Supply Chain Management
in Practice
Work-based project guidance
A Guide for Students
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
Contents
8. Analysing your findings
1. Aims and objectives of this guide
1.1 Introduction
2. Assignment-based assessment structure
and process
2.1 Supply chain management in practice
project.
2.2 Structure of the project report
3. Preparing for assignments: general guide
3.1 Electronic copies
3.2 Getting Started
Selecting and Justifying your Project
3.3 Plagiarism
3.4 The principles of integrative units
Examples of Possible Topics
3.5 The Introduction
4. Planning your research approach
Example 1
5. Research methods
5.1 Business Research Criteria and Rigour
5.2 Secondary vs Primary Research
5.3 Quantitative vs Qualitative Research
Example 2
5.4 What is ‘Action Research’?
5.5 The ‘Case Study’ Method
9. Drawing conclusions, making
recommendations
10. The Reflective Statement
Fig 4 Stages of the cycle can include the
following:
11. Presentation
11.1
Mandatory Requirements (Must have’s)
11.2
Not compulsory but important
Example 5
12. Time management
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Internet Sources
APPENDICES
Appendix 1
Citing your references using the Harvard (AuthorDate) system
Appendix 2 UK business libraries
6. Finding sources of information
6.1 Sources of Competitor Information
Fig. 2 Ref. (adapted from) Collier, Richard A.
(1995). Profitable Product Management,
Butterworth Heinemann, Fig 2.4
Example 3
6.2 Sources of Business Information on the
Internet
7. Selecting and using informing frameworks
Example 4
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
Page 2
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
1. Aims and objectives of this guide
The overall aims of this guide are:
To explain how you can perform well in this
assignment, avoid mistakes and obtain maximum
marks.
To explain how you can gain the greatest benefit
from the learning opportunity afforded by this
assignment.
To provide direction in the way you plan and
organise your work in order to make the
assignment as interesting and stress-free as
possible.
1.1 Introduction
CIPS want to do everything they can to assist you
in achieving success in your learning and also to
gain not just a pass but, overall, a good mark.
However, there are also potential benefits in terms
of your own personal learning and development
that go beyond a purely mechanical preoccupation
with maximising your marks.You may be
considering a work-based project in the company
for which you work or a project based upon a
business with which you are familiar. In either case
this may represent a career enhancing experience
for you if you adopt the right approach, and
demonstrate commitment to your work.
Whichever route you take, you will need to
demonstrate in the project your ability to:
• Justify a feasible and appropriate subject area
for investigation
• Critically evaluate current supply chain
theories
• Synthesise appropriate primary and
secondary data related to an investigation
• Develop the skills to undertake a substantive1
and discrete (distinct2) piece of analytical
work and to present the findings in a clear
and logical manner
• Critically assess the validity and specific
applicability of the conclusions drawn and
the extent to which these conclusions may
also be more generally applicable.
The project report will have a maximum of 6,000
words and should be presented to a professional
standard and format.
2.2 Structure of the project report
That is what this guide is all about – helping you
to adopt the approach that is best for you, so that
you can get the most out of this experience with
the minimum of stress. Good guidance will
enable you to take a well-structured and timemanaged approach to your learning and
assessment.
Task 2
2. Assignment-based assessment structure and
process
Task 3
2.1 Supply Chain Management in Practice
Project.
The work-based or research project referred to
for this unit can be found within the CIPS unit
content detail at Level 6, where there are clear
unit learning outcomes for assessment, along
with a description of the unit.
For many of you, this will be a practical workbased project where you will have an
opportunity to excel in the practical application
of supply chain management in practice through
using your own organisation.This will add real
value to your learning and demonstrate your
capability as a purchasing and supply
management practitioner.
Page 3
However, those of you who, for whatever reason,
do not wish to use your own organisation, or feel
it inappropriate to do so, or indeed who are not
currently working, may wish to take the desk
research option. Here, instead of using your
organisation, you can undertake an evaluation of
academic materials and journals to ascertain
future developments and trends in aspects of
purchasing and supply management.
The project report should be structured as
follows:
Task 1
Task 4
Task 5
Introduction, including the
background, rationale and objective –
600 words. Weighting 10%
Review of the theory and the
development of a set of predictions –
1,300 words. Weighting 25%
Case Analysis, including application
and synthesis –
3,000 words. Weighting 50%
Conclusions and
recommendations –
600 words. Weighting 10%
Reflective Learning Statement –
500 words. Weighting 5%
Bibliography
In addition to reading this guide you should also
read the document entitled; Guidance Notes for
Candidates on Work Based Assigment. Ask your
tutor for a copy.
