Kaplan Gb540 unit 2 and 3 (all discussion and assignments)

Unit 2 assignment

Target Corporation’s Supply Chain

The purpose of this assignment is to confirm understanding of a supply chain and its relationship to the demand chain by analyzing Target Corporation’s supply chain and assessing if it meets demand chain expectations.

Directions

• Use the APA formatted Microsoft Word document template in Doc Sharing as the starting point.
• Write a 5-6 pages paper (exclusive of the Title and References pages) describing Target Corporation’s Supply Chain based upon the information in Chapters 6 and 7 of the Walters and Rainbird (2007 textbook (especially Figure 6.2 on page 155) and from additional resources from the Unit 2 reading materials.
• Include an assessment of the efficiency of Target’s supply chain and whether the Supply Chain supports its Demand Chain.
• Apply and citeat leastthree supportive, relevant and respected resources within your paper using APA in-text citation formatting and list the applied on a References page using APA formatting.
• Submit your Microsoft Word document into the Unit 2 Dropbox.

Unit 3 assignment

Effective Value Chain equals Competitive Advantage

The purpose of this assignment is to confirm understanding of the direct correlation between an effective value chain and a firm’s competitive advantage.

Directions

1. Use the APA formatted Microsoft Word document template in Doc Sharing: “Unit 3: Effective Value Chain equals Competitive Advantage Assignment” as the starting point.
2. Write a 5-6 pages paper (exclusive of the Title and References pages) making a compelling argument as to why an effective value chain creates competitive advantage.
   1. Examine the concepts of a Value Chain, Competitive Advantage and Customer Delight.
   2. Discuss the inter-relationship of the three elements.
   3. Provide examples of companies that have been successful in this integration and at least one that has not.
3. Apply and citeat leastthree supportive, relevant and respected resources within your paper using APA in-text citation formatting and list the applied references on a References page using APA formatting.
4. Submit your MS Word document into the Unit 3 Dropbox

Unit 2 discssion

Discussion

The Demand Chain

A demand chain is an interconnected series of business processes and activities designed so firms can understand, manage and motivate customer demand in markets within the firm’s current and potential capabilities and product range. If a firm does not understand its demand chain, it is impossible for the firm to design an effective supply chain. A value chain is essentially the demand chain plus the supply chain. Although presented as two distinct areas for analysis, in reality the demand chain and the supply chain must be harmonious, especially at the point of achieving theValue Proposition(refer to Figure 1.1 on page 19 of the Walters and Rainbird (2007) textbook for an illustration).

Required Reference Materials

For this discussion assignment it is required thatat leasttwo resources from our Unit 2 reading be applied and cited, both within the response and at the end of the response (using APA formatting).

The main purpose of this discussion assignment is to demonstrate an understanding of a demand chain, in the student’s own words and by applying and citing relevant supportive references. The response should be based upon the student’s experience and the knowledge gained from reading Unit 2’s assigned reading. The content should include:

1. An explanation of a demand chain

2. An identification of the constituent parts of a demand chain

3. Why a business should understand the constituent parts of their demand chain

4. A description of how a demand chain is created

5. A description of how a demand chain can be beneficially used

6. An example of a demand chain

a. Choose a Fortune 500 company (not on the GB570 project list) and describe its demand chain.

7. The description should be supported by at least two applied and cited references from the Unit 2 reading materials. Additionally cite any other references used when creating the response and apply APA style and formatting.

Project Discussion

The Unit 2 Project Discussion involves everyone in the class. You will post your choice of the company you will analyze and assess. Select one company from a predefined list of choices as described in the file below. In this discussion, you will share information; about yourchoice and about the potential resources that might be used to achieve requirements described in the Unit 4 Individual Project Paper: Value Chain Analysis, and the Unit 5 Individual Project Presentation: Value Chain Assessment.

The specific requirements for this Unit 2 Project Discussion arelisted here.In Unit 6, we will reconvene to review our Unit 5 assessment presentation and to bring closure to our Value Chain Analysis and Assessment adventure.

Unit 3 discssion

responses are submitted to Turnitin to confirm originality and correct citation of references).

Discussion 1 of 2

Competitive Advantage and the Value Chain

Write a 350-500 word response (formatted to APA style and including references and citations).

Address the following questions:

• Is the concept of a value chain intrinsic to all businesses and if not, why not?
• How does a Value Chain assist in creating competitive advantage?
• Can competitive advantage be achieved without a value chain?

In your reply also discuss the meaning of the comments made by Lu and Hung (2010) in their article in the Unit 3 readings i.e.” the competiveness of the individual firm depends upon the competitiveness of the value chain to which it belongs” (p. 1155).

• Is this statement valid, and is cost reduction the only purpose of a value chain?

Apply and cite at least three relevant and respected resources [one of the applied and cited references should be the Lu and Hung (2010) article] within the response and list the references at the end of the response. Use APA formatting.

Discussion 2 of 2

Is Outsourcing a Competitive Advantage?

The topic of outsourcing often elicits heated and often polarizing debate on its use as a basic business strategy.

Required Resource (Kaplan Library)

Yaghoubi, N. M., Moradi, M., & Banihashemi, S. A. (2011). Analyzing the effect of value chain outsourcing on productivity based on the customer and learning perspective of the BSC Model.Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, 2(10), 45-56.

Discuss circumstances when outsourcing should be considered, and whether outsourcing will add to the competitive advantage of a firm. Make sure to include the financial AND human considerations that should be included in the decision process.

Apply and cite the above-required resource plus at least two additional relevant and respected resources within the response and list the references at the end of the response. Use APA formatting.