Tag: Supply Chain Management / Operations Management

Word count 2600
Assessment guidelines
This assessment aims to write a paper, which provides a critical review of the literature on a topic in Strategic GlobalMarketing. You can choose a title from the list of indicative global marketing related topics presented below. You will then have to conduct an in-depth literature review around the chosen topic area in an appropriate format paper followed by an Introduction, Main body – critical analysis of the topic, and a Conclusion. You are required to critically analyze the topic of your selection.
International Marketing Strategy – Adaptation or Standardisation?
Cultural and Social Factors in International Marketing – Think Global, Act Local?
Market Segmentation and International Marketing – How do firms Segment across National Boundaries?
Globalisation and Marketing – A Positive Impact upon Society?
Services and International Marketing – How do Firms Manage Services across Borders?
International Marketing Communications for International Business – How do Firms Develop Trans-National Marketing Communications?
Your literature review must draw from a broad range of academic sources. A literature review surveys books, scholarly articles, and any other sources relevant to a particular topic, area of research, or theory, and by so doing, provides a description, summary, and critical evaluation of these works in relation to the topic being investigated.

For this question, we return to Pat’s, one of the Philadelphia cheesesteak restaurants mentioned in Problem Set 17 about market share analysis. Cheesesteak service at Pat’s is limited to a single walk-up window: as a customer, you get into a single-file line and, upon reaching the service window, you order your sandwich, pay for it, receive it, and leave. Suppose, on average, that 48 customers arrive per hour, while the average service time per customer is 40 seconds. Assume that the single-channel (M/M/1) queuing model is appropriate for this scenario. (Include at least three decimal places in your answers.)
(a) Indicate the average arrival rate λ in customers per minute.
(b) Indicate the average service rate μ in customers per minute.
(c) What is the probability that the service window completes a customer’s order within
18 seconds?
45 seconds?
1 minute, 12 seconds?
(d) Determine the probability that the number of arrivals in a one-minute period is
no customers?
one customer?
two customers?
more than two customers?
(e) What is the probability that an arriving customer will have to wait for service?
(f) What is the average number of customers waiting in line?
(g) What is the average amount of time, in minutes, that a customer spends waiting in line (i.e., before they reach the service window)?
(h) What is the average number of customers in the service system?

Decision Support Tools
EXTRA INDEPENDENT CHALLENGE 1
You work for a local car dealership. Until recently, your dealership was the top seller of T Sports Carsin the state. When the manufacturer T Sports decided not to continue making sports cars, salesdropped off significantly. You have been asked to use decision support tools to show potential carbuyers what they gain when buying a T Sports Car compared to another brand. Based on your ownpersonal information, complete the following steps to make the purchase decision. Include theinformation in a presentation. Submit the presentation to your instructor as requested.
In a document or spreadsheet, list any money you have saved to buy a new car.
List the factors that are important to you, such as price, color, features, two door, engine size,reliability, and so on. These are your decision criteria.
Rank how important each factor is in your decision.
Assign weights to each factor according to your rankings.
Gather information about available cars using online resources. In other words, compare eachcar against the criteria you selected.
The car with the highest score is the one you should purchase.
EXTRA INDEPENDENT CHALLENGE 2
You work for an outdoor shop with locations across the country. Your company has never usedspreadsheet tools. Send an e-mail to your boss describing how the company would benefit from usingspreadsheet tools. Send the message to yourself and copy your instructor.

Explain how you will prepare them for the change project.
Explain the anticipated timeline and actions (meetings, education, etc.) for implementing the change project.
Discuss how you will track the progress of the change project using the timeline.
Culture of Change
In this paragraph, address the following with explanation and detail:
Summarize and describe the setting where the change project will occur. Do not list specific organization names.
Does your organization have defined protocols/practices for implementing a change project? If so, briefly describe. If not, what would you recommend?
Describe how you will advocate for the client population involved in the change.
Describe the communication and engagement strategies you will employ to involve the stakeholders and develop support for the change project.
Considerations
In this paragraph, address the following with explanation and detail:
Discuss the current policies or procedures that should be considered within your organization before implementing the change project.
Explain the type of cost analysis needed before implementing the change project and who should be involved. You are not required to perform an actual cost analysis for your project.
Describe the possible financial, human, and material resources required to implement the change project.

Group B: Situational analysis/Problem-solving [25]Q. 2. Read and analyze the following situation to solve the problem given in the questions that follow:
Tech Solutions, a mid-sized IT firm based in Kathmandu, has experienced rapid growth in the past five years. As the company expanded into new markets across South Asia, its workforce became increasingly diverse, encompassing a mix of nationalities, cultures, genders, age groups, and professional backgrounds. Initially, management saw this diversity as a strength. However, over time, they began to face challenges: communication breakdowns in project teams, cultural misunderstandings, varying expectations regarding work styles, and inconsistent team performance.
Despite having highly skilled employees, Tech noticed a decline in project efficiency and increasing internal conflicts. A performance audit revealed that teams with greater diversity were often underperforming compared to more homogeneous groups. The HR department raised concerns that the lack of effective diversity management was leading to disengagement and reduced collaboration.
Questions:
The literature, however, suggests that team performance is always better; Tech has experienced a decrease in project efficiency and an increase in internal conflicts in the team. Identify the probable reasons for them. [10]
What interventions do you suggest to the company to resolve the problem? [15]

Tech Solutions, Inc., is a mid-sized but growing technology firm that prides itself on having an innovative and collaborative culture. To keep up with its expansion, the company has started hiring new candidates and promoting internal employees. To streamline its hiring of a new senior level software engineer, the hiring manager adopts an AI-based resume screening tool to filter candidates. Meanwhile, an internal employee, Melissa, has decided to apply to the position as a promotion.Melissa has been working at Tech Solutions for five years as a mid-level software engineer. She led several major projects and consistently receives high-performance reviews. However, when she applies for the senior level software engineer position, she is overlooked in favor of an external candidate with slightly less experience who previously worked with the department director.Additionally, several job candidates have raised concerns about the job description. The posting advertised flexible hours and remote work, but during the interview process, candidates learn that the company expects long work hours and requires employees to be in the office at least four days a week.
Questions:Describe at least two ethical and/or legal issues present in the company’s hiring and promotion practices.If you were an HR consultant for Tech Solutions what recommendations would you make to ensure ethical hiring and promotion practices?

