Assessment
100% Coursework

Title: A Critical Analysis of the Zara Supply Chain

• Tasks: there are A ,B,C,D and abstract
(a) Critically evaluate the supply chain management literature making sure to cover the issues of agility, responsiveness versus efficiency, newsvendor losses, postponement, the lean enterprise and process innovation.1100 words
(20%)
(b) What is the best way to grow the Zara supply chain? How, specifically, do you view the prospects in the Italian market? And more broadly, what do you think about the strategy of focusing on Europe versus making a commitment to a second region? Your answer should consider strategic supply chain considerations in addition to the market analysis. 1100-1180 words

(20%)

(c) Critically evaluate what aspects of the Zara supply chain are representative of a “lean enterprise”. In addition, discuss how postponement is utilised constructively in Zara’s supply chain.1100-1180 word

(20%)
(d) Discuss your collective findings to provide a critical analysis of the Zara supply chain.2300-2360 words
(40%)

Total (100%)

• Your abstract should not exceed 100 words.
The coursework has been designed as a group exercise for a maximum group size of three students. The assignment will have individual and group responsibilities. Tasks (a), (b) and (c) MUST be answered individually and will be worth 60% of the assignment marks for the student. Task (d) MUST be answered collectively and submitted as the work of all the students in the group; this will be worth the remaining 40% of the assignment marks.

• The required word count for the assignment is 6,000 words. Papers exceeding this limit by more than 10% will be penalised.
• Your abstract should not exceed 100 words.
• Please submit your paper via Turnitin.
READING LIST

Required Text Book
Bozarth, C. C. and Handfield, R. B. (2015) “Operations and Supply Chain Management”, Fourth Edition, Pearson International Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ

Recommended Reading

Slack, N., Brandon-Jones, A., Johnston, R. and Betts, A. (2015) “Operations and Process Management”, Fourth Edition, Pearson Education Limited, Harlow, U.K
Johnston, R., Clark, G. and Shulver, M. (2012) “Service Operations Management”, Fourth Edition, Pearson Education Limited, Harlow, U.K
Hill, A. and Hill, T. (2011) “Essential Operations Management”, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK
Goldratt, E. M. and Cox, J. (2004) “The Goal, a process of ongoing improvement”, Gower, Aldershot
Womack, J. P., Jones, D. T. and Roos, D. (2007) “The Machine That Changed the World”, Simon & Schuster Ltd
Womack, J. P. and Jones, D. T. (2003) “Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Cooperation”, Simon & Schuster Ltd

Recommended Academic Journal Papers

Hayes, R.H. & Pisano, G. (1994) “Beyond World Class: The New Manufacturing Strategy”, Harvard Business Review, 72(1): 77-86.
Hamel, G. & Prahalad, C.K (1993) “The Core Competence of the Corporation”, Harvard Business Review, March-April
Hayes, R.H. & Wheelwright, S.C. (1985) “Competing through manufacturing”, Harvard Business Review, 63(1): 99-109.
Stalk, G. Jr. & Webber, A. M. (1993). “Japan’s Dark Side of Time”. Harvard Business Review, July-August
Berman, B. (2002) ‘Should your firm adopt a mass customisation strategy?’, Business Horizons, July-August, pp 51-60.
Hammer, M. & Stanton, S. (1999) “How Process Enterprises Really Work”, Harvard Business Review, November-December
Hammer, M. (1990) “Reengineering Work: Don’t Automate, Obliterate”, Harvard Business Review, July-August
Lovelock, CH and Young, RF (1979) “Look to consumers to increase productivity”, Harvard Business Review, May-June

Ghobadian, A. & Speller, S. & Jones, M. (1994), ‘Service Quality: Concepts and Models’. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 11(9), 43-66
Hostage, G.M. (1975) “Quality control in a service business”, Harvard Business Review, July-August, 98-10
Chesbrough, H. W. & Teece, D. J. (1996) “When is Virtual Virtuous?”, Harvard Business Review, January-February

Useful Journal Resources

Practitioner-oriented journals:
• Harvard Business Review
• Academy of Management Executive
• Sloan Management Review
• Long Range Planning

Research-oriented journals:
• Journal of Operations Management
• International Journal of Operations and Production Management.
• Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
• Academy of Management Review
• Journal of Total Quality Management

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Organisations must carefully manage their operations and supply chains in order to survive and prosper. This module seeks to develop a number of frameworks / techniques for assessing and improving operations and supply chain processes.