OMGT 2243:
Global Trade Operations
Assessment Task-3
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Assignment Task3- 50%
The purpose of this assignment is to understand current challenges to international trade in the context of COVID_19 pandemic/ Russia-Ukraine war and to identify the practices to reduce or eliminate the challenges.
Requirements
You will be assigned one of the following challenges (see appendix for more description on challenges) on Friday Week 12 and expected to submit the assignment by Sunday Week13 (June 5th 2022).
1. Single-country sourcing
2. Reshoring
3. Just-In-Time
4. Export market concentration
5. Logistics disruptions
6. Supply chain transparency
7. Technology adoptions
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Report Structure:
Following is the suggested report structure. You are allowed to customise using headings specific to the topic and subheadings.
•RMIT Assignment Cover Sheet
•Title/Name/Student ID/Tutorial (time)
•Executive Summary - 200-250 words
•Table of Contents - 50 - 75 words
•Introduction - 150-200 words
•Background of the challenge - 250 - 325 words
•Effects on Australian trade - 450-550 words
•Recommendations - 450-550 words
•Conclusion - 150-200 words
•References (RMIT Harvard style only) - 300 - 350 words
•Appendix
Word Limit:
Your assessment should be in the range of 2,000 - 2,500 words (inclusive of front pages,
executive summary, TOC, figures and tables, references and appendices). If the number of words is out of the word limit, the marks awarded will then be reduced by 10% per 200 words. • RMIT
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Marking guidelines:
Following provides an overview of marking guidelines. For more details, check the rubrics in the appendix.
• Executive summary- 10pts
• Introduction-5pts
• B ackground- 15pts
• Effects-20pts
• Recommendations-20pts
• In-depth analysis-15pts
• Conclusion-5pts
• Clarity/style-5pts
• References-5pts
References:
• Adequate up-to-date references (not older than 5 years) to support your arguments.
• RMIT Harvard referencing system should be used
• References - You must include at least 15 references, i.e. Journal Article, Case, Corporate/Business/Industry/Government Report, White Paper etc. It is expected that at
Lleast 50% of the references are from journals. *do not use Wikipedia or Investopedia*
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Academic integrity
https://www.rmit. edu.au/ students/student-essentials/assessment-and-results/academicintegrity
Similarity score:
Plagiarism is a breach of academic integrity so is not allowed at all. Any single instance in which a sentence has been lifted from somewhere without being identified as a quote is too much plagiarism - whether the Turnitin score is 5% or 50%.
The Turnitin similarity score is sometimes high because it picks up similarity in the cover sheet, the copying of assessment questions, and in references even when they acknowledge quotes. So the main thing is to check that you have not plagiarised. You can use Turnitin as a learning tool to help you develop basic academic skills and values including referencing, paraphrasing, and academic integrity.
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Research Writing
(Extractedfrom Chapter 4 “Essay writing” College of Business: Guidelinesfor referencing and presentation in written reports and essays)
— Read the instructions, relating to your assessments as set down in your Canvas
- Analyse the challenge
- Brainstorm - what you know/found about the topic
- Starting your research
- Mind Mapping
- Focus your research
• revisit the question
- Draw up a detailed plan
• draft out framework and slot in information
- Write it out!
- Ensure adequate in-text citations -
• RMIT Harvard Style of referencing only - Check for logical discussion
• Does it make sense?
Does the focus of discussion per paragraph lead to one after
another?
