Global Production and Logistics (IBUS3303)

This assessment task covers a variety of learning activities including your individual pre-class preparation and in-class team/class discussion. It is based on two small case studies that will be conducted in Tutorials 5 and 7. NOTE: The first small case study is used as a practice only and thus is not assessed. The tutorial activities for the three small case studies can be found in the Course Reader accessible at our course Blackboard site.

INDIVIDUALLY, you are required to prepare a 1-2 page answer (excluding figures or tables) to the case study questions before your tutorial. Failure to do so will jeopardise your results.

• BEFORE THE TUTORIAL, you must submit a soft (electronic) copy of your answer (in WORD/PDF format) to Blackboard by 8:00 am Monday of the same week for the small case study. Please bring a hard copy of your answer to the tutorial if you do not have access to the soft copy during the tutorial.
• DURING THE TUTORIAL, you will join your team and/or class in a discussion of the case study questions.

NOTE: as the first small case will be used as a practice, you will have two (2) opportunities (i.e., the second and the third small case studies) to submit your answers and receive marks. Of these two (2) assessment activities, only the better result will be counted towards your final marks for the course.

Your tutor will provide more details about this assignment and how this assessment will be conducted during the first two weeks of tutorials. NOTE: Further details about this assessment task are included in the Course Reader available at our course Blackboard site.

AI Statement:

This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). Students are advised that the use of AI technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.

Large case studies have now been changed as team-based case study presentations. NOTE: You will remain in the same team for both your large case study presentation and in-class discussion and debriefing of small case studies. In a sense, a large case study can be regarded as an enhanced version of a small case study as a large business case is much longer and represents a more complex business situation.

During the first tutorial, five student teams will be formulated (usually 3-5 students per team, depending on class numbers). Each team will be allocated one large case by the tutor which will be presented by the team in a specified week. NOTE: The schedule for the five presentations is contained in the tutorial schedule in the Course Reader, which will be available at our course Blackboard site.  

In the case study presentation (maximum 30 minutes including Q&A), your team is expected to:

• provide a good analysis of the case, particularly the issues/problems the case organisation was facing supported by appropriate concepts/theories and background research,
• identify the key issues/problems through case analysis,
• discuss how to address the key issues/problems and/or transferable practices, and
• provide conclusions.

If the name of the case organisation was not disguised, background research is expected in preparation for the case study. You should make yourselves familiar with the general issues in the industry including the current developments but should analyse the situation of the case as it existed when the case was written. In addition, you should refer to relevant concepts/theories in the course and rely on public sources. NOTE: You are not to contact the case company directly.

Further guidelines about the case study method are included in the Course Reader available at our course Blackboard site.

NOTE: On the day of your presentation, your team is required to submit a hard copy of your presentation slides to your tutor in class and a soft copy of those slides to the Blackboard before 8:00 am Monday of the same week for your assigned case.

NOTE: In addition to in-tutorial case study discussions (for small cases 2 and 3) and team presentations (for 5 large cases), there are also in-tutorial activities designed to better engage students in their learning processes, which require students to reflect on and summarise what they have learned from each (small/large) case study in the form of take-away messages (can be in the bullet point format). Students are required to submit their summaries to the Blackboard in the tutorial. You will receive one mark for each submission. In total, you have seven (7) opportunities (i.e., for small cases 2 and 3, plus 5 large cases) to submit your summaries and receive marks. Please note that you will only receive a maximum of 5 marks even if you submit seven case study summaries to the Blackboard. Please also note that for these in-tutorial activities, no late submissions will be accepted, and no extensions will be granted.

AI Statement:

This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). Students are advised that the use of AI technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.

The main purpose of this Individual reflection paper is to allow you to demonstrate some insight into the course content and the learning activities in the course. To do so, you need to think critically and introspectively about your overall learning process in the course.

Reflections are more personal and introspective than standard academic essays, requiring a first-person account and critical analysis and interpretation of your learning experiences in the course. Nonetheless, your reflection paper should have a similar structure to a standard essay, consisting of three parts, namely an introduction, body, and conclusion. Specifically, your reflection should include the following four sections:

1. In the introduction, you should briefly provide key background information for your reflection (e.g., motivation for taking the course, objectives, etc.). You should also identify some key activities that you feel have been helpful to your learning this semester (e.g. critical discussions of small case discussions, teamwork, etc.) and explain why?
2. The main body consists of two sections, namely Section A and Section B. In Section A, you are required to identify two key topics (e.g., Just-in-time/ lean production and supply chain management) you have come across during the semester and critically analyse how and why they have had a positive impact on your learning in relation to your knowledge base. These topics should be analysed by relating them to suitable cases discussed in the tutorials and by referring to appropriate journal papers through literature research.
3. In Section B of the main body, you need to identify some of the key learning activities you undertook (e.g. critical discussions of small cases, skills development workshops in Tutorials 1-3, etc.) during the semester and critically analyse how and why they had a positive impact on your skill development.
4. Finally, in the conclusion section, you are advised to consider summarising what you have learned about the subject and how your learning has changed your perspective on your chosen field of study and/or addressed a gap in your knowledge base, as well as how your learning experience has shaped your career aspirations or employability in the future. 

NOTE: your reflection paper should not exceed 1,200 words (excluding the title, tables (if any) and references). Further details about this assessment will be available at our course Blackboard site.

AI Statement:

This assessment task evaluates students' abilities, skills and knowledge without the aid of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). Students are advised that the use of AI technologies to develop responses is strictly prohibited and may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.