Sustainability for the Future Global Supply Chain of Nike
§ The aim of the project is to provide an overview of the overall supply-chain of the
company and then to identify and fully develop TWO specific steps through the overall
company’s supply chain and operational processes in order to elaborate
recommendations for a more sustainable and future-thinking improvement of those
specific steps and processes.
§ You are also free to conduct primary research in order to help you for a critical evaluation
of the case.
§ The recommendations must be fully justified (drawing from the research, and sustained
by the relevant literature).
§ The project should be seen as a draft of a potentially feasible action to develop for the
company, and should therefore be set as a business plan, to include a suggested
tentative rough timeline (Gantt chart or using any of the many free project timeline
templates available online) with major tasks to be accomplished, as well as a fictional but
reasonable budget/financial plan.
Also drawing from your previous knowledge, you will then start to evaluate the strategic
sustainability approach to the management of the entire supply chain / supply network of that
specific global company (or specific sector) of your choice.
Equipped with these data, you will then have to prepare the plan for your own project
(detailed below), a brief rationale to explain the choice of the sector or specific company as case study and an overview of the most critical issues you perceived as being in need of
potential (realistic) improvement.
You should also aim to research and investigate these questions:
1. How can the sustainability concept be defined and applied into your chosen
corporation? How to evaluate the relationship between sustainability and supply
chain management for the chosen corporation?
2. Analyse the key success factors for implementing a strategic supply chain
management for your chosen corporation.
3. Do you think that the corporation has a built-in change management process that
constantly reviews the elements of supply chain and looks for opportunities to
improve quality and operational efficiency—or do they have systems, policies and
procedures in order to face challenges and continue the business growth?
4. Critically analyse how can supply chain risk be eliminated if the future can’t be
predicted.
5. Many companies have already spent a lot of time and money on sustainable supply
chain improvements. What more can they do?
You will demonstrate that you can apply the appropriate knowledge (concepts, methods and
tools introduced and explored in the lectures and seminars) through research and analytical
evaluation.
§ A Project must be a plan of action based on the existing situations and alternative ways of
performing them in the near-future and long term, in this case specifically in view of
enhanced value creation and sustainability-driven performance throughout the specific
supply chain or supply network.
§ Also note that a project must include a detailed description of the current situation, but the
main aim is to provide a set of realistic recommendations, fully supported by the most
relevant theoretical frameworks and models (e.g. sustainability maturity models, existing
standards or policies) and perceived future trends.
§ A project is forward thinking and is basically a fully justified action plan for the near future:
as such, a Project cannot have a Conclusion – only once the plan starts to be
implemented can we monitor and assess, draw conclusions and restructure the plan or
proceed to further developments. Therefore, you can include Final/Concluding remarks,
but not a ‘real’ conclusion.
