Category: Essays

Evaluating a Supply Chain

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In this assignment, you will develop an understanding of the supply chain. You will provide your assessment of a supply chain in the form of an evaluation. This assignment is the second of the two LASA assignments you will complete in this course.

Using the Argosy University online library resources and the Internet, research methods of evaluating supply chains. Select at least three (3) scholarly sources to support the information in your presentation.

Description of LASA:

In this assignment, you will evaluate a supply chain.

Scenario:

You are consulting for the same organization that you worked for in LASA 1. The organization has asked you to design a supply chain and implement a program to monitor its performance with respect to sustainability. They have also asked you to give recommendations for improving upon your plan as the organization grows. The chief executive officer (CEO) has asked you to present your design and recommendations in a PowerPoint presentation at a meeting with the executive management team.

Instructions:

Your presentation should include the following information:

Evaluate the organization’s facilities with regard to capacity and location. Determine whether the organization has enough capacity and whether or not the facilities are strategically located.
Conduct an inventory analysis of the firm.
Evaluate the firm’s ERP system.
Evaluate the firm’s inventory management systems.
Identify the firm’s inventory costs.
Determine the firm’s optimum order quantities.
Identify the firm’s seasonality adjustments and reorder points.
Describe the systems used to monitor the performance of the suppliers.
Identify the key performance indicators (KPIs).
Describe the firm’s risk management strategies.
Identify the firm’s conflict management strategies.
Recommend strategies, tools, etc. the organization can use to improve or expand upon the supply chain in the future.
Identify any potential ethical issues that could have a negative impact on the organization and make recommendations to address them.

In addition to the slides in the presentation, include a detailed outline in the speaker notes section explaining the content on each slide. Use at least three (3) scholarly sources to support the information in your presentation. Be sure to cite the sources for your information.

Make sure your presentation adheres to the following Presentation Guidelines:

Create a presentation that is professional and visually appealing.
Include a combination of text and graphics.
Do not write out your entire presentation on the slides. Use bullet points of keywords and short phrases instead of long sentences and paragraphs.
Create your presentation (slides and Speaker Notes) using language that can be easily understood by the intended audience.
Use APA formatting for your slides and Speaker Notes (outline).

Develop a 10–15-slide presentation (including the title slide and reference slide) in PowerPoint format. Apply APA standards to citation of sources. Use the following file naming convention: LastnameFirstInitial_M5_A2.doc

The scientific method is useful in problem solving and decision-making in a wide variety of fields. In this assignment, you will demonstrate how to use the scientific method to make decisions and solve problems in your field of study or everyday life.

Identify a specific problem often faced in your field of study or everyday life. Research your problem and assess your data / research. Examples of such problems could be:

Business
Developing a new product that is superior to competitor’s brands; or
Establishing a price for a new product using the law of supply and demand;
Information Systems and Technology
The use of personal electronic devices for work purpose, or
Determining in the most cost-effective computer for your business;
Criminal Justice
The reliability of eyewitness testimony, or
Determining what evidence reveals to you about a crime;
Everyday Life
Selecting a particular brand of detergent, or
Determining the most cost-efficient transportation / route for your commute.

Write a three to five (3-5) page paper in which you:

Explain the scientific method and describe the overall manner in which you would apply it in your field of study or everyday life.
Propose one (1) testable hypothesis to explain / solve the problem you have selected. State the expected outcomes of your actions and include criteria for determining whether or not these actions would succeed. Note: Your hypothesis should be stated very precisely.
Describe the main actions that you intend to put into place to test the hypothesis that you proposed in Question 2. Describe the way in which you would evaluate the success of your program. Include the results that you would deem as a success and the results that would be considered a failure.
Discuss the wisdom behind the strategy you would use to test the hypothesis from Question 3, and describe the additional steps you might take, depending on the results of your test. Note: These additional steps might be to revise your original hypothesis (if the results were unsatisfactory) or to propose new hypotheses. The goal is to continuously improve your understanding of the factors influencing your outcomes, to be able to achieve greater results over time.
Use at least two (2) quality resources / references in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and personal blogs do not qualify as quality resources.

Your report must follow these formatting requirements:

Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

Apply concepts in physical sciences to evaluate current trends and issues in the modern world.
Describe the physical processes influencing climate and weather.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in physical sciences.
Write clearly and concisely about physical sciences using proper writing mechanics.

Annotated Bibliography

In this week, you will complete an annotated bibliography for a position paper that will be due in Week 5. For more information on the required format of the bibliography please click on annotated bibliography template. Choosing what area you would like to study in addictions begins with examining the following areas related to the course competencies:

Major psychological theories and principles in the field of addictions
Historical link to modern issues and trends in the field of addictions
Current and evolving trends in the field of addictions
Nature of geographic, social, cognitive, and emotional factors in the development, course, and duration of addictions
Differences in patterns of addiction in the context of gender and developmental issues
Illegal and legal substance use issues regarding physical, social, and psychological effects
Impact of treatment and prevention methods on the incidence, course, and duration of addictive behaviors

Use this as a guide when choosing research articles.

Note: This is a course on psychology. Therefore, the research should relate to addictions but from a psychological perspective and less on purely the medical issues related to the disorders and conditions.

