Instructions on Assignment:

Assignment
The assignment is in two parts with a sub-section [(i) and (ii) in part a] and will require you to:-
a) (i) As part of a Group, organize, implement and produce a Power point Presentation on an evaluation of a supply chain organization (ie part of a Supply Network in either a Manufacturing; Retail or Service Industry) and make an oral presentation of your findings. Your Presentation should include your Primary selected data on the organization. Also regular group meeting minutes should be produced and included in a hard copy submission of meeting minutes taken during the course of the assignment with a copy of your presentation sides. Your consideration should be to the organizations’ approach to its supply chain strategic focus.

(ii) Make a 20 minute Group presentation to the class analyzing the strategic role of the organization within its supply chain and assessing its operation in terms of its supply chain strategy.

b) Individually to prepare a 3200 word +/-10% document using your group analyzed organization as a Case Study to compare their supply chain strategy against a comprehensive Literature Review of supply chain appropriate practice which you individually identify as you see appropriate to evaluating the case study organization. You should develop a significant individual literature review during the course of the assignment.

SPECIFICATION

Task a) (20% of the overall Mark)

The Presentation should be planned for a group of 4 people and should take place in the semester. A level of Primary research is expected and should be ideally conducted via a visit but electronic means of interview can be considered as an alternative. When arranging the visit and interview, the group must agree with the management of the location, and must prepare a briefing sheet to be handed out or sent electronically before the visit and interview. When making a visit the group must organize transport to and from the site. All groups must prepare a summary of the research, analyze the role of the organization with regard to its supply chain strategy and assess its operation in terms of the supply chain practice you believe is appropriate identified from the Lecture and Seminar Sessions
of this module. Also organize appropriate thanks to the host organization where you gained the primary research. All additional material such as Group Meeting Minutes should be in the Appendices. Plans must be discussed and agreed with the tutor, and a suitable visit confirmed by week 6 of the semester.

The group presentation should aim to comment upon the strategic role of the organization within its supply chain, and its efficiency and effectiveness in performing that role. You should draw on and use reading and learning from the whole module, and position the organization in terms of strategic supply chain best practice. Marks will be awarded for quality of presentation as well as content. Assessed Presentations will be made to the class in teaching weeks 11 and 12 and agreed with the Tutor.

Task b). (80% of the overall mark)

The Individual written report should be no more than 3200 words +/- 10% in length and the individual skills that you need to show here are that you can analyze your Case Study organization from your case study analysis in Part a, and compare their supply chain strategy against a comprehensive Literature Review (30 references) of appropriate practice that you individually identify as appropriate to your case study organization, developed during the course of the assignment. All references to be shown in a Reference section at the end of the report.

Include an Abstract

Introduction 100 words and Conclusion 200 words

Important note about ARNA regulations

The regulations specify that students must complete every assessment component contributing to the modules on their programme. This applies to all forms of assessment as defined in the module descriptor. Please note that:

• if any assessment component is not completed, students will be failed in the module even if the module pass mark has been achieved;
• if the requirements for referral specified in section 5 of ARNA 1 are met, a resit opportunity will be given;
• if unable to complete an assessment component because of extenuating circumstances, students should follow the procedure described in the Student Guide to Extenuating Circumstances 1 .

This change was approved by Academic Board on 12 October 2009 in consultation with the Students’ Union. Students should consult their Programme Leader or Guidance Tutor if they have any queries. Independent advice and support is also available from the Students’ Union Advice & Representation Centre ( su.advice@northumbria.ac.uk ) or from a student adviser in Student Services.

1 ARNA and the Student Guide to Extenuating Circumstances Affecting Assessed Work are available from http://www.northumbria.ac.uk/sd/central/ar/lts/assess/assproc/assdocstud/

Word Count

The word count is to be declared on the front page of your assignment.  The word count does not include title page, contents page, glossary, tables, figures, illustrations, reference list, bibliography and appendices.

Summarising and compressing the information in your assignment into the word limit is one of the skills that students are expected to acquire, and demonstrate as part of the assignment process.

Word limits and penalties for assignments

If the assignment is within +10% of the stated word limit no penalty will apply. However, if the word limit exceeds the +10% limit, 10% of the mark provisionally awarded to the assignment will be deducted. For example: if the assignment is worth 70% but is above the word limit by more than 10%, a penalty of 7% will be imposed, giving a final mark of 63%.

Time limits and penalties for presentations

The time allocated for the presentation must be adhered to. At the end of this time, the presentation will be stopped and will be marked based on what has been delivered within the time limit.

Submission of Assessment:

All assignments must be submitted via the Undergraduate Programme Office. Each assignment must be accompanied by an Assessed Work Form which must be completed in full. The assignment will not be accepted by the Undergraduate Programme Office unless the form is completed correctly.

Marked assignments will be returned to students. It is advisable to retain a copy of your assignment for you own records. Your mark will be returned on the Assessed Work Form via the Undergraduate Programme Office.

Referencing your work

The APA method of referencing uses the author's name and the date of the publication. In-text citations give brief details of the work you are referring to in your text. References are listed at the end of the text in alphabetical order by the author's name. The general format of an electronic journal reference in the APA style is shown below:

Coutu, D. (2009). Why Teams Don't Work. Harvard Business Review, 87(5), 98-105. Retrieved 29 th April 2012 from EBSCO http://searchebscohost.com

Author/s name and initials are listed first, followed by year of publication in brackets. Then there is the title of article and the journal where the article appears, which is in italics. Then state the volume and issue number (in brackets) along with the pages where article can be located. Finally add the date the article was retrieved and then the name of the database, followed by the web address. Wherever possible use the homepage URL rather than the full and extended web address.

For further information on why it is important to reference accurately go to the Referencing and Plagiarism topic in Skills Plus available from the Library website:

www.northumbria.ac.uk/skillsplus

You will find other useful help guides on Skills Plus to help you with the skills involved in writing your assessments and preparing for exams.

For further information on the APA style of referencing see the Concise Rules of APA style and the APA website http://www.apastyle.org/learn

Plagiarism and Cheating

Your attention is drawn to the University’s stated position on plagiarism. THE WORK OF OTHERS, WHICH IS INCLUDED IN THE ASSIGNMENT MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO ITS SOURCE (a full bibliography and/or a list of references must be submitted as prescribed in the assessment brief).

Please note that this is intended to be an individual piece of work. Action will be taken where a student is suspected of having cheated or engaged in any dishonest practice. Students are referred to the University regulations on plagiarism and other forms of academic irregularity. Students must not copy or collude with one another or present any information that they themselves have not generated.