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
1
Substantive - with
practical importance,
value, or effect
2
Distinct - definite or
undeniable, strong
enough, or definite
enough to be noticed
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
For many of you the project will involve the
analysis of a situation effecting a particular
business or organisation from an internal
perspective, that is, you work for the organisation
concerned or from an external perspective, that
is, it is an organisation with which you are
familiar.
One piece of advice often given to students
when they are faced with a choice of topics for
an assignment or dissertation is;
‘before you make the final decision ensure that
you can obtain the information you will need
in the timescale allowed’.
In fact, one of the key criteria you should use
when evaluating proposals for research projects
is the viability in terms of whether the
information is obtainable and whether the
research methods are feasible.Your tutors and
CIPS want this project to be challenging and a
real opportunity to investigate the practical
application of what you have covered on your
course but we do not want the challenge to be
impossible for you.
3. Preparing for assignments: practical tips
3.1 Electronic copies
Whatever else you do, make sure that you keep
two electronic copies of your work in different
places and that you save and backup your work
regularly.Always plug in a USB memory device
when engaged on important written work or
online research and also save to the PC hard
drive and to the USB Drive every 10 minutes. If
you don’t have a USB port or memory device
then use a rewritable CD-Rom or a floppy disc.
Ultimately, you will have to submit a hard copies
of your work to your centre and an electronic
copy, so this is a necessity from a submission
perspective anyway.
If your computer crashes, catches fire, has fluid
spilled on it, is lost/stolen and so on and you
have no backup file, clearly it will mean a repeat
of your effort and hold up your learning and
assessment process whilst you recover your
work.
It does appear to be common sense to do this yet
it is still surprising how many students do not.
As already indicated above, you are also required
by CIPS to keep an electronic copy of your work.
You may be required to be submit this to your
tutors for substantiation of authenticity or as part
of a random checking procedure.
3.2 Getting started
This is often the hardest part and many people,
authors, academics and students, talk about
‘writer’s block’; the inertia that needs to be
overcome in order to start writing.A good way of
doing this is to start with something fairly
straightforward, such as formatting the report, the
front sheet, title sheet, basic headings, table of
contents, bibliography, pagination and other
formatting and so on.
Selecting and Justifying your Project
Before you write the introduction, you will need
to decide on the organisation and the issues or
topic you will be investigating.
The main thing to remember here is that this
project is an integrative assignment.
This project is designed to enable you to
demonstrate that you can integrate your learning
from the courses you have taken during studying
the CIPS Level 6 Graduate Diploma compulsory
core units of Leading and Influencing in the
Supply Chain and Strategic Supply Chain
Management and apply it in a practical context.
An assignment such as this is never purely about
assessment; it is also very much oriented towards
extending your learning, and enabling you to gain
more knowledge and experience of how the key
Level 6 topics and concepts integrate and are
applied in practice.
3.3 Plagiarism
The attempt to pass off the ideas, research,
theories, or words of others as one's own -- is a
serious academic offence. Most students know
when they are intentionally plagiarizing, for
example, copying an entire essay out of a book
or buying a paper off the Internet. However, you
may be tripped up by unintentional plagiarism -not giving proper credit for others' quotes, facts,
ideas, or data. A good rule-of-thumb is to always
give credit for any ideas that aren't your own by
citing the source of your investigation.
The most common forms of plagiarism are:
• cutting/copying and pasting material from
the web
• copying the work of another student (past or
present)
• copying course material or lecture notes
• copying material out of a textbook or journal.
It is important to note that plagiarism may occur
in a number of other forms, as well as in
conventional written work and the above are just
a few of the most common forms of plagiarism.
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
Page 4
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
CIPS will be developing a Code of Practice on
Plagiarism, which it is hoped will give clear
guidance and advice on ensuring that you avoid
innocently plagiarising someone else’s work.
Plagiarism will be treated by CIPS as a form of
cheating.
If you require further advice then speak to your
tutor who will be able to guide you.
3.4 The principles of integrative units
Integrative units such as Supply Chain
Management in Practice are intended to help
students see connections between all aspects of
their learning within a particular level of
qualification and then to apply those links
together in one assessment at the end of the unit.
Integration of knowledge is seen as extremely
important and beneficial to the learner.The idea
is to ensure that while learning about aspects of
purchasing on a subject by subject basis, you will
also learn how to integrate your knowledge,
synthesise this knowledge and understand how
the different components of your learning come
together.This should enable you to use your
broader knowledge and understanding more
effectively when it comes to implementation of
purchasing and supply activities at all levels.