Choose any three of the topics mentioned above. Using the South University Online Library database (ProQuest or EBSCOHOST), find two journal articles related to each of the topic areas chosen. You need to research articles located in scholarly journals. Scholarly journal articles are also referred as primary source peer reviewed articles. You should not use web pages, magazines, newspapers, textbooks, and other books for this assignment. Also, research articles that were published within the last five or six years.

Based on your research, create a 4- to 5-page document in Microsoft Word that includes:

A summary for each of the journal articles found.
An analysis and evaluation for each of the journal articles found

Please answer all of the short essay questions. The answer to each question should be in complete sentences and between ½ and 1 page long. Grammar and spelling count.

Many organisms that can reproduce both sexually and asexually share a reproductive pattern. When the environment is favorable for growth, reproduction is asexual. When the environment deteriorates, sex occurs. Sexually produced offspring remain dormant until better conditions occur. Which of the theoretical ideas about the function of sex is supported by this observation? And which of the disadvantages of sex are less of a problem?
From the point of view of development, how does the life cycle of a bacterium resemble the life cycle of an elephant? How does it differ?

If a trait is not well adapted to current local conditions, what might be the reasons why it is not, and how might one check to see which of those reason(s) is correct?
In many old texts and in some recent popular articles sex is seen as necessary to provide the genetic variability that will keep species from going extinct when the environment changes significantly. What do you think of this explanation?
Do ideas, agricultural practices, or computers evolve in response to natural selection? What then corresponds to reproductive success and to inheritance? How does cultural change connect to biological evolution? Neither reproduction nor inheritance can be as precisely defined for cultural change as they can for biological evolution, but the analogy is worth exploring.

Debate controversial methods, tactics, and techniques used in global security enforcement.

Waterboarding is a controlled and necessary form of intimidation that has proven useful in convincing enemy combatants to reveal information that has resulted in saving the lives of Americans.

Write a 350- to 700-word opening argument for each position, for a total of two arguments.

Include scholarly references supporting your arguments.

An air conditioning and heating repair firm conducted a study to determine if the average outside temperature, thickness of the insulation, and age of the heating equipment could be used to predict the electric bill for a home during the winter months in Houston, Texas. The resulting regression equation was:

Y = 256.89 – 1.45X1 – 11.26X2 + 6.10X3, where Y = monthly cost, X1 = average temperature, X2 = insulation thickness, and X3 = age of heating equipment

Assume January has an average temperature of 40 degrees and the heater is 12 years old with insulation that is 2 inches thick.

What is the forecasted monthly electric bill?

2.. A large school district is reevaluating its teachers’ salaries. They have decided to use regression analysis to predict mean teachers’ salaries at each elementary school. The researcher uses years of experience to predict salary. The resulting regression equation was:

Y = 23,313.22 + 1,210.89X, where Y = salary, X = years of experience

Assume a teacher has five years of experience. What is the forecasted salary?

3. If computing a causal linear regression model of Y = a + bX and the resultant r2 is very near zero, then one would be able to conclude that:

Y = a + bX is a good forecasting method.

Y = a + bX is not a good forecasting method.

a multiple linear regression model is a good forecasting method for the data.

a multiple linear regression model is not a good forecasting method for the data.

4. Daily demand for newspapers for the last 10 days has been as follows: 12, 13, 16, 15, 12, 18, 14, 12, 13, 15 (listed from oldest to most recent). What are the forecast sales for the next day using a two-day moving average?

Describe each of the five aspects of industrial hygiene and the best practices associated with each.

Advanced Statistical Procedures

In this course, you have learned about many types of statistical procedures in quantitative research. For this Application, you will discuss an advanced statistical test that was not covered in the course that you would like to explore.

To prepare for this Application:

Review the text and websites in this week’s Learning Resources to learn about advanced statistical procedures that were not discussed in this course or in its prerequisites, RSCH 8101 and RSCH 8201.

The assignment:

Report in APA format a description of a more advanced test that you would like to know more about. Describe the test’s assumptions, when the test is appropriate to use, and the number of inde.

This week, you have learned about how to use Cronbach’s alpha as a measure of scale reliability. In this Application, you will calculate Cronbach’s alpha for provided data.

To prepare for this Application:

Review pp. 706–711 of the Field text for a description of using Cronbach’s alpha to measure scale reliability.

Review Chapter 5 from the APA manual, “Displaying Results.”

The assignment:

Calculate Cronbach’s alpha on the scale provided on pp. 710-711 of the Field text using the SAQ (item 3 reversed).sav file.

Report your findings in APA format according to the guidelines in the PASW Application Assignment Guidelines handout. The final document should be 2–3 pages long

When conducting research, it is important to use a scale that is both valid and reliable. In this Discussion, you will assess the reliability and validity of a scale relating to your research proposal.

To prepare for this Discussion:

Review Chapter 18 of the Frankfort-Nachmias and Nachmias text as well as the website on scaling.

Search your discipline’s literature for a research article that contains an example of a test and a scale.

Choose a published research article that includes discussion of scale reliability and validity. You should choose one that reflects a scale you are using in your design; however, if you are not using a scale, choose an article that reflects a scale used for research in your discipline.

What considerations need to be made to ensure the scale and test are reliable and valid for another population?

With these thoughts in mind:

Post by Day 3 a 3- to 4-paragraph critique of the scale used in the article and report to the class on its reliability and validity. State the methods the researchers used to test scale reliability and validity. Were these the best choices? Explain any different choices that you would have made. Along with the assignment, post the scale or a link to the scale so that fellow students can view it and discuss it.