Introduction to Operations Management
SECTION – I
For the company chosen by you for the mid-term assignment, describe the supply chain by identifying all the supply chain levels. Discuss how the raw material and products move within the supply chain, what are production cycles, how frequent is the product movement? Provide reasoning for these choices. Provide details of movement i.e. technology used, vehicle typologies used, warehouses used, logistics infrastructure owned or outsourced, pattern in terms of geographies, etc. Please provide reasoning for all of these. [5 Marks]
Has there been any change in their Operations management/ supply chain logistics and transport management strategies in the last five/ ten years? What are these changes? Why they initiated these changes? Provide sound reasons for the same. Discuss the Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Competition the company is facing in the market from the supply chain perspective in the last five years as provided in their Annual Reports. What are their plans and strategies to cater to them? [5 Marks]
Can these strategies be further bettered? Provide sound suggestions with proper reasoning. Please refer to the company website, annual reports (annexures to the balance sheet, director’s note, etc.), and other company/ market/ third party analysis reports. [5 Marks]
SECTION II
For the same company, identify and outline the various issues they have been facing during this Covid19 crisis i.e. Impact of their year on year growth projections, profitability, production plans, supply chain disruptions, inventory management logistics management, market share value and market capitalization etc. [5 Marks]
Post discussion of all these, develop a flow diagram which provides details of which issue leads to other issue, eventually leading to reduced growth/ production or market capitalization due to Covid-19. Discuss, do they affect each other linearly or simultaneously in a multi-directional manner? Use various media discussion and publications that have been done by the company so as to build customer confidence. [5 Marks]
SECTION III
In your opinion are these marketing measures, or information sharing measures, or safeguarding their organization measures? Provide a critical analysis of all the adverse or positive impact the Covid-19 pandemic has on the supply chain of the company chosen by you. [5 Marks]
Discuss the following in your own original words:
Analysis of top 5 companies of the sector/ industry the company belongs to – i.e. if you have chosen Maruti Suzuki belonging to automotive sector, you also analyse – Hyundai India, Honda, Toyota, Mahindra and Kia etc. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the company and its supply chain as against the industry/ sector? [10 Marks]
From your point of view what strategies the company should apply so as to limit the impact of the Covid-19 crisis? [10 Marks]
Format of the Submission – Word / PDF document
Assignment to be a 15 pages-assignment (4000 words Maximum)
- 15 pages include – flowcharts, graphs and other images
- 15 pages exclude coverage, table of contents, citation and references, and annexure etc.
- Sentencing space – 1.5, 12 point Arial font. Please provide page numbers in the footer.
- Document format – Word/ pdf
- Please follow the APA style of referencing, use of Google Scholar is highly recommended.
CONTENT STRUCTURE
- Introduction
- Background of the firm (Section I)
- Covid19 – Issues and Opportunities (Section II)
- Industry Analysis and Strategy adopted (Section III)
- Conclusion
- References
- Appendix