INTB30607 Global Supply Chain Strategy Assignment Questions | NTU

INTB30607 Instructions to Candidates

Please ensure that you have read the On the Day Timed Assessment: Student Guidance in your learning room and that details the following elements:

Your Responsibilities 
Workload, Word Counts and Statements of Access 
Accessing eBooks 
Accessing your Assessment Brief 
Perceived Material Error in the Assessment Brief 
Technical Problems Encountered 

• During the assessment
• Submitting your work 

Materials Provided

The following are provided in theOn the day Timed Assessment content unit in the Module Learning Room. 

• Instructions and guidance for the OTA
• A copy of the OTA Paper
• A copy of the OTA Answer Booklet (You Must Use This Answer Booklet to Submit Your Answers)
• The following additional digital items are provided: Case Study

Please note that there may be Questions with Specific Instructions Included on the OTA paper below to help you complete all elements of each question.

Word Count: The total maximum word count for this OTA is: 3000words

The following penalties will be applied (NBS Word Count Policy-Online Examination) if the Examination word count is exceeded.

• For additional words up to 500 words, the overall grade for the piece of work will be reduced by 1 grade point (e.g. UG 2.1-Mid to 2.1-Low; PG Commendation-Mid to Commendation-Low); 
• Additional work exceeds 500 words, the overall grade for the piece of work will be reduced by 3 grade points (e.g. 2.1-Mid to 2.2 Mid; PG Commendation-Mid to Pass-Mid).
• These penalties will be applied even if the reduced grade is below a Pass grade. 

All non-narrative elements included in the work that require a written description ARE excluded from the word count. These include: calculations, tables, charts or diagrams. 

Citing and Referencing Requirements: 

• In-text citations are encouraged.
• A reference list in Harvard style is NOT required. 
• Appendices should NOT be submitted and will NOT be graded.

Submitting your Answer Booklet: 

All required answers MUST be typed in your copy of the NBS OTA Answer Booklet. 

You MUST submit your answer booklet to the required module Dropbox folder by the Submission Deadline stated above. 

You should plan to submit with sufficient time to account for circumstances that are outside your control. Should you be prevented from submitting and miss the deadline due to such circumstances, then you should follow the advice in the On the Day Timed Assessment: Student Guidance.

Section A 

Answer all questions and sub-questions in Section A 

Question 1 [30 marks]

“[Supply chains demonstrate] some clever processes [but] there are several interlocking process problems that need fixing. Some supply chains have become too efficient, creating fragility. Others are too wasteful, given the environmental costs of shipping parts and components back and forth around the world, rather than making and selling them locally. […] The problem is that companies have little incentive to change.” [FT, 20 February 2025] 

a)To what extent do you think that the enormous efficiencies created in supply chains in recent decades increase their susceptibility to volatility, and do you agree that companies have little incentive to change? Use an industry example and provide reasons for your answer. [10 marks] 

b)Briefly state how the three tiers of volatility sources (Boyson, 2009, in Harrington et al.) can help to understand systemic volatility in supply chain management. For each of the three tiers, please provide two examples of change drivers (i.e., two for each tier). Explain how the change drivers in one of the three tiers might be mitigated. [10 marks] 

c)Discuss the possible causes of any two sub-sources of risk for each of the levels noted below, and describe the factors that might influence managers’ perception of risk: 

• Supplier issues
• Supply chain integration
• Uncontrollable events

[10 marks] 

Note: You may use any industry example(s) of your choice to help answer Q1, including the case study for Q2, any seminar discussions, or your personal experience (e.g., industry placement).

