to Week 7 of the trimester. Your submitted research report should specifically address/focus on the following four key aspects: 1. Provide a brief descriptive profile of your chosen business organization (e.g. nature of business, level of competition it faces, target customers, recent financial performance etc.) 2. Provide a detailed description of the current supply chain practices of the organization 3. To what extent do you think are the firm’s current supply chain practices sustainable? In particular, how resilient do you think their current supply chain is to sudden contingencies (e.g. natural disasters like floods & earthquakes, war etc.) that can significantly impair the functionality of one or more links of the supply chain (i.e. the firm’s supply chain partners). 4. Provide recommendations to further improve the sustainability of the organization’s supply chain practices with a particular focus on resilience against impact of sudden contingencies. Word limit: 3,000 words (+/- 10%) excluding tables, figures, list of references and any appendices. Page 3 of 8 References - academic and non-academic sources: You must reference a minimum of six (6) academic/scholarly sources. These can include academic journal articles or chapters from academic books (including your prescribed textbook, which will count as ONE scholarly source). Suitable academic journals can be found by conducting a search of the Deakin Library academic databases (a list of relevant journals is provided on the Unit Guide). 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 appended to the report, 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 - 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) Students must correctly use the Harvard style of referencing. http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/study-support/referencing/harvard Page 4 of 8 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 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 current literature on SCM, and draw from a range of theoretical frameworks and concepts 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 structure is as follows: - Title Page - Table of Contents - Executive Summary - Background and Introduction - Body - Conclusion - Recommendations - References Submission Instructions You must keep a backup copy of every assignment you submit, until the marked assignment has been returned to you. In the unlikely event that one of your assignments is misplaced, you will need to submit your backup copy. Any work you submit may be checked by electronic or other means for the purposes of detecting collusion and/or plagiarism. When you are required to submit an assignment through your CloudDeakin unit site, you will receive an email to your Deakin email address confirming that it has been submitted. You should check that you can see your assignment in the Submissions view of the Assignment dropbox folder after upload, and check for, and keep, the email receipt for the submission. Plagiarism and other forms of cheating: Plagiarism occurs when a student presents the work of another person as the student's own work, or includes the ideas of others as quotations, summaries or paraphrases, without acknowledgement as to its authorship. Page 5 of 8 Collusion occurs when a student obtains the agreement of another person for a fraudulent purpose with the intent of obtaining an advantage in submitting an assignment or other work. Assignments may be checked for plagiarism (via Turnitin) and disciplinary procedures will be initiated if any student’s work is found to include plagiarism (i.e., penalties will be imposed relative to the degree of infringement. It is the responsibility of the student to be informed about the University’s policies on academic integrity and make sure they have received any mandatory training. Plagiarism is the copying of another person's ideas or expressions without appropriate acknowledgment and presenting these ideas or forms of expression as your own. It includes not only written works such as books or journals but data or images that may be presented in tables, diagrams, designs, plans, photographs, film, music, formulae, web sites and computer programs. Plagiarism also includes the use of (or passing off) the work of lecturers or other students as your own. Plagiarism is a form of cheating that Deakin University regards as an extremely serious academic offence. The penalties associated with plagiarism are severe and extend from cancelling all marks for the specific assessment item or for the entire unit through to exclusion from your course. It is important to realise, however, that it is certainly not cheating to use the work of others in your research report. On the contrary - a well-constructed report should normally refer to and build on the work of others for positioning, supporting and strengthening your work and advancing knowledge. Plagiarism occurs when due recognition and acknowledgement of the work of others is not provided. Therefore, whenever you are using another person's research or ideas (whether by direct quotation or by paraphrasing) you must appropriately cite the source. If you are ever in doubt about the most appropriate form of referencing, you should consult your lecturer or the Academic Skills Advisor. Talking about your assignment with other students is acceptable and encouraged. However, jointly writing up the assignment, or using the same written words from your discussion, is a form of cheating because we are not able to identify whose idea the information is. Unauthorised collaboration involves working with others with the intention of deceiving examiners about who actually completed the work. If there has been any collaboration in preparing individual assessment items, this must be disclosed (clearly stated that it is a joint effort). Please note that in MMM267 any collaborative work will strictly not be acceptable for marking as the assessment tasks are explicitly stated as individual. Page 6 of 8 Notes • Penalties for late submission: The following marking penalties will apply if you submit an assessment task after the due date without an approved extension: 5% will be deducted from available marks for each day up to five days, and work that is submitted more than five days after the due date will not be marked. You will receive 0% for the task. 'Day' means working day for paper submissions and calendar day for electronic submissions. The Unit Chair may refuse