MMM267 Business Logistics Trimester 1, 2017 - Individual Report DUE: Week 8 (Monday 1 May 2017) Submission: Online (Turnitin) submission to Deakin College Portal Word count: 2,000 words (Word count excludes title page, table of contents, reference list and any appendices) Value: 30% (30 marks) Task: Select an Australian business organization of your choice (or an international business organization with a sizeable Australian presence). It can be either a service or a manufacturing business or a combination of both. Write a 2000 word research report critically analysing the key sustainability aspects of the organization’s current supply chain. In your write-up, you are expected to demonstrate appropriate understanding and usage of relevant supply chain management (SCM) theory, concepts, tools and techniques covered in the weekly lectures. Your submitted report should specifically address the following: 1. Provide a brief descriptive profile of your chosen business organization clearly rationalizing your choice; 2. Provide a detailed description of the current SCM practices of the organization; 3. Provide a detailed description of the sustainability management practices of the organization; 4. Provide a critical appraisal of the extent to which you perceive a match between 2 & 3, and gaps if any; 5. Provide a set of recommendations to improve the match between current SCM & sustainability practices. Requirements: a) You must use relevant supply chain management (SCM) theories and concepts, empirical research literature plus non-academic resources in support of your analysis. b) You are required to cite at least one academic journal article to examine each task from 2-5 of the assignment (a minimum of four journal articles). c) In addition to four journal articles above, you can cite other academic references such as books and book chapters. You can also cite relevant industry or organisational reports of your chosen organisation. d) Note that Wikipedia, answers.com, general websites and your or other personal opinions or social networking websites are NOT accepted. Assignments that cite these websites will be penalised. e) Note that lecture slides are NOT counted as an academic reference. You need to track down the original sources to cite. f) All references referred to in text must be placed in your reference list, and are correctly formatted using the Harvard referencing style. All items in the reference list must be cited in the body of the report. Business Report Format (adapted from http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/study-support/academicresources/report-writing) Title page (not included in the word count) Title of report - Clearly describes what the report is about Name and website (in English) of organisation Student name & ID number Unit code & unit name Lecturer’s Name Executive summary This is a summary of the whole report. State the task and summarize the findings of your research (approx. 200 words). Table of contents (not included in the word count) List the major and minor sections of your report. (You are advised to learn to set up an MSWord Table of Contents). Introduction Set the scene; give some background information about the report/organisation; State the aim/purpose of the investigation. Provide an outline of the main sections in the body of the report (approx. 100 words). Main body Organise the body of the report into sections with clear headings for each of the five report requirements. The analysis of each task 2 to 5 (page 1) should identify the theory relating to what you investigated, what you found about the organisation, your interpretation and critical analyses of what you found, with correctly cited evidence drawn from appropriate academic textbook and journal sources. Remember to include at least one academic journal for each of the four sections (approx. 1800 words). Conclusion Summarise what has been achieved in the report. Use the information from the body of your report to identify the anticipated future direction of the organisation in light of the issues discussed in the body of the report (approx. 100 words). References (not included in the word count) A list of all of the sources that you cited in the report. Appendices – [Optional] (not included in the word count) Any information (graphs, charts, tables or other data) you used in your report but did not include in the body. Required Business Report Writing Format • MSWord document (a .doc, or .docx format; NO other format is accepted) • no long paragraphs (approx. 250 words maximum) • no very short paragraphs (unless a connecting sentence between two sections) • 1.5 spaced • 2.5 cm margins • 12 font size • Times New Roman • number the pages • use headings to help structure your assignment and be clear to the reader In terms of your writing please ensure that you are: • as informative as required and that the information is supported by evidence where appropriate • providing information that is relevant for the specific purpose at hand & not just filling up pages • avoiding obscurities and ambiguities to the extent possible; stating & explaining points clearly • being succinct and orderly in your presentation so that the final output appears professional • properly referencing all external sources of information as per the Harvard system Academic and non-academic sources: You must reference a minimum of four (4) different academic/scholarly sources. These can include academic journal articles or chapters from academic books (including your textbook). Academic journals can be found by conducting a search of the Deakin Library academic databases. Much of the information in relation to your selected organisation required to complete this assignment can be obtained from only non-academic (sometimes identified as professional or industry) sources and the chosen organization’s home page. This is often the only way to find out up-to-date information about a business or organisation. Non-academic sources must be included in your References list, but are NOT counted as part of your academic/scholarly sources. Following are some of the suggested non-academic sources: Organisation web sites, including: - Annual Reports - Annual Reviews - Media Releases Media websites, including: - The Age - The Australian - The Australian Financial Review (AFR) - The ABC - Business Review Weekly (BRW) Assignment submission instructions: 1. Your document must be named using your id, first name, and family name as the following example indicates:  student John Smith, ID SMIJO1302 would submit as SMIJO1302_John Smith 2. Assignments will not be accepted at the Reception. 