Assessment 1
Preparation
For this assessment, locate a case study for one of the
leading clothing retailers listed below and then search for additional
information about the company’s international positioning strategies and
challenges.
Choose one of the following leading clothing retailers:
Zara.
The Gap.
PVH Company, which includes brands such as Calvin Klein,
Tommy Hilfiger, and others.
Select a case study for the retailer. You may use the
Internet links provided in the Suggested Resources or another scholarly,
peer-reviewed source, such as a database in the Capella library. The case study
must contain the following information in order for you to complete this
assessment:
Strategy for increasing market share in the global market
(international positioning strategy).
Information about how the company operates in a foreign
market.
Information about the business support systems for the
strategy (technologies, transport, et cetera).
Search current (within two years) professional and trade
magazines and reputable business publications such as the Economist, Forbes,
Bloomberg Businessweek, and the Wall Street Journal for the following
information:
The retail company’s competitive edge or advantage.
Information about laws and regulations that affect the
operation of the company in foreign markets.
Highlight two issues you think are most important.
Information about challenges that might affect the
competitive advantage or the implementation of the market share strategies.
Highlight two issues you think are the most important.
Scenario
You are a business consultant with a firm that has been
retained by a large national clothing retailer. Your client wants to expand
into more global markets and increase market share. Your first task is to
explain the strategies and problems of one of the top ten companies to your
client, as background information.
Deliverable
Write a succinct 2–3 page business report for your client.
Begin the report with the title and URL of the case study you selected. Include
in-text citations and a complete reference page to support your positions.
There are many ways to create a business report to meet the
criteria for this assessment. If you do not have experience writing business
reports, it would be beneficial to search and review examples on the Internet.
The challenge in writing this report is to distill a wealth
of information into a succinct, easy-to-read business format for your client.
This can be accomplished in a variety of ways:
By creating subheadings to organize the information.
By creating graphs or charts, in addition to text, to relay
complex information. For example, a simple chart could convey information about
the legal or regulatory environment.
By using bullets and phrases to convey pertinent information
rather than writing long blocks of text.
Address the following in your business report:
Describe a clothing retailer’s international positioning
strategy for increasing market share. Focus on one strategy you believe to be
the most important.
Summarize how the company’s business systems support the
strategy.
Explain legal and regulatory factors that contribute to the
competitive advantage (labor supply, health and safety regulations, tariffs,
permits, et cetera).
Analyze the cultural factors that contribute to the company’s
main competitive edge among retailers.
Analyze the global challenges to maintaining and growing
market share under the identified strategy.
Additional Requirements
Length: 2–3 pages, including any charts, graphs, tables, and
references.
References: Provide a minimum of nine reputable references
integrated into the report where appropriate. When you compile data from
multiple sources to create a table or graph, cite your references at the bottom
of the graphs or charts.
Provide a minimum of three reputable references related to
the legal environment, including labor supply, health and safety regulations,
tariffs, permits, et cetera.
Provide a minimum of three reputable references related to
the company’s competitive edge.
Provide a minimum of three reputable references related to
assessing the global challenges in the strategies for increasing market share.
Communication: Write clearly and logically, with correct use
of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics, and correctly format
citations using APA style.
Assessment 2
Preparation
For this assessment, review the case of “Rapid-Fire
Fulfillment” by Ferdows, Lewis, and Machuca, linked in the Required
Resources.
Scenario
As a business consultant in a large international
organization, your new client, a large clothing retailer, wants to understand
and model its company according to the strategies used by the largest retailer,
Zara. Your task is to analyze Zara’s supply chain integration model and prepare
a report for your client.
Deliverable
Write a 2–3 page supply chain design and optimization report
for your client.
Address the following in your report:
Describe a global retail system designed for rapidly
distributing products to stores worldwide.
What system design has Zara implemented to guarantee a new
garment to its 600-plus stores worldwide in a mere 15 days from the design,
production, and delivery?
Evaluate the implications of manufacturing and distributing
products below capacity rather than operating at full capacity.
What are the benefits of manufacturing and distributing
products in small batches, rather than pushing factories to maximize outputs?
Analyze the social and economic effects of retaining nearly
half of production in-house.
Unlike so many of its peers, which rush to outsource, Zara
keeps almost half of its production in-house. How does Zara do this?
Assess the social and economic ramifications of operating a
retail manufacturing facility for the day shift only.
Would you run your factories just during the day shift as
Zara did? Is this any way to run an efficient supply chain? Why?
Recommend ethical strategies for supply chain design and
optimization.
