Founded in 1916, BMW has grown into one of the world’s most successful makers of automobiles and motorcycles. It is also among the largest industrial companies located in Germany. BMW has 31 production locations in 15 countries, twenty of which are owned by the BMW group. Three of them are owned by the BMW Brilliance Automotive joint venture in China. Partners or contract manufacturers run the remaining 8 of them. The BMW Group also has 43 sales subsidiaries and financial services locations worldwide as well as 16 research and development locations. Six of its R&D centers are in Germany alone. Some examples of operational activities are machining, packing, assembling and testing. It includes bothmanufacturing and service operations. Therefore, BMW infrastructure denotes a range of activities, such as quality management, legal matters handling, accounting, financing, planning and strategic management. Effective infrastructure management can allow BMW to optimise the value of the whole value chain. BMW can control the infrastructure activities (or commonly called overhead costs) to strengthen the competitive positioning in the market. BMW has established an extensive network of dealers and retailers. Outside of Germany, it is mainly the subsidiary companies of BMW which handle its sales and services. DHL is a key logistics partner which takes care of outbound logistics for BMW in most of the markets. Due to its linkage with multiple value chain activities, BMW should carefully consider its procurement activities to optimise the inbound, operational and outbound value chain

Answer all questions below:

Investigate the impact of inflated orders on BMW's physical distribution and transportation of finished products. (12 Marks

Assess the significance of connecting BMW knowledge management systems with information sharing networks and communication channels. (12 Marks)

Critically discuss how vendor-controlled inventories may assist BMW in operating more sustainably. (10 Marks)

Evaluate the external issues that could affect BMW holding costs and counter trade process. (12 Marks)

Examine the value of incorporating supplier relationships into BMW's e-commerce and international procurement strategy. (12 Marks)

Analyse the security procedures that BMW must implement to guarantee that inventory is recorded accurately with as few errors as feasible. (10 Marks)