Teaching in Higher Education – Creating an Example of Student Work

Write a brief paragraph as an introduction to the assessment and its purpose.

Analyzing Contemporary Issues in Supply Chain Management. The heading style must be proper, and this should be 2^nd competency according to the rubric.

The advent of new local and global trading opportunities, the rise in natural and state-imposed barriers, the enhancement of communications, and the formation of vast economic regions have had to necessitated the greater implementation of Supply Chain Management (SCM) to ease the flow of products between producers and consumers. This is an unprecedented requirement of SCM based on the fact that it improves efficiency, minimizes waste as well and ensures customer satisfaction.

As the business environment is dynamically changing, the SCM is being transformed in a significant way, with some of the changes posing a challenge to professionals to maneuver and others offering opportunities to be exploited. Through analysis and interpretation of the current problems, the SCM professionals can make use of the most practical frameworks to ensure that their response is strategic and lessens the adverse consequences.  

Issue 1: Sustainability in SCM H2

One of the relevant topics in modern-day SCM practices is the sustainability of the supply chain. Babagolzadeh et al. (2020) define sustainable SCM as an act of incorporating environmental, social, and financial aspects in the sourcing of raw materials, production, and distribution of goods and services. The idea of sustainability in SCM dates back to the second part of the 20th century, when the increasing demand in the market for goods and services to be provided led to innovative manufacturers resorting to harmful practices in sourcing, production, and distribution of goods to reduce costs and meet the requirements of the market.

The sentence needs citation. To live, social and environmental impact were rarely considered, both in the short and long term, and more organizational activities focused on cost reduction, efficiency, and optimization of logistics (Rajeev et al., 2017). The source should be recent and within the past 5 years. The social and environmental effects of industries began to be felt between the 1960s and the 1980s, and this necessitated that stakeholders develop policies and legislation to regulate industry operations to reduce the environmental consequences.

At this point, the sustainability of SCM has moved much more towards being profit-driven than preserving the interests of future generations. Organizations have also altered the perception of sustainability as a cost and risk to be machine-gunned into an opportunity that can be used to augment value, exercise their innovative ability, and use it as a competitive advantage by reaching out to their clientele. On the international front, agencies like the UN have proposed Sustainable Development Goals, which direct companies on the manner in which they can handle waste and the way to deal with social challenges in the locations of their activities add citation.

In addition to this, Magento (2020) recognizes the growing trend toward applying technology to sustainable SCM, and one of the innovations is that big data analytics can be deployed to identify the aspects of the supply chain where operations are not sustainable and require rectifying measures. Social media, blockchain, AI, and robotics are some other technologies that have been extensively used to enhance supply chain operations and minimize adverse social and environmental effects. Citation Technology will provide the support of SCM sustainability in the future, not only due to the ability to trace the products fully, but also due to the opportunity to develop the supply chain that will resist environmental and social shocks.

Sustainable SCM plays a significant role within the process of organizational decision-making because it enables organizations to deal with risks, deal with systemic social problems, and warrant stakeholder trust and confidence. In addition, it will allow organizations to add value to products along the supply chain without necessarily adding adverse effects on the surrounding environment and communities. As explained by Xie et al. (2024), the needs of stakeholders, the ethical considerations of the environment, and environmental consciousness can have a huge impact on the performance in the market of the organization. Thus, the increasing number of clients who care about the environmental and social footprint of the products they use can be attracted and retained in the organization through the sustainable decision-making process.

Issue 2: Digitalization and Technology in SCM

The SCM integration of technology has made the sector non-manual, but disintegrated and automated processes that are fast and highly efficient. Consequently, the firms will be in a better position to navigate the volatility, uncertainty, and complexity of global business and politics. The history of digitalization in SCM can be dated to the 1960s when Material Requirements Planning (MRP) was invented to facilitate the complex manufacturing process more effectively. Citation missing. The primary aim of MRP was to guarantee the supply of raw material to be used in production, making sure that only minimal amounts of materials and products were in stock at the store to save space in the store, and having a structured schedule of manufacturing, procuring, and delivery (Ivanov et al., 2021).

MRP was later changed to MRP II in the 1970s, and it now has a broad range of functions, not limited to material requirements management, as it encompasses other manufacturing processes, like labor and machine capacity planning, and was more integrated into personal computers. The proliferation of the internet and personal computers in the 1990s saw the establishment of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, and some of the roles of the MRP II were incorporated in the ERP systems to facilitate processes and information flows within the company.

The contemporary age still sees ERP being highly employed in SCM, although there is growth in the new technological advancements. Industry 4.0 is also disrupting technologies like AI, IoT, big data analytics, and blockchain technology, thus improving the use of ERP in top management support, monitoring, and evaluation of projects, and management of project teams (Al-Amin et al., 2023). Other technologies like cloud computing have enabled real-time tracking, predictive analytics, and enhanced collaboration among various stakeholders in addition. Though the MRP and ERP principles will still be of paramount importance, new technologies will keep taking over SCM in the future.