At Level 6, the combination of successfully
leading and influencing in supply chain
situations, together with strategy development
for the supply chain, should enable you to
demonstrate your ability to operate successfully
at a strategic level, using your leadership skills to
influence the strategic direction of the supply
chain in the context of the variety of supply
relationships involved.
It would be a good idea for you, therefore, to
keep in mind the unit content for Strategic
Supply Chain Management and Leading and
Influencing in Purchasing when selecting your
topic area and determining the nature and
objectives of your project.You will need to
demonstrate how your project integrates learning
from these two core units.
This is not as difficult as it may appear. Below
there are some examples of how you might
approach this:
Examples of Possible Topics
The following passage is an extract from
BEST VALUE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT
PROCUREMENT,
http://www.cips.org/BigPage.asp?CatID=206
“2.4 Working in local government
procurement
“One of the attractions of working in local
government procurement is the opportunity to
improve directly the lives of people living and
working in the local community, for example,
through better facilities and services.
Procurement effects the whole of the authority
and is central to the delivery of services. Local
authorities facilitate the provision of services to
the community and these are delivered through
the procurement organisation.
“The way the purchasing function is carried
out depends on the individual authority.These
can range from a strategic procurement role
with the purchasing function delegated to
many staff within an authority, to a totally
centralised system located within a specialist
organisation, either within the authority or as
a consortium, and there are many other
variations.”
A viable project could consider how the
procurement function in local government can
directly improve the lives of the local community.
This would be particularly interesting if you
worked for local government but may be more
difficult for you if you did not.
The area identified above, however, is too broad
for an assignment of this type and the project
would need to be focused.You could consider
two related aspects;
• A particular area of procurement, and
• A particular segment of the local community
The study may involve your particular department
and could cover the implementation of new
organisational structures, policies and processes
designed to achieve the above policy guidelines;
or it could focus upon examining how effectively
such guidelines were implemented.You could
explore outside your department by investigating
whether centralized or decentralized purchasing
was more effective in delivering the community
centered goals outlined in the above report.
Effective implementation could consider some of
the following:
Ways of developing people and increasing their
productivity and effectiveness.
The resource requirements for the
implementation of change within the
purchasing function including:
• Human
• Physical
• Financial
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
Page 5
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
Ref. Learning Outcomes 3.4 & 4.5 from Level 6
Graduate Diploma - Leading and Influencing in
Purchasing unit content.
The importance of the environment, resources
plus internal and external stakeholders in
analysing, developing and implementing
corporate strategy.
• Techniques for analysing the external
environment :
• PEST analysis, Porter’s 5 Forces analysis
• Techniques for analysing the internal
environment:
• SWOT analysis, resource audit, skills audit,
knowledge audit
• Role and influence of internal and external
stakeholders
• The contribution of strategic supply chain
management to corporate strategy, in
particular strategic make, do or buy
decisions.
Contribution of strategic supply chain
management to corporate strategy: cost
reduction, quality, innovation, delivery
• Contribution of strategic make, do or buy
decisions to corporate strategy
• Core competence analysis: core,
complementary and residual competences
• Relational competence analysis (Cox)
Ref. Learning Outcomes 1.3 & 3.2 from CIPS
Level 6 Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and
Supply – Strategic Supply Chain Management
unit content.
Consider the unit content for Leading and
Influencing in Purchasing and also Strategic
Supply Chain Management and identify how many
of the other learning outcomes could be achieved
in whole or in part through such a project.You
should find the list quite comprehensive.
Another aspect of this approach is that you are
using your research skills to identify a relevant
and current issue in purchasing and supply
management.
Leading European supermarkets, food
manufacturers and fast-food chains, including
McDonald's, are expected to pledge today not to
use soya illegally grown in the Amazon region in
response to evidence that large areas of virgin
forest are being felled for the crop.
In a victory for consumer power, the companies
say they will not deal with the four trading
giants who dominate production in Brazil
unless they can show they are not sourcing
soya from areas being farmed illegally.The
traders met in Sao Paolo last week and are
expected to sign up to a moratorium on using
soya grown in the Amazon.”
Reference; Felicity Lawrence and John Vidal,
(Monday July 24, 2006)
Food giants to boycott illegal Amazon soya,
Obtained on 24.07.07 from the Guardian
newspaper website at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/brazil/story/0,,18273
50,00.html
Clearly there are significant issues here involving
power and leadership in the supply chain and
also of the impact of stakeholders and social and
environmental concerns upon supply chain
strategy.There could easily be considerations of
supply chain vulnerability: where will the
retailers and food processors obtain their soya
and how can they track supplies and ensure
compliance and legitimacy of source?
