Global Supply Chain Management
FINAL Assignment:
The global supply chain is more than direct ownership of production and distribution. It is also a network of relationships with both internal and external partners. It requires establishing relationships with organizations operating under completely different political, economic, and physical environments.
Based on the above statement, you are asked to choose a large enterprise, which has become over the years the cornerstone of the supply chain (e.g., Nike, Tesco, IKEA, Samsung, Ford, Apple, P&G, DHL, Nestle) and critically discuss:
(i) how it manages to establish close coordination across the globe (including any outsourcing/offshoring decisions and location-specific advantages),
(ii) how distinctive R&D investments helped the company to increase its revenues,
(iii) what are the supply chain risks and the associated mitigation strategy
(iv) how advanced technology means/tools (e.g., 3D Printing, Big Data analytics or Internet of Things) help to maintain the competitive advantage.
Relates to Learning Outcomes:
- Analyse and critically evaluate the ways in which supply chains are adapted in view of specific market dynamics and environments.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of global lead--time management and time--compression.
- Critically analyse the theory, concepts and models of global supply chain management to interpret and understand complex and ambiguous risks in global logistics and supply chain environments.
- Locate, summarise and synthesise a range of information from published literature and electronic sources on GSCM.