Accounting and Finance for Supply Chains

Assessment Format: 100% Individual Course Work

Assessment Context

The Fresh Connection (TFC) is a web-based learning environment where you will act in a team of four participants. Each participant has a specific role (VP of Purchasing, Operations, Sales, or Supply Chain) and takes strategic and tactical decisions in that functional area. The goal is to have as high Return on Investment (ROI) as possible. There are 7 decision making rounds during the course. You are supposed to work in your group mainly outside class but keep the deadlines for decisions. You can enter your decisions in a web-based interface which is available on your own computers. We will have de-brief sessions to introduce the new elements for each round, and discuss the results of the previous ones.

You are expected to make functional decisions aligned with your strategy. Start early to reflect on what you are doing individually and in your group, as you will have to reflect on what has happened during the game in your assessment.

Assessment Brief

The assessment is based on the participation in The Fresh Connection simulation game. Having completed the simulation game, each student needs to submit an individual report where to reflect on the experience during the TFC. Students have to reflect on both the individual contribution in one of the four roles (VP of Purchasing, Operations, Sales, or Supply Chain) and the contribution as part of the Team. Students are expected to articulate their reasoning behind the supply chain strategies adopted throughout the simulation and provide a detailed account of decision-making processes and criteria to improve the company’s financial performance.

The assessment is divided in two parts:

PART A

This part presents a critical reflection of the student’s experience in the simulation game by managing one of the four roles (Purchasing, Operations, Sales, and Supply Chain Management) in a fresh juice supply chain. Students need to address the following questions:

- Q1: What main decisions were taken in your role, and what decision-making criteria did you consider?

- Q2: How did your decisions affect the financial performance, and how did it evolve/improve over different rounds?

- Q3: Which were your 4 most important performance indicators, and why?

PART B

This part presents a critical reflection of the student’s experience as member of a team, and explains roles, responsibilities, and the dynamics of teamworking. Students need to address the following questions:

- Q4: How were your main decisions related to those of the other company’s VPs and to the overall company’s strategy?

- Q5: What trade-offs did you identify, and how did you solve them to improve the company’s financial performance?

For both parts, underpinnings of choices should be based on relevant supply chain literature models and theories that are explicitly referred to by proper use of citations and references. At the end of the report, a list of references should contain at least 5 different supply chain related academic references (but no more than 10).