3. Students must keep a copy of this assignment submitted and must be able to produce the copy in the unlikely event that the original assignment is misplaced. Students must maintain backup copies of all their assignment work. Electronic loss of data is common, but is NOT a satisfactory excuse for an extension of a submission date. Extension of an assignment submission date: If there is a compelling reason why you are unable to complete your assignment before the due date you should complete a Request for Extension of Assignment Due Date form, available from the Student Portal under Students / Forms and submit it to your lecturer. This must be done at least 24 hours before the assignment due date. If you submit your assignment late without an approved extension, penalties for late submission of 10% per day will apply. The only exception to this is if your work is late for medical reasons and you have a doctor’s certificate to support your claim. If this is the case then a Request for Extension form must be completed. Penalties for late submissions: Assignments received late and without prior approval will be penalised. A penalty of 10% of the available marks will be deducted for every day the assignment is late. Assignments received after 7 days without an approved extension, will not be marked. Assignment results: Your results and assessor’s comments will normally become available to you within 15 business days of the due date (unless an extension has been granted). Marks can be accessed from the Portal once the Unit Coordinator has released the marks (ie after all marking has been completed). You will be advised by e-mail when marked papers are ready for you to access. You will receive a marked copy of your assignment with comments included. Before results are returned to students, the unit team will moderate the marking process to ensure that the same marking standards are applied to all students within the unit. If necessary, you may request additional information from your lecturer. If you wish to discuss your essay results with your lecturer, you MUST ensure you have the marked grade form and can justify why you believe the grade to be incorrect. This means you will need to provide evidence from the Grade Form (at the end of the assignment) to support your claim before a review will be conducted. Your lecturer will then examine your essay to determine if a review of the grade is warranted. Should your lecturer ascertain so, your lecturer will notify the Unit Coordinator. A request for a review of results will only be accepted by the Unit Coordinator from a lecturer within 5 days of the marks being released. Please remember, receiving a disappointing result is not a justification for review. Writing and referencing skills: In this assignment students have the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of operations management through a practical and realistic review of organisational practice in relation to the taught theory. Researching, writing and referencing are valuable management skills. Effective writing is an essential skill for good managers because written documents provide busy executives with accurate information and appropriately informed viewpoints from reliable sources. Students are also expected to be constructively critical and analytical when writing about what they have read. This ensures that the conclusions drawn are not biased, and that presented case study has objectively reviewed the issues under consideration. Please note that all ideas within your essay which have been obtained from your sources, will need to be cited and referenced using the Deakin author-date (Harvard) system. It is highly recommended that you obtain and use the following booklet published by the Deakin Division of Student Life and provided free of charge to first year students at Orientation: Gaspar, M & Shepherd, M 2009, Guide to assignment writing and referencing, 4th edn, Geelong, Deakin University. The following Deakin weblinks also provide relevant and helpful explanations and examples.:  Division of Student Life: ‘Referencing using the authordate (Harvard) system’: http://www.deakin.edu.au/currentstudents/assets/resources/study-support/study-skills/assign- ref.pdf  Division of Student Life ‘How to Reference Your Writing’: http://www.deakin.edu.au/current- students/study-support/studyskills/handouts/refer-plag.php.  Division of Student Life: Resources: Reading and Writing’ including different writing styles: http://www.deakin.edu.au/current-students/study-support/studyskills/handouts/writing.php Plagiarism and other forms of cheating: Assignments may be checked for plagiarism (via Turnitin) and disciplinary procedures will be initiated if any student’s work is found to include plagiarism (i.e., penalties will be imposed relative to the degree of infringement. Please see Plagiarism and Collusion Policy, and Academic Misconduct Policy on the Portal under Forms). Plagiarism is the copying of another person's ideas or expressions without appropriate acknowledgment and presenting these ideas or forms of expression as your own. It includes not only written works such as books or journals but data or images that may be presented in tables, diagrams, designs, plans, photographs, film, music, formulae, web sites and computer programs. Plagiarism also includes the use of (or passing off) the work of lecturers or other students as your own. Plagiarism is a form of cheating that Deakin University regards as an extremely serious academic offence. The penalties associated with plagiarism are severe and extend from cancelling all marks for the specific assessment item or for the entire unit through to exclusion from your course. It is important to realise, however, that it is certainly not cheating to use the work of others in your essay. On the contrary - a well-constructed essay should normally refer to and build on the work of others for positioning, supporting and strengthening your work and advancing knowledge. Plagiarism occurs when due recognition and acknowledgement of the work of others is not provided. Therefore, whenever you are using another person's research or ideas (whether by direct quotation or by paraphrasing) you must appropriately cite the source. If you are ever in doubt about the most appropriate form of referencing, you should consult your lecturer or the Academic Skills Advisor. Talking about your assignment with other students is acceptable and encouraged. However, jointly writing up the assignment, or using the same written words from your discussion, is a form of cheating because we are not able to identify whose idea the information is. Unauthorised collaboration involves working with others with the intention of deceiving examiners about who actually completed the work. If there has been any collaboration in preparing individual assessment items, this must be disclosed (clearly stated that it is a joint effort). In the case of group project work, lecturers provide guidelines on what level of collaboration is appropriate and how the work of each participant in the project is to be presented. If you have any doubt about what constitutes authorised and unauthorised collaboration you should consult your lecturer or the Academic Skills Advisor. Plagiarism occurs when a student presents the work of another person as the student's own work, or includes the ideas of others as quotations, summaries or paraphrases, without acknowledgement as to its authorship. Collusion occurs when a student obtains the agreement of another person for a fraudulent purpose with the intent of obtaining an advantage in submitting an assignment or other work.