Suggests many methods to improve the agility of supply chains, but he does not write a lot about how these methods achieve the objectives of agility

For each question, students are expected to fill about a page with their answer (about 250 words). The instructor will grade answers on the basis of:
1-Mastery of concepts
2-Synthesis of multiple sources of information and breadth of evidence
3-Depth of argument, justification and illustration
4-Clarity of expression, succinctness, and freedom from grammatical errors
5- Precision and keeping to the topic.

Question 1.Lee (2002), in his article on Triple-A supply chain, suggests many methods to improve the agility of supply chains, but he does not write a lot about how these methods achieve the objectives of agility. Drawing on this article, and other articles on agility, discuss briefly how the following methods contribute to the agility of a supply chain.
a)Promote flow of information with suppliers and customers
b) Design for postponement
c) Build inventory buffers by maintaining a stockpile of inexpensive but key components.

Question 2.Naylor, Naim, and Berry (1999) pinpointed the differences between lean and agile manufacturing strategies. According to them, the most crucial
differences are in the following two characteristics. Explain the nature of these
differences, and discuss how a practitioner may achieve these characteristics.
a)Robustness
b)Smooth demand / level scheduling

Question 3.Childerhouse, Aitken, and Towill (2002) have discussed the analysis and
design of “focused demand chains”. This concept has been discussed earlier in
class under the name of “pipelines”(Christopher and Towill, 2002; Aitken,Childerhouse, Christopher, and Towill, 2005). Compare the designs of cluster 1 and cluster 2 for LightCo and discuss how the design is justified (or not) on
the basis of the “DWV3” classification.

Question 4.Pagh and Cooper (1998) have classified postponement and speculation
strategies into four types. Discuss briefly the effects of the four types of
strategies on the following:
a)Production cost
b)Agility
c)Customisation
d)Inventory costs

Question 5.Compare the “four faces of mass customisation” (Gilmore and Pine, 1997) inregard to their suitability for different products / markets.

Question 6.What are structural holes? Speculate on the possible pros / cons of structural holes in the ego network for a focal firm in a supply network.

Use the order calculator below and get started! Contact our live support team for any assistance or inquiry.

[order_calculator]