SCM 5410 Supply Chain Management

Student Guidelines for Case Assignments - Winter 2016

General Instructions

This course includes three group case assignments. Important instructions for these
assignments can be found in this document. For each case, several questions will be
provided, but the questions must be integrated into a single, cohesive report, rather
than as a Q&A format. The report must tell a single story, typically involving a
recommendation for the organization.
Grading
A rubric for grading cases is provided on Blackboard under Course Tools/Rubrics.
This rubric spells out the detailed criteria for assigning a grade to your assignment,
corresponding with the required report sections listed below.
For the Group Case, a group grade will be assigned based on the group report
submitted. Each group member must also submit a peer review/TAPE form. Each
member of the group will receive the full group grade unless they have shown
insufficient teamwork as evidenced by the TAPE forms and/or observations of the
instructor. In the case of insufficient teamwork/contribution, the students grade on
the group project may be reduced. The TAPE form is provided on page 6 of this
document.
Individual teamwork grade
A
B
C
D
F

Percentage grade deduction

0%
0%
10%
20%
30% or more

Tips for Success

As you work on your assignment, be sure to carefully review the case grading rubric
which is contained in the syllabus. The Exemplary column describes the typical
characteristics of a high quality assignment.
In preparing your report, be sure to focus on supply chain management issues.
While some general management or marketing issues may be useful for discussion
purposes, this is a supply chain management class and your report should reflect
the specific supply chain management content models found in the textbook and
the other course resources.
When preparing the problem statement, it is often helpful to reflect on the details of
the case as seen through the eyes of the Chief Operating Office at the time of the
case. If you were the COO, what would you be thinking about / concerned about?
The problem statement should reflect all of the important factors - but, of course,
deciding on what is truly important is part of the COOs job. You might try making
a list of all the problems and issues, and then remove the less important items and
boil it down into a single statement.

Key Questions to Ask Yourself Before Submitting Your Assignment

1) Is the Problem Statement actionable? Does the Background section include
facts and discussion which directly relate to the Problem Statement?
2) In the Analysis section, did I present different options different ways of taking
action to address the Problem statement? Do I show how each option attempts to
address the Problem Statement?
3) For the options that I presented, did I describe the tradeoffs and implications of
each option? The tradeoffs will normally include the pros and cons associated with
that particular option. The implications will normally include the expected results
and consequences of taking that particular option.
4) In assessing the options, did I apply supply chain management models (e.g. by
inserting actual case facts in the model) or did I just make passing reference to the
models (i.e. this model could be used by the company to ). To get full credit,
you need to actually apply the model(s).
5) Do my recommendations logically flow from the Analysis section?
6) Is there sufficient supply chain management content in my report or are
most of the analyses and recommendations related to non-operational areas such
as marketing and strategy?
7) Did I avoid using most of the paper to merely retell the case story?
How to Read a Case
Read through the case three times as noted below:
Step 1: First pass
Just read through the whole case without stopping.
Step 2: Selective reading
Read through the case a second time, but this time ONLY read the section headings
and the first and last sentences of each paragraph.
Step 3: Careful reading
In the last read-through, read the whole case carefully with a yellow marker in hand.
Highlight the sentences that you feel are most important.

Required Case Report Format

The format of your paper should be as follows and not to exceed 5 pages
(Either 2 or 1.5 spaces between lines) excluding the Appendices section:

Executive summary a couple of short paragraphs which

summarize the remainder of the report. Your recommendations or
the overall thesis of your paper must be briefly presented here.
Background use this section to lead in to your Problem
Statement; identify symptoms, critical factors and the current state
Problem Statement a succinct statement of the
problem/dilemma/issue, preferably in a single declarative sentence;
be careful to identify the real problem and not the symptoms of
the problem
Analysis apply operational models, course content, and outside
research to support your position; logically discuss options,
implications and tradeoffs
Recommendations and Conclusions these should be your
recommendations regarding how the organization should deal with
the problem; they should be fully supported by the Analysis section
Appendices References and Charts does not count towards the
5 pages
Citations must be referenced according to APA style.
Appropriate references: This is a library research paper and you
must use at least 3 different sources, not including textbooks. These
sources should be company websites, industry sources, periodicals,
such as the Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and so on, and
governmental sources such as the SEC. Wikipedia and other similar
sources are not to be used in this course.