Chapter 10 - Supply Chain Management Strategy and Design

Internet Exercises

Chapter 10 - Supply Chain Management Strategy and Design

1.Go to the Stanford Supply Chain Forum ( and read one of the “white papers” on supply chains posted on this site and write a brief (1-2 page) summary of it.

2. Visit these three sites that talk about the bullwhip effect - site 1 ( site 2 ( and site 3 ( – and identify and briefly describe the major causes for the bullwhip effect and the suggested remedies.

3. Visit the following four sites that talk about value chains – site 1 ( site 2 ( site 3 ( site 4 ( – and discuss how value chains are theoretically different from supply chains. Do you perceive any difference between a value chain and a supply chain? If so, what are they?

4.Federal Express and UPS ( market their supply chain capabilities at their web sites. What do these package deliverers do to help manage companies’ supply chains?

5.Logistics Today( is a practitioner-oriented magazine about supply chain management. Read one of the articles posted on this site related to some aspect of supply chain management and write a brief summary.

6.Purchasing is another practitioner-oriented magazine about supply chain management that focuses on suppliers. Read one of the articles that are posted under the “Reader’s Choice” link and write a brief report on it.

7.The Journal ofSupply Chain Management ( a research journal about supply chain management published in England. Visit their site and read one of their “Best Papers” and briefly summarize it.

8.Go to the following site about collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment at ( and write a brief summary of it.

9.Visit the following sites that provide information about RFID technology – site 1 ( site 2 ( site 3 ( site 4 ( and site 5 ( – and discuss the effect of RFID on supply chain management. How does it differ from bar code technology? What are its drawbacks? What is its future?

10.Read about inventory turns at these three sites – site 1 ( site 2 ( and site 3 ( – and discuss how inventory turns are computed and their importance as supply chain performance metric. Discuss the use of inventory turns at Coca-Cola.

11.Visit the Supply-Chain Council web site for SCOR ( What is a “process reference model?” Describe the five management processes that SCOR is based on. Why is SCOR important for supply chain management? Also visit the SCOR ( site at LogisticsToday.com. What evaluation tools are used in SCOR that are also used in quality management and how are they used?