EEO:
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) provides equal employment opportunities to all applicants and employees regardless of race, gender, veteran status, sexual orientation, ability, and other factors.
EEO-1 Report:
Companies with over 100 employees and government contractors are required to complete an EEO-1 report to monitor their inclusion of EEO in job categories.
Affirmative Action:
If there is under-representation of a specific group, the company may need to use Affirmative Action to intentionally recruit or hire from underrepresented groups, to improve opportunities for these demographics. Some steps can be taken such as reviewing job descriptions and interview practices to remove bias, and to improve opportunities for women and minorities.
Company Brands:
These days, there is more visibility in terms of an organization’s treatment of applicants and employees due to social media and websites such as Glassdoor. Large companies also can have strengths or weaknesses in terms of hiring and treatment of employees.
SWOT:
A SWOT analysis looks at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) to a company’s brand or reputation based on its treatment of applicants and employees in some areas. For example, some companies have a positive reputation for worker treatment and others have opportunities to improve in hiring and internal promotion practices.

QUESTION 1 (40 Marks)
1.1 Thabo Molefe has been appointed to lead a major government project focused on providing affordable housing and sanitation services to underserved rural communities in the Eastern Cape. This initiative supports national efforts to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals (specifically SDG 6 and 11) and forms part of the Public Sector Infrastructure Development Programme. Given that public-sector IT and infrastructure projects often face delays—more frequently than those in the private sector—Thabo is committed to ensuring the timely and cost-effective delivery of the project. As the appointed project manager, critically analyse the key responsibilities Thabo must prioritise in effectively managing project resources throughout the project’s lifecycle. (20 Marks)
1.2 As highlighted in the case study, fourteen percent of public-sector projects exceeded their budget by at least 100 percent, compared with only 7 percent of private-sector projects. Additionally, 4 percent of public-sector projects exceeded their budget by 400 percent, while only 1 percent of private-sector projects did so. In this context, explain how Thabo can mitigate the risk of budget overruns on the government housing and sanitation project by implementing effective scope management practices. Your response should acknowledge the activities that should be prioritised. (20 Marks)

The Sunrise Manufacturing Company produces medical devices at two plants: Aurora and Barlow. The medical devices are shipped to four distribution centers located in Creswell, Dayton, Elgin, and Florence. Information about the unit cost of shipping between any plant and distribution center, plant capacities over the next planning period, and distribution center demands is provided in the table below.
Distribution Center
Plant
Creswell
Dayton
Elgin
Florence
Capacity / Demand
Aurora
$13.00
$ 15.25
$10.99
$18.48
1,250
Barlow
$10.75
$ 15.16
9.65
18.50
750
Demand
175
325
480
950
Management would like to determine how much to ship from each plant to each distribution center to minimize the total transportation cost. Define Xij = number of units shipped from plant i to distribution center j, where i=1 (Aurora), 2 (Barlow) and j= 1(Creswell), 2 (Dayton), 3(Elgin), 4 (Florence). Answer the following questions based on the above information:
Question 6: C Which of the following is the constraint for total amount shipped from Barlow?
A. X21 + X22 + X23 + X24 ≤ 1,250
B. X12 + X22 + X32 + X42 ≤ 750
C. X21 + X22 + X23 + X24 ≤ 750
D. X21 + X22 + X23 + X24 ≥ 750
Question 7 D Which of the following is the constraint for the demand met at a distribution center?
A. X13 + X23 ≥ 210
B. X21 + X22 = 325
C. X11 + X12 = 175
D. X13 + X23 = 480

Exactly one of these statements is false. Indicate which one.
Los Pollos Hermanos, a very successful privately-held casual dining fried chicken chain, is diversifying by acquiring two new and unrelated businesses: Casablanca and Krusty Krab. Casablanca is a movie theater that also serves food and beverages. Krusty Krab is a themed bowling alley and arcade that also serves fried seafood items. With this new expansion, Los Pollos Hermanos is changing its name to Heisenberg Restaurant Group (HRG) and adopting a holding structure.
Los Pollos Hermanos, a very successful privately-held casual dining fried chicken chain, is expanding by going public and acquiring two new restaurant chains: El Camino Dining and Takavic’s Cinnamon Buns. El Camino offers a delicious southwestern style dining menu and Takavic’s Cinnamon Buns specializes in brunch items, so the company decided to adopt a divisional structure.
Los Pollos Hermanos, a very successful privately-held casual dining fried chicken chain, is diversifying vertically by acquiring a farm and a meat processing plant, so the company decided to adopt a divisional structure.
Los Pollos Hermanos, a very successful privately-held casual dining fried chicken restaurant in Albuquerque, New Mexico, recently opened two new restaurants in two different locations, Santa Fe and Taos, and so the company decided to adopt a functional structure.