Gammelgaard and Nowicka (2023) point out that digital technologies will keep ruling the supply chains, enabling organizations to attain structural flexibility and responsiveness, which facilitates the responsiveness to new disruptive business models. Other technologies, like the use of drones and autonomous vehicles, will infiltrate various organizations, irrespective of the size of the organization should be referenced. More to the point, organizations will be forced to acquire new coping strategies to deal with the issues related to technology, such as cybercrime and data privacy breaches.

Modern business success and competitiveness are supported by digitalization. By means of implementing new technologies, firms have greater opportunities to mitigate risks, are more resilient, and ensure that they will be able to react swiftly to market transformations. Sutrisno et al. (2023) argue that technology helps businesses to develop products faster, operate more efficiently, penetrate the market, and become business innovators. Unlike in the digital adoption, where there is a high level of adoption, organizations need to evaluate their internal preparedness and capabilities for reducing disruptions that would otherwise be occasioned by the swift technological change.

SCM Framework Recommendation at Check the heading. Styles: It must be H1.

The Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) is the recommended model suggested by the article due to the two current issues in the field. The Supply Chain Council came up with it, keeping in mind that it should have a common tool to evaluate, measure, and improve supply chain performance. SCOR is a formal framework of SCM, which is grounded on five core aspects, which are plan, source, make, deliver, and return. The framework has been chosen since it helps organizations to evaluate the success of their supply chain systems at various phases. Remarkably, SCOR handles all business operations connected with all stages of fulfilling the demand of a customer. It should be implemented in other industries to give ideas on how firms can streamline their supply chain, encourage ethical sourcing, and assess performance. This is not backed up by evidence throughout the whole paragraph.

Strengths and Limitations make it Heading 2

The key advantage of SCOR is that it can be used in various industries, and individual corporations can compare their performance with others in various areas of supply chains. Notably, SCOR has more than 1000 companies and 2000 supply chains’ historical data, and hence, extensive data can be benchmarked (Lemghari et al., 2018). Again old reference. Moreover, the application of SCOR enables firms to adjust themselves to their specific scenario. However, where this is so, the implementation of the SCOR framework is an expensive investment that involves change management. Limited resource organizations might find it difficult to use and adopt the framework in their operations.

Practical Integration H1

The plan and source steps of SCOR are significant in solving most of the sustainable challenges that are experienced by modern organizations. The organizations are supposed to involve social and environmental risks in the planning stage, and the source materials should be sustainable as well as comply with labor and environmental rules. During the manufacturing process, the organization must aim at achieving zero emissions and waste, clean energy, and encouraging environmental and social safety. Add citation: They should deliver products through clean energy systems and ensure that the people working along the distribution channels are safe and healthy. Lastly, the companies must be able to recycle products by having closed loops in the product returns, such as developing the second market and using sustainable packaging (Penn State University, 2025).

Receiving the accelerating digitalization, any of the steps could be isolated by the organizations and provided with technological advancements that enhance efficiency and flexibility. The product tracing can be improved with the help of blockchain technology, that helps to track products along the supply chain, and the IoT and big data analytics can help to collect and analyze data about inventory, supply, and returns in real-time. Amazon is one of the notable examples of organizations that have chosen their system of operation in a similar manner. As Agnes et al. (2025) point out, the organization has highly embraced AI in order to promote transparency, ensure accuracy in the process of demand forecasting, and facilitate accurate allocation of inventory. Amazon has used robotics in manufacturing and delivery stages, hence simplifying operations within the warehouses, enhancing customer satisfaction, and minimizing resource allocation and wastage in the various operation centers.

Reflection: Heading H1

By applying the knowledge of the emerging trends and standards, including the SCM frameworks, the SCM professionals can lead to the increase of efficiency within their organizations, and ensure the visibility, flexibility, and competitiveness. I will apply the acquired knowledge in this exercise as a future professional to direct my organization in dealing with operational and strategic issues. I admit that sustainability is one of the key factors of organizational success, and thus, I will make sure that sustainability is incorporated at all levels. I will make sure that the sourced raw materials are ethically sourced and that the suppliers of the organization comply with the firm’s requirements and the industry on the ethical procurement standards.

I will reduce wastage, create an efficient reverse logistics system, which will make my organization realize its sustainability objectives, meet the expectations of its customers, and be able to compete on the regional and international level. Moreover, the knowledge of digitalization and adoption of technologies in SCM will put me in a distinctive position to promote the adoption of new technologies and make sure that they are applied to the best of their abilities. I will always use my trend knowledge to improve the supply chain strategy of the organization and make sure that the adoption of certain technologies is backed by the existing market dynamics. This will help to limit the possibility of implementing costly technologies that might not be sustainable in the long term or may ignore innovations that can lead to the creation of resilience, productivity, and efficiency.

Add a brief conclusion at the end of the paper.

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