You will work on a specific commodity chain and develop your analysis based on the below instructions. Your team must collect data/information using multiple appropriate methods and sources, conduct group discussion, investigate them and develop an understanding of the nature and structure of the associated supply chain.

This report format is provided as a guide, but students should be able to adapt it to suit any case study/report writing situation.

Executive summary: (5%) The executive summary is a stand-alone document summarising your report's background, objectives/aims, issues/problems and recommendations. You are strongly encouraged to avoid simply paraphrasing and/or repeating the information presented in the case study.

Table of contents

Introduction (5%): Description of service/product and company. Here you can provide supporting evidence for the importance of investigating the particular service/product supply chain. Furthermore, In short, write the aim of the report.

Supply chain processes: Describe the supply chain map/diagram representing the specific supply chain of the selected product/service and elaborate on each actor contributing to the supply chain objectives.

Describe and label actors in the supply chain (supplier, manufacturer, distributor, retailers), upstream and downstream part of the supply chain, and geographical location of the supply chain operations. (10%)

Define the objectives and core competency of the supply chain. Discuss the role of 4-5 activities (depend on your role in the group) in enhancing the supply chain objectives and customer services values (20%), for example:

demand planning/management

procurement (of raw materials or semi-finished goods/services)

production of goods/services

transportation/warehousing/distribution of goods, etc.

DiscussionsDiscussion A (20%):

Supply chain network in use - push/pull or push-pull system. What are the benefits, contribution to the supply chain objectives or challenges of having push/pull/push-pull methods?

Discuss the relationships within the supply chains (can be any two actors of the chain based on their roles). Provide evidence of the relationship and the contribution to the SCM objectives.

How will the recent technological changes/disruptions (Example: IoT/Big Data/3D printing/Drones) affect the selected product supply chain?

Discussion B (20%):

Elaborate on any potential contemporary issues that may affect the supply chain from the perspectives of the selected supply processes/aspects given above. For example, the uncertainty of supplies and demand, lack of market demand, unreliable distribution system, high competition, natural disasters, Covid 19 etc., related logistics issues that might arise and provide group thoughts for possible solutions.

Recommendation and Conclusion (10%): It summarises the SCM objectives, issues/problems and how you resolved them. The conclusion 'wraps up' your report. Discuss the lessons learnt from this report concerning the concepts learnt from lectures. Suggest any limitations of this research report.