7BSP1011 International supply chain management

1. How do warranty policies affect supply chain network design, sustainability and risk?

2. Slow fashion vs. Fast fashion. What are the fundamental differences in terms of supply chain design, operation and control?

3. The role of collaborative transportation in achieving Sustainable Development Goals 11 and 12.

Frequently Asked Questions

1.Individual or group? Individual

2.How many marks? 100

3.I have received less than 50% in one of the assessments; however, I have passed overall. Should I submit in the ref/def round? If you passed overall, there is no need to submit a new one. You have passedthe module, enjoy your summer. Please note that marks might be different on your student record. Do not forget to check your student record when marks are there.

4.I have received more than 50% in the first/second; however, I have failed overall. If you did not pass overall (not below 19 overall though), regardless of your mark in the first/second assessment, you will need to submit a referral work. What matters is your overall mark.

5.Which one I should write about? If you are a deferral student, you can pick any of the three highlighted in purple on top of the page. If you are a referral student (failed the module), taking my comments on the original submission, submit a new improved version.

6.How to prepare? There are plenty of sources. My top suggestions are: Google, YouTube, Twitter and Scopus.com. Do not use sources such as ResearchGate, Wikipedia and lecture notes please. 

7.How many words?

8.Any format? Font: Times New Roman; Font Size: 12pt; Line spacing: 1.1; Before and After Spacing: 0pt; JUSTIFY LINES; No figures and no tables please, use tinyurl for URLs, change the colour of in-text references to blue (e.g. "Various organisations have adopted simulation in order to enhance their efficiency such as DHL (2018). For further information, one can refer to Martens et al. (2019).") Check online to learn how to make these changes if needed please.

9.What do you mean by "justify lines"? You should not align text right, align text left or centre text. You need to justify the lines. When you justify text, space is added between words so that both edges of each line are aligned with both margins. The last line in the paragraph is aligned left. Click anywhere in the paragraph that you want to justify. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Justify Text (from the Microsoft's support page).

10.What are the things to strictly avoid? Do not explain a case in detail (just refer to the case and provide the reference); do not repeat things already discussed in class or things which are common sense; do not provide a synopsis for your submission (e.g. In this essay, I will ...; this report will discuss ...; Section 1 will cover ...; the remainder of this essay will deal with ...; the main goal of this essay is to shed light on ...); do not provide recommendations to businesses; do not provide a conclusion (this is just a summary and not adding value to your work. It does not demonstrate your understanding any further); do not tell a story (Company X was disappointed and went to Company B), do not write an annotated bibliography (e.g. Harper et al. (2018) posits that ...; As Jackson (2020) argues ...), avoid defining terms and focus on the question. For instance, for the question on slow/fast fashion, rather than defining what each one is, focus on the question and from the very beginning talk about the differences in terms of design, operation and control of their supply chains. Make your submission as lean as possible and only answer the question in an analytical way. In my feedback for the first assignment, anything you see in red is non-value-adding.

11.What are the best words describing an outstanding submission? Lean, coherent, full of examples (not telling a story though, just to support the argument, just mention and reference), analytical, plagiarism-free, to the point, following the format given in #7 of this section

12.I need to talk to you and check my draft/I have a question about the assessment. The questions are absolutely clear and as you did in the first assessment, you should regards the question as an elevator pitch. I will not be able to check your drafts. I am afraid to say that any email with regards to checking your draft will not be replied.

13.What should I write in 1,500 words? This is not a literature review or annotated bibliography and hence, I do not expect you write something like "As Jackson et al. (2018) ..." or "Lola (2019) posits that ...".  Referring to real-world cases is highly recommended (refer to the case only rather than explaining it). I do not expect to see a figure or chart in your submission, statistics and numbers (if relevant) are value-adding and coherence of the arguments is of utmost importance. Think of this assessment as an elevator pitch to a CEO, but in writing.  Demonstrate YOUR understanding of the topic; not what others believe in and talked about in their publications. Make your submission a high-quality analytical one dealing with the question from different angles.

14.What is value-adding and what is not? How do warranty policies affect supply chain network design, sustainability and risk?Sample non-value-adding stuff would be why warranty is important, different warranty policies, what is sustainability, what is risk, what is network design, what is policy, what author A or B said or argued, … Value-adding would be how do warranty policies affect risk/network design/sustainability; THE QUESTION IS “HOW?”