Department of Supply Chain Management

Asper School of Business

University of Manitoba

SCM3230: GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAINS

DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR COURSE PROJECT

Using the groups for exercise 1, you are acting as consultants, and are requested to analyze the strategic development of one company or institution that is involved in logistics and supply chain management. The company/institution can be Canadian or non-Canadian based but given the objective of the course (‘Global’ Supply Chains), the business of the chosen company/institution MUST involve more than one country.

There are many logistics companies (or logistics branches in companies) in the world, most have been presented in class so far and you may have encountered others in your previous assignment. You may maintain the company you chose in your previous group work or choose another.

You need to address the following questions:

· Company background

· Scope of services

· SWOT analysis on selected logistics company (i.e., internal supply chain operations and external business environment)

· Proposed supply chain solutions to the selected company/institution

Detailed Instructions for Written Reports

You must follow these guidelines carefully when preparing your course project. Marks may be deducted if you do not follow these guidelines:

· Please keep the original groups formed for the group exercise 1

· The course project report MUST include the following (marks will be deducted if any one or more of the following item(s) is/are missing):

i) A cover page (with the course code and title, project’s title and the names and university numbers of group members)

ii) Table of contents (with page numbers)

iii) Introduction (1-2 pages)

iv) Conclusion (1-2 pages)

v) List of References (unlimited pages)

· The report should be 1,500-1,700 words (excluding cover page, table of contents, bibliography and appendix; but including all maps, photos, figures and tables, if any). The reports must be prepared in either UK or US English;

· You should submit the written report (1 hard copy and 1 electronic copy as backup) to the instructor before the indicated deadline (please refer to the course outline for the deadline) to the course instructor via:

Electronic copy: mawuli.afenyo@umanitoba.ca

· Plagiarism is a very serious academic offence and will NOT be tolerated. Please be sure that you are following the guidelines below so as to avoid plagiarism.

Bibliography and Quotation of Sources

Basic idea:

Whenever you use information from a source, you should refer to it in the text itself (author, year) and put the full reference in the list of references and the end of your paper.

You must follow these instructions carefully. Marks may be deducted if you do not follow these instructions.

1. Bibliography

Why?

· The bibliographic address is the key to the source.

· The bibliography is an important criterion for the judgment of the scientific quality of the paper.

Principles!

· Mention all used sources.

· Put the authors’ family name in alphabetical order.

· To ensure a quick consultation of the source the bibliographic address has to be complete.

· Use easy comprehensive abbreviation marks.

· Tables, graphics and figures have also full sources.

· When you used more than one work of an author in your bibliography, classify them by year. Put an extra reference to sources with the same date.

Example: (Struys, W. (2003a): … )

· Report the specific address and the date of the last review to electronic sources.

2. Quotation of sources in the text

Why?

· Quote or restate, quotation of source is a necessary condition to avoid plagiarism.

· Paragraphs without quotation indicate personal findings.

Principles!

· Mention between brackets the author (corporative author or interviewed person), the year and alternatively the page number.

· Quotations of sources in the text are all incorporated into the bibliography and vice versa.

· When you use more than one work of an author with the same date, indicate this as well at the quotation in the text using the extra reference.

Example: (Struys, 2003a, p. 35-37)

· Referring to a newspaper article, without author, suffice to give the newspaper of corporative author, the date and pages.

Example: (Times, 2004, p. 12)

· a) A book written by many authors is quoted as:

Example: (Lelubre, Struys, Chung Choong Lon, 2003, p. 12-15)

b) When the number of authors is bigger than 6, mention only the first one:

Example: (Hermans et al., 2004, p. 18)

· When you consult to more than one book for a paragraph:

Example: (Dowling, 1980, p. 392; Verheyen, 1993, p. 256)

· Referring to an electronic source happens the same way as with books or journals. The specific online address can be omitted in the quotation of the text.

· Use the same complete quotation in the text for tables, graphics and figures as been used in the bibliography.

· Watch out for the quotation of an enumeration. When you copy a list from another author, make sure you mention the source on top of the list. This suggest that all the following belongs together. When you compose the list by yourself, every issue needs his own quotation of source.

Detailed Instructions for Group Presentations

· The course project will be presented (about 20 minutes, +/- 5 minutes) during the tutorials, followed by 5 minutes of Q&A. The presentation topic must be the same as the task allocated to your group in the course project;

· The dates of presentation for different groups will be indicated in the course project sheets;

· All students within the group must present; any students who do not present will get zero marks for the presentation part. Also. Students within the same group would receive the same grade. Thus, students should ensure that ALL the group members are actively contributing to the project;

· All presentations must be conducted in a respectable manner (although formal dressing is NOT necessary);

· It is assumed that you use Powerpoint (ppt or pptx) for your presentation. Having say so, you are welcome to use any other presentation styles, e.g., Prezi, posters, video, marketing samples/materials, etc., but the presentation must not be out-of-scope and lie within the indicated timeframe. If you need any equipment other than laptop computer, please inform the course instructor at least one week in advance;

· To allow other students to get access to the presentation materials, the group which will present MUST send their (draft) presentation materials to Course Instructor 2 days before their respective presentation date. The Course Instructor will upload the presentation materials on UM Learn for other students to download; 5 MARKS WILL BE DEDUCTED IF YOU FAIL TO DO SO.

· Marks may be deducted if the presentation is too short or too long (more than 35 minutes; or less than 25 minutes), or significantly out-of-scope;