Ensure that the report is in a succinct, easy-to-read
business format for your client.
Additional Requirements
Length: 2–3 pages, including any charts, graphs, tables, and
references.
References: Provide a minimum of nine reputable references
integrated into the report where appropriate. When you are compiling data from
multiple sources to create a table or graph, cite your references at the bottom
of the graphs or charts.
Provide a minimum of three reputable references related to
the legal environment, including labor supply, health and safety regulations,
tariffs, permits, et cetera.
Provide a minimum of three reputable references related to
the company’s competitive edge.
Provide a minimum of three reputable references related to
assessing the global challenges related to the strategies for increasing market
share.
Communication: Write clearly and logically, with correct use
of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics, and correctly format
citations using APA style.
Assessment 3
Preparation
For this assessment, search for a case study about Walmart
operations and growth in China. Use the Internet links provided in the Suggested
Resources to locate a case study that encompasses the issues listed below.
Search current (within two years) professional and trade
magazines and reputable business publications such as the Economist, Forbes,
Bloomberg Businessweek, and the Wall Street Journal for additional information
and references.
There are many templates and examples of how to write an
executive summary on the Internet that you may wish to examine as you complete
this assessment.
Scenario
One of your retail clients is developing a strategic plan
for expanding into Chinese markets and has requested your recommendations for
their global sourcing strategy implementation plan. Walmart’s experience in
China is the perfect case to analyze for the client. Your task is to make
recommendations for your client in the form of an executive summary.
Deliverable
Write a succinct 3–4 page executive summary of a global
sourcing strategy implementation plan.
Clearly indicate the title of the case study selected and
provide the URL.
Create a subheading for each major issue to logically
organize your report.
Consider creating graphs or charts in addition to text.
Use bullets and phrases to convey information in an
easy-to-read format.
Address the following in your executive summary:
Analyze a retailer’s global expansion failures in order to
promote future global expansion success.
What has Walmart learned from its failures in China?
Analyze a global market segment and its fit with a low-price
strategy.
With China’s middle and upper classes so brand-conscious,
how is an everyday low-pricing strategy received?
Describe the sourcing and logistics retail strategies for
operating in the Chinese market.
What are Walmart’s sourcing and logistics strategies in
China?
Describe the political, legal, and cultural challenges
Western businesses need to consider when conducting business in the Chinese
market.
How is the political and business environment in China both
conducive and detrimental to large Western companies like Walmart?
Recommend essential components of a global sourcing
implementation plan for your client that adhere to ethical and legal
principles.
What lessons were learned from the Walmart experience?
What cultural differences exist and how do they impact the
design of a global supply chain management system?
How could supply chain components be maximized for optimum
stability?
Additional Requirements
Length: 3–4 pages, including any charts, graphs, tables, and
references.
References: Provide a minimum of five references from
reputable sources to support your positions. Integrate the references into the
report where appropriate. When you compile data from multiple sources to create
a table or graph, cite your references at the bottom of the graphs or charts.
Communication: Write clearly and logically, with correct use
of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics, and correctly format
citations using APA style.
Assessment 4
Preparation
Search current (within two years) professional and trade
magazines and reputable business publications such as the Economist, Forbes,
Bloomberg Businessweek, and the Wall Street Journal for information to complete
this assessment. Use the Internet links provided in the Suggested Resources to
aid in your research.
Scenario
Less than two years after opening 133 stores in Canada,
Target abandoned its expansion plan into Canada and abruptly closed all the
Canadian stores. In your role as Walmart’s executive vice president of
logistics, you must assess new opportunities and challenges for Walmart’s
supply chain as a result of the demise of Target in Canada. In one Canadian
community, for example, the loss of Target is projected to create a 20 percent
increase in demand at the local Walmart store.
Deliverable
Create a PowerPoint presentation to the board titled
“Analysis of Target Exit From Canada on Supply Chain Capabilities.”
Create a subheading for each major issue to help organize
your report logically.
Use bullets and phrases to convey information in an
easy-to-read format.
Consider incorporating graphics, graphs, or charts into your
presentation.
Write speaker’s notes for each slide. This is the commentary
for each slide that you would provide during a live presentation.
Include the following in your presentation:
Evaluate how a retailer’s global supply chain strategy can
be a source of competitive advantage.
Where do you see the opportunities for Walmart in its global
supply chain?
What are the potential challenges?
How does the supply chain align with the marketing strategy?
Assess the impact of cultural differences on the global
supply chain management and design.
How is the supply chain design for Canadian stores impacted
by cultural differences?