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1. Single-country sourcing
Sourcing is one of the most vital aspects that determine whether a company succeeds or fails. Until 2000’s, organisations are sourcing from the third-world countries where the labour and resource costs are low. This have assisted them to keep the expense under control and achieve competitive advantage. However, over the years some of these countries have developed competencies and became the leaders in exporting the products to several countries across the world. Over the time, Australia became reliant on one country for most of the imported products. The negative consequences of high dependence on a single country became evident during the crisis. Against this background it is important to investigate challenges associated with single-country sourcing for Australia. Some examples of singlecountry sourcing:
• India for vaccines
• China for electrical equipment
• Fertilizers for Russia
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2. Reshoring
COVID-19/ Russia- Ukraine war highlights the challenges related to shortage of essential products such as pharmaceutical products, personal protective equipment, food products, petroleum products, and electronic equipment resulted from the dependence on imports. These dependencies have forced Australian Federal government to consider it as a matter of national security and to develop “some level of sovereign capability” to safeguard the supply of products. Restructuring supply chains through reshoring is considered as a potential strategy to build nation’s capacity and to minimise the impacts of future disruptions. Despite the prominence given to the reshoring, it is not without the challenges. Against this background it is important to investigate challenges associated with reshoring manufacturing to Australia. Currently, Australian government is considering reshoring
• Innovative pharmaceutical drug manufacturing
• Recycle manufacturing
• Oil refining
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3. Just-In-Time
JIT (Just-In-Time) a Japanese operations management technique based on the Toyota Production System, used to eliminate waste, align production to demand and have suppliers deliver smaller amounts of materials more frequently. Underlined by JIT philosophy, any excess inventory is considered as an enemy impacting the financial performance. Since its introduction, JIT has conquered the world. Today supply chains are so lean that they are not able to cope slight changes to demand and supply. This became evident during the COVID-19 crisis/ Russia-Ukraine war and prompted organisations to rethink JIT practices in supply chains. Against this background it is important to investigate challenges associated with JIT in Australian context. Following are some of the cases where the consequences of JIT is felt:
• Product shortages in department stores and retailers - not related to demand spikes (JB Hi Fi, Office works)
• Manufacturer product lines are halted
• Timber shortages impacting construction industry
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4. Export market concentration
Export market concentration is a degree to which a country relies on a limited number of partners as markets for its exports. Country that exports only one product to other country has perfect export concentration. On the other hand, country that exports large number of products with one partner indicates dependency and heavy reliance on one country for export income. Changes in foreign policy, fluctuations in currency exchange, political instability and other challenges highlights the risks associated with export market concentration. Against this background it is important to investigate challenges associated with market concentration of Australian exports. Incidents that highlighted export market concentration:
• Barley exports to China
• Tourism based on Chinese citizens
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5. Logistics disruptions
To slow the spread of coronavirus and to protect lives, one-third of the world are under lockdown, border closures, or movement restrictions. This have blocked the movement of finished goods, raw materials, and people. On the other hand, restricted use of air space in Russia and Ukraine has led to changes in the transportation network. As a result, one or more supply chain process such as sourcing, production, and distribution came to halt. Against this background it is important to investigate how logistics disruption have affected the international trade in Australia.
• International air freight routes are not operating
• Stringent maritime restrictions
• Increase in logistics costs
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6. Supply chain transparency
COVID-19 pandemic/ Russia-Ukraine war has caused major disruptions in supply chains forcing managers to act swiftly to mitigate the risks. The speed and the efficacy of the action taken by the manager depends on the visibility in the supply chain. Too often, managers are leading in blind. In the past, lack of transparency in a company’s supply chain with no visibility to suppliers is considered to provide competitive advantage as no one is unable to build identical products. However, this has led to severe consequences as there is not enough accountability and data transparency to show how best to improve supply chains. In Australia, lack of transparency in supply chain became a major issue as many Australian firms are at the far end of the supply chain. Too many brands in Australia are exposed as unreliable, wasteful, environmentally unfriendly, or unethical. Against this background, it is important to investigate the transparency issues in supply chains.
• Interruptions to supply
• Sustainability issues
• Forecasting issues
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7. Technology adoptions
COVID-19 pandemic/ Russia- Ukraine war has caused major disruptions in supply chains forcing managers to act swiftly to mitigate the risks. Lack of technology adoption is holding back managers to react and overcome challenges in international trade. Australia is not an exception, rather Australian businesses are impacted by slow or lack of technology adoptions. Particularly, Industry 4.0 technologies such as blockchain, IOT, 3D printing have the potential to profoundly transform the way trade is done, who trades and what is traded. The advance of digital technologies can bring changes in the structure of trade. Beyond easing trade in goods, digital technologies can facilitate services trade and enable new services to emerge. Hence, it is important to investigate the challenges related to the lack of technological innovations to international trade and how to overcome. Some potential challenges include:
• Unknown upstream suppliers
• Lack of real-time information
• Higher administrative costs.
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