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Question 2 [30 marks] 

This question relates to the case study ‘ShelterBox: A Decade of Disaster Relief’. 

a)Within the context of the case study organisation, suggest two suitable key performance objectives for ShelterBox. Explain how those performance objectives could be achieved, and the organisation’s mission accomplished, by observing the law of trade-offs and the law of focus. [10 marks] 

b)Your manager (ShelterBox’s Chief Operations Officer) has invited you to attend a management board meeting with her. She explains that the senior team has been facing challenges with operational efficiency during recent disaster responses. To address this, she has asked you to prepare a 300-word briefing. This briefing should explain the operations management principles of variability, variability buffering, and variability pooling. Additionally, you should suggest two ways in which lean management could help minimise ShelterBox’s need for buffering. She also asks that you include examples to illustrate each of these principles in the context of ShelterBox. [10 marks] 

c)Explain what is meant by ‘Order Penetration Point’ (OPP) and describe why specific demand for items that are required in the aftermath of a disaster could result in the need to reposition the OPP. [10 marks]

Note: You must only use the supplied case study ‘ShelterBox: A Decade of Disaster Relief’ to answer Q2.

Question 3 [20 marks]

You have arrived in your first graduate role since leaving NTU at a medium-sized UK electronics manufacturing company. Your manager is impressed by the statements on your CV regarding supply chain expertise, particularly your knowledge of supply chain partnering. They tell you this is exactly what’s needed in the company and let slip that the existing senior leadership team (SLT) struggles in this area. Consequently, the company has been experiencing difficulties in developing good-quality supply chain relationships.

Your manager has asked you to produce a draft copy of a report for the SLT, which critically evaluates the Partnership Model by Lambert and Knemeyer (2004). The report needs to explain the stages of the partnership development process and discuss an example showing how the model has been applied in a real-world supply chain network to take forward to a meeting.

Question 4 [20 marks] 

You have arrived in your first role since recently graduating from NTU at a large retailer in the fast-fashion clothing sector. Your new manager is impressed with your critical knowledge of supply chain sustainability and ethics and asks you to draft a report for the company’s senior management team, suggesting two feasible methods for achieving SDG 12 (‘Ensure Sustainable Production and Consumption Patterns’) in the company. They are insistent that you state any criticisms of the goal that may hinder the possibility of achieving SDG 12 by 2030, too. You are excited about this as you know this opportunity could be important for progressing in the company, and you want to make a good impression. 

However, your manager warns you that they played around with generative AI in a mild panic to write something yesterday. And, although it looked plausible, they said it was bland, error-ridden, and loaded with absurd assumptions. Recalling the expertise noted on your CV, they asked you to take on the task, but insist that you write it from your knowledge to ensure its quality and usability; otherwise, it would be rejected. 

Question 5 [20 marks] 

You unintentionally get talking to a very anxious supply chain manager at work who is worrying about the supply chain performance of the company, a manufacturer of spare parts and components for the automotive industry. Just as you try to politely leave and find a way back to your desk to get on with your work, you realise this is an opportunity to showcase your knowledge and receive some long-overdue recognition. 

The manager explains that he needs a way to plot supply risk vs. performance impact for a meeting of the directors next week, but had no real idea how to show this effectively. Thinking back to your degree programme last year, you immediately remember your favourite module, GSCS, and Peter Kraljic’s matrix framework. Realising you can help, you offer to provide a short report outlining the key aspects of Kraljic’s Matrix.

Question 6 [20 marks]

You noticed how muddled the strategy of a small fast-food retailer that you do some casual part-time work for has become recently. One day, they are very focused on offering customers a wide choice, and the next day, they are shouting at workers to improve efficiency. This just gets everyone annoyed. You get fed up working there and resign. That evening, on reflection, you believe the owners are decent, well-meaning people who are just uninformed about strategy and the implications for their operations and supply chain efficiency.

You decide to write them an informative essay, explaining something important about supply chain design you remembered from university. Your essay will explain the difference between the various characteristics of functional and innovative products, and state what that means in the context of the fast-food industry. It will need to explain Fisher’s (1997) supply chain design matrix and outline the implications for a supply chain by drawing upon and giving further examples from other industries of your choice.

Question 7 [20 marks] 

“There are things that matter in terms of the sourcing decisions made and/or at Jaguar Land Rover [JLR]” (Hon. Professor R. Johnson, 10 February 2025, NTU). 

The above quote was given during the lecture in week 2. Describe the six factors that contribute to effective sourcing by JLR, stating why they matter and what the potential implications of each might be if JLR gets them wrong. You should use relevant theory and/or examples from the module to support your answe