Overview
Operations and supply chain managers are facing unprecedented challenges due to the Covid-19 global pandemic. A significant number of internal and external pressures – particularly within an organisation’s supply chains and operations management areas – have resulted from those challenges. In particular, significant supply and demand issues during and post pandemic, require both immediate, reactive, and long-term, strategic, change in order for many organisations to survive and grow.
Examples of such pressures include: global and local supply chain disruptions; stock-outs; increased workforce costs and risks; higher unit costs; lower unit margins; inability to match fluctuating demand; job losses; inability to recruit the right staff; lower control over supplier reliability, differing global supplier stages of Covid-19 infection rates and/or lockdowns. Moreover, as lockdowns in the UK and other developed nations are eased, this has prompted latent and uncontrollable surges in demand for products and services. These uncontrollable spikes in demand further exasperate the pressure on businesses to be able to react quickly, efficiently and competitively. Excellent management skills are required to address and respond to these Covid-related challenges.
Descriptor
Select an appropriate organisation of your choice.
Research and identify the specific COVID-19 pandemic-related challenges within both operations and/or supply chain management processes for the chosen organisation. Using appropriate concepts and techniques from the module, as well as other high quality and contemporary media sources, then analyse the research findings to identify the main challenges that affect that particular organisation, in relation to Covid-19.
Additionally, use academic theory from the module, as well as your research and analyses, to formulate both immediate – tactical – responses as well as proposing a number of long-term – strategic – solutions to the operations and supply chain management challenges identified. It is expected that you support those proposals with academic and proven business evidence, as well as providing contemporary media where appropriate.

This assignment asks you to:
• Analyse the current pressures the organisation has, in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic and the relevant stages of recovery.
• Define the most important internal and external challenges faced by the organisation.
• Look to use your learning from the module to propose possible tactical and strategic solutions to those challenges.
• Highlight possible barriers and solutions to those proposals.
Therefore, look to describe how the organisation needs to respond both quickly in order to survive the next year, and, additionally, seek to propose strategic change that details how the organisation could capitalise on the next stages of vaccine-dependant recovery via operations and supply chain management theory and techniques.
Write a comprehensive 3,150-word report which incorporates the four components listed below under ‘Your Task’. You will need to critically support your analysis with reference to relevant literature and through use of learning from the module. You will be expected to provide at least 10 separate references from relevant academic sources to support your assertions.
NB: If you are struggling with selecting an organisation, please contact your Module Leader (m.bell3@leeds.ac.uk) who will be happy to provide the details of a small number of appropriately sized organisations that can be analysed. Remember that it is incumbent upon you to provide research into any organisation yourself.
Your Task
Write a report, which will:
1. Introduce the company, the size of the organisation, who they are, what they do and describe the market/s they operate in as well as any relevant competitive factors they look to use. Additionally, look to describe how they have performed over the previous years in terms of growth or decline.
[10% of the marks]
2. Describe the company’s current operations and supply chain specifics using at least two of the following possible areas: the 4Vs of operations; the 5 performance objectives; location; process design; timing of the operation; planning of the layout; inventory management; lean operations; supply chain integration, supply chain reconfiguration; supply chain resilience; sustainability.
In addition, using your research and wider knowledge of the market/s, analyse up to four Covid-19 related operations and/or supply chain management challenges for your chosen organisation.

Propose up to four tactical (immediate) and strategic (long-term) solutions to the challenges described in (2) by:
• Linking the findings from your research and analyses to suggest ways in which the operations and/or supply chains could be improved in order to create solutions and/or competitive advantages for your chosen organisation.
• Describing how these suggestions could be implemented by Operations & Supply Chain managers, as well as highlighting potential barriers to those implementations.
• Finally, offer up possible ways to overcome the potential barriers highlighted above in the light of the relevant stages of pandemic recovery.
[40% of the marks]
4. Conclude by providing a summary, alongside justifiable reasoning, to support your analysis and the tactical and strategic changes proposed.

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