Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Final Project

This is a project that I use in most all of my supply chain management classes because it ties everything together so nicely. You may have already done something very similar if you have taken the general SCM course. As you work through the project this time, remember that the focus of the class is environmental sustainability (GSCMP). So, the focus of the questions will be somewhat different.

Six strategic imperatives have been developed in the supply chain management literature. These strategic imperatives must be adopted by all organizations. Management improvement programs have been developed to support each of the imperatives. The imperatives and matching improvement programs are as follows:

You have already studied market orientation, JIT, TQM, and GSCMP in this class. You know the definitions and the relationships among these improvement programs. We have not specifically studied supply chain management and agile manufacturing. I am providing you with recent articles that discuss both management improvement programs (Inman et al., 2012; Green et al., 2014). I am also providing you with a copy of the survey instrument that was used to collect the dataset that you are using for this assignment. Please note that the data columns that you are working with are summary columns computed by averaging the responses to the individual items for each measurement scale.

Take a look at the theorized model below. Note how the improvement programs relate. It is these relationships that I am asking you to assess. I want you to see the key role that GSCMP plays in the model. The data set that you will be analyzing contains data from 129 practicing managers. Here are the questions and the model:

1. Provide a definition and brief description of each of the management improvement programs that support the six strategic imperatives.Be sure to cite and reference the sources of your definitions and descriptions. Note: remember that organizational performance (OP) is an outcome variable that represents the organizations’ level of marketing performance (market share, for example) and financial performance (profitability, for example).
2. Remember what you discovered in Assignment 12 – 1) MO, JIT, and TQM are antecedents to SCMS and 2) AM and GSCMP are likely consequences of SCMS. Now, look at the model below and see that it is designed based on the antecedent and consequence relationships. Complete the necessary regressions and insert the betas (with significance levels - .01, .05, or ns) and R ² values. There are six regressions. Remember, the dependent variables have arrows coming into them and the independent variables have arrows leaving them.
   
   

   Legend:

   MO – Market Orientation AM – Agile Manufacturing Practices

   JIT – Just-in-Time Practices GSCMP – Green SCM Practices

   TQM – Total Quality Management Practices OP – Organizational Performance

   SCMS – Supply Chain Management Strategy

3. Answer the following questions related to direct and indirect linkages among the variables. Be sure to include the beta (direct impact) or betas (indirect impact) and the significance levels associated with the betas in your answers.
   1. AM and GSCMP combine to explain what percentage of the variation in OP?
   2. Does GSCMP directly impact OP?
   3. Does AM directly impact OP?
   4. Does AM indirectly impact OP through GSCMP?
   5. SCMS explains what percentage of the variation in AM?
   6. Does SCMS directly impact AM?
   7. SCMS and AM combine to explain what percentage of the variation in GSCMP?
   8. Does AM directly impact GSCMP?
   9. Does SCMS directly impact GSCMP?
   10. Does SCMS indirectly impact GSCMP through AM?
   11. JIT and TQM combine to explain what percentage of the variation in SCMS?
   12. Does JIT directly impact SCMS?
   13. Does TQM directly impact SCMS?
   14. Does JIT indirectly impact SCMS through TQM?
   15. MO and JIT combine to explain what percentage of the variation in TQM?
   16. Does JIT directly impact TQM?
   17. Does MO directly impact TQM?
   18. Does MO indirectly impact TQM through JIT?
   19. MO explains what percentage of the variation in JIT?
   20. Does MO directly impact JIT?
4. Now that you have carefully analyzed all of the direct and indirect linkages in the strategic imperatives model, answer these more general questions based on your answers in 3.
   1. Should managers implement AM and GSCMP if they want to maximize OP? Explain based on the results of the path analysis.
   2. Should managers implement AM and SCMS if they want to successfully implement GSCMP? Explain based on the results of the path analysis.
   3. Should managers implement JIT and TQM if they want to successfully implement SCMS? Explain based on the results of the path analysis.
   4. Should managers implement market orientation and JIT if they want to successfully implement TQM? Explain based on the results of the path analysis.
   5. Should managers implement market orientation if they want to successfully implement JIT? Explain based on the results of the path analysis.
5. Of the 10 hypothesized links in the entire model, only one link that is not significant at the .01 or .05 levels. Which link is non-significant? Identify the indirect link that replaces the direct link. Considering these results, does the model reflect reality?
6. Look at the completed model. Follow the strongest betas along the links from MO to OP. Based on these betas, in which order should the improvement programs be implemented?
7. Explain what will happen to OP if a manager chooses not to implement SCMS and GSCMP.
8. Consider the SCMSGSCMP link. Why must an organization have a SCMS in place before attempting to implement GSCMP? I am looking for an in-depth answer here (150 words). Consider the definitions and look at the measurement scales for SCMS and GSCMP and explain specifically why SCMS drives GSCMP.
9. Consider the AMGSCMP link. Why much an organization have AM in place before attempting to implement GSCMP? I am looking for an in-depth answer here (150 words). Consider the definitions and look at the measurement scales for AM and GSCMP and explain specifically why AM drives GSCMP.
10. There is a strategic imperative for all organizations to become environmentally sustainable. You know that implementation of the GSCMP management improvement program will lead to improved environmental and organizational performance. Now, focus on what managers must do specifically to implement the GSCMP. You are familiar with SAU as an organization. SAU is an education services organization rather than a manufacturing organization. Based on what you know, if SAU wants to become environmentally sustainable, SAU managers should implement the GSCMP. I know the GSCMP were designed for manufacturing firms. They still apply to services organizations. Describe how SAU managers can use the GSCMP to make SAU environmentally sustainable. Be sure to talk about each of the GSCMP practices (IEM, GIS, GP….). This answer should be about 200 words.

Price: $29.4

Solution: The downloadable solution consists of 8 pages, 2140 words and 41 charts.
Deliverable: Word Document