Resource: Quality Management in Supply Chain
Real-World Example: Apple Technology Company
A Qualitative Case Study must be written based on the assigned resource/capability, “QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN SUPPLY CHAIN”. The task is to understand how companies can make use of the resource or capability under investigation in supply chain management so as to support their supply chain strategies and to achieve the set objectives, i.e., efficiency or responsiveness or a combination of both. To support your arguments, an in-depth analysis of the company “APPLE TECHNOLOGY COMPANY”, which is successful in making use of the resource or capability in supply chain management has to be used as an example.
I. Analyse from a theoretical perspective (1) what the function is all about in the supply chain domain, (2) why it is critical to supply chain management, and (3) how it can help improve efficiency or responsiveness of a supply chain. For this part, the analysis needs to be comprehensive and covers all possible areas of a supply chain that can benefit from optimal use of this function. Relevant references should be given to support the statements. ?
II. Use a relatively well?known company (or few companies if deemed appropriate) as example(s) to support the claims made in (I) above. Provide facts, statistics, summary tables, figures, and diagrams, etc. to discuss how the company made use of the function to give itself a competitive edge. During the discussion, students can give a brief background of the company prior to discussing how it has leveraged the function to gain its competitive advantage. ?
III. Compare real?world practices (i.e., the activities undertaken by the example company) against theories (i.e., the theoretical discussion about the resource or capability under investigation) so as to make your arguments convincing. In this regard, a summary table comparing the various theoretical benefits of the resource or capability under discussion against the actual practices in the example company should be shown. ?
The following report format should be used:
(a) Executive Summary: (Summarize the topic of the investigation, the findings – both the theoretical overview of the function and the actual practices of the case company, and the conclusions of the study in one page.) ?
(b) Table of Contents: (List the sections and subsections with corresponding page numbers on a separate page.) ?
(c) List of Figures: (List the figure numbers and captions with corresponding page numbers on a separate page whenever figures are used in the report. DO NOT include the figures per se.) ?
(d) List of Tables: (List the table numbers and captions with corresponding page numbers on a separate page whenever tables are used in the report. DO NOT include the tables per se.) ?
(e) Overview of the Resource/Function under Investigation: (Use your own words to give a brief overview of the assigned resource or function.) ?
(f) Objective: (State the purpose of the case study.) ?
(g) Theoretical Analysis: (Present an in-depth analysis of the resource or function from a theoretical ?perspective.) ?
(h) Real-World Example: (Present the findings of the investigation of a real-world company to provide evidence to show how the company leverages the resource of function to gain its competitive advantage.) ?
(i) Discussion: (Demonstrate using adequate evidence that the points discussed in (e) can be witnessed in the company identified as an example. In this regard, comparison table (theories versus practices), figures, charts, etc., should be used as liberal as possible to aid the discussion.)
(j) Issues identified: (Identify the issues encountered by the case company in leveraging the supply chain function and how these issues are resolved or overcome by the firm to achieve success.)
(k) Conclusions: (Summarize the study and give insight based on the analysis and the findings.)
(l) References: (List the references used in the report in strict Harvard style.)
(m) Appendices: (Show any additional information about the case company that will be useful for the reader to see how the firm leverages the supply chain function in question to gain its competitive advantage.)