Select an appropriate business organization of your choice from the options listed below. Research your chosen business organization’s operations and supply chain practices in depth and write a 3000-word research report based on your findings.
Options:
(1) Any mining/manufacturing/service/retail business organization that is currently listed on the
ASX200 (https://www.asx200list.com/) or;
(2) A business organization that you are currently employed in (or have worked for in the past)
or;
(3) A family business owned and operated by your family or friends/relatives.
For any organization that you choose, first make sure that there is adequate information available about the organization in the public domain (organization’s website, reliable third-party websites carrying business/economic contents etc.) Please do bear in mind that you will need as much information as you can gather about the organization to be able to write a comprehensive report. If you are opting to do a report on your family business or on a small business in which you are working (or have worked in the past), you may need to conduct interviews to gather some of the required information. Please refer to the Harvard referencing guidelines to correctly cite all interview information (www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/study-support/referencing/harvard).
Your report should identify relevant sustainability aspects of the organization’s current operations and supply chain. In your write-up, you are expected to demonstrate accurate understanding and relevant incorporation of at least one relevant operations/supply chain management (SCM) theory or concept from the weekly lectures and prescribed topic 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 key value chain(s) relevant to your chosen business. Primarily focus on the current operations and supply chain practices of the organization.
3. To what extent do you think are the organization’s current operations and supply chain practices sustainable? What evidences can you find of the organization’s close cooperation with and development of its key suppliers? Provide recommendations to maintain/improve the sustainability of the organization’s operations and supply chain practices.
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4. Sudden, unforeseen events with global ramifications can impact an organization’s ability to source key raw materials and/or deliver finished products to its target markets (e.g. the recent novel coronavirus outbreak in China has negatively affected the supply chains of a number of business organizations worldwide). To what extent do you think is the supply chain of your chosen business organization vulnerable to sudden, disruptive events?
Word limit: 3,000 words (+/- 10%) excluding tables, figures, list of references and any appendices. 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). Please note that Wikipedia is not an acceptable scholarly source for the purpose of this assignment.
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, but these will NOT be counted as part of your academic/scholarly sources.