Apply ethical and legal principles to the design of global
supply chain strategies.
How could changes in the supply chain affect supplier
relationships?
How could changes in the supply chain affect the origins of
products?
Recommend specific resource priorities to support the
corporate supply chain strategy.
How would you prioritize the analyses for the management and
coordination of processes?
Additional Requirements
Slides: Create 8–10 slides with robust speaker’s notes for
each slide. Use phrases and bullet points to covey your main points. The
speaker’s notes should contain the explanation for each slide.
References: Provide a minimum of 10 references from
reputable sources, to support your positions, as the final slide.
Communication: Write clearly and logically, with correct use
of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and mechanics, and correctly format
citations using APA style.
Assessment 5
Preparation
For this assessment, compare the supply chain systems of two
large international retailers, Target and Walmart. Use the Capella Library or
the Internet links provided in the Suggested Resources to locate current
information from reputable sources.
Use the software of your choice to create charts and tables.
Scenario
According to recent newspaper articles, Target had been
experiencing serious problems with keeping stock on the shelves of some stores,
which cost the company customers and created bad publicity. As Walmart’s
executive vice president of logistics, the board wants you to prepare a
comparison of the supply chains for Target and Walmart and to help Walmart
think proactively about the future implications for Walmart’s supply chain. It
is especially critical to examine the supply chain implications due to the
anticipated 20 percent increase in demand within Canadian communities where
Target has closed stores.
Deliverables
This assessment has two parts and a total of four
deliverables. Clearly title each deliverable with the name of the retailer
examined.
Part 1 Deliverable: Create a supply chain flow chart for
both companies:
Identify the multichannel inventory strategies of Target and
Walmart.
Use bullet points and phrases to create an easy-to-read
format.
Part 2 Deliverable: Create a table or chart for both
companies:
Evaluate the key advantages of the retailers’ global supply
chains.
How does the one retailer’s global supply chain compare with
the other retailer’s global supply chain? How are they different and how are
they similar?
What are the key advantages in how each company manages its
global supply chain operations?
Evaluate each company’s global supply chain challenges for
the future.
Additional Requirements
Length: Four pages, including the charts, tables, and
references.
References: Provide one final page of references from
reputable sources—five references for each retailer—to support your positions.
When you compile data from multiple sources to create a table or graph, be sure
to also cite your references at the bottom of the graphs or charts.
Communication: Prepare professional graphs, graphical
reports, and related materials using correct grammar, mechanics, and APA style
and format.
Assessment 6
Preparation
Use the Internet links provided in the Suggested Resources
to locate timely information about problems and proposed solutions in Target
Corporation’s supply chain. Use the Capella Library or the Internet links
provided in the Suggested Resources to locate additional current information
from reputable sources.
Scenario
You are Target’s new vice president of supply chain and
logistics following the Canadian expansion disaster. For the first phase in
establishing a new strategic plan, the board has asked you to prepare an
executive summary of the supply chain disaster in Canada and to research supply
chain trends for the future.
Deliverables
There are two parts to this assessment: an executive summary
and a chart. Use bullet points and phrases to create an easy-to-read format for
both the report and the chart.
Part 1 Deliverable: Write a succinct 3–5 page executive
summary for the board of directors.
Explain the lessons learned from Target’s retail supply
chain disaster in Canada.
What were the problems with the supply chain?
What inventory channels were affected?
Evaluate the financial impact of reengineering a supply
chain, including the impact to an organization’s shareholders.
What is Target’s plan to reengineer the supply chain?
What will the change mean for suppliers and their roles?
What will it mean for current employees and their roles?
What does this mean for Target and its shareholders?
Explain the legal and ethical obligations facing an
organization during a reengineering effort, as compared to Target’s actions
following the Canadian store closures.
How did Target apply legal and ethical principles in the
closure of the Canadian stores?
How did Target treat employees?
How did Target work with suppliers?
Part 2 Deliverable: Use the software of your choice to
create a chart or diagram that illustrates retail supply chain trends for the
next 10 years.
Evaluate major trends for retail global supply chains for
the next decade.
Which components require the most resources?
What will the change mean for suppliers and their roles?
What will it mean for current employees and their roles?
Additional Requirements
Length: 3–5 page executive summary and a 1–2 page chart or
diagram.
References: Provide one final page of references from
reputable sources to support your positions. Provide the URL for all Internet
sources. When you are compiling data from multiple sources to create a chart or
diagram, be sure to also cite your references at the bottom of the graphics.
Communication: Prepare professional reports, graphics, and
related materials using correct grammar, mechanics, and APA style and format.