If you are intending to produce a work-based
project founded upon an organisation for which
you are not an employee, then you would need
to frame your project as a case analysis of one of
the main players cited in the article or of another
company that will be effected by or is a party to
this policy decision.
For both the work-based project or desk-research
project you will also need to demonstrate that
the subject of analysis would address the learning
outcomes for this unit: Supply Chain
Management in Practice:
•
Suppose that you do not work for local
government or are currently not working for an
employer. Consider the following extract;
•
•
“Food giants to boycott illegal Amazon soya”
· UK retailers expected to sign moratorium
today
· Move hailed as victory for consumer power
•
Felicity Lawrence and John Vidal
Monday July 24, 2006
•
•
Synthesise conceptual and case study data
into a coherent structure
Diagnose supply chain problems within a
case study situation
Evaluate the validity and applicability of a
range of possible solutions
Predict the consequences of each alternative
course of action
Judge the appropriateness of supply chain
principles to a particular supply chain
context
Solve problems with reference to supply
chain principles
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
Page 6
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
•
•
•
Propose solutions that will enable the case
study organisation to operate more
effectively
Justify the solutions in terms of their
feasibility and appropriateness
Develop a suitable plan for implementing the
proposed course of action
3.5 The introduction
You will find that the assessor will always look
for a good introduction before anything else.This
is implicit in their thinking, as many of them will
be learning supervisors within colleges and
universities. Developing the introduction first
enables you to really consider the context of
your project and what is special or interesting
and unique about your objectives – the reasons
for conducting the assignment in the first place.
The introduction should clearly outline the
context in which your study is taking place and
provide background on the business you are
examining.Your job here is to interest the reader
in the objectives of your project and to show
how these objectives were developed and their
relevance.The overall purpose of your assignment
should be clearly identified and then broken
down into a series of concise and focussed
research objectives. (adapted from; Beamish K,
(21st April 2006), Guidance notes on the concept
of the CIPS Integrative Units for Levels 3, 4, 5 and
6, CIPS).You can always go back to it later and
refine it in the light of your research.
4. Planning your research approach
You will find that you need to gather a large
amount of data and information for your
assignment. Not all of this data will be useful,
however, and a lot of valuable time can be spent
sifting through masses of irrelevant or largely
useless material while looking for what is
relevant to your assignment objectives. Careful
planning of your research can ensure that you
spend a lot less time obtaining, and then
discarding, useless information.This is even more
important when you consider the vast amount of
information now available in the public domain
and the privately held business or industry
specific information that you may have access to
from your employer or their stakeholders such as
suppliers, sub-contractors, investors, accountants
and so on.
You may be tempted to consider this aspect of
your assignment as academic and of little
practical worth.This is quite a common
misunderstanding among students. Instead, you
should regard this as an opportunity to develop
essential skills of independent enquiry and
Page 7
research.These skills are highly valued by
industry and are rather scarce. Many companies
spend large sums of money engaging specialist
research agencies to carry out independent
external research or consultants to investigate
their own internal systems, processes and
people.
If you can develop organisational and
investigative skills and become familiar with
sources of information and also learn how to
research, gather and analyse data and then how
to synthesize your findings – all of this will help
you to become a more effective manager and will
enhance your career prospects.
Example 1
Some years ago a university student was
recruited to manage the purchasing and supply
for a major product division for a large high
street retail organisation. Prior to commencing
the project the student decided to do some of
their own research.
First of all the student developed a plan:
Step 1: Rresearch public sources of information
on products, markets and competitors
Step 2 analyse findings
• Identify consumer trends and key
requirements
• Identify new product developments
and their success rate
• Identify key competitors and their
market share and strategies
Step 3 Investigate the new company
Find out what the growth rate is and
how this compares to the market and
competitors
Discover the extent of new product
development and how this compares
with:
a) Consumer trends
b) Major competitors
3
Critically evaluate standards of visual
merchandising compared to:
a) Market trends
b) Major competitors – especially best
in market
Step 4 Synthesize3 the findings into a set of
practical and coherent recommendations
The student then had to plan how to obtain the
necessary information.
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
Synthesize - to
combine different
ideas, influences, or
objects into a new
whole, or be
combined in this
way
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
The student was living in Birmingham at the
time and discovered that Birmingham City
Library is home to one of the best commercial
libraries in the UK.The student decided that
Steps 1 and 2 would require at least a full day
working in Birmingham commercial library.This
is often referred to as ‘desk research’ or
‘secondary research’.
Step 3 required the student to pay extended
visits to the shops of his new employer and also
to the shops of key competitors, so that he could
compare what they were actually doing with the
market reports of best practice and with each
other.This type of research is referred to as
‘primary research’.The basic difference between
the two types is that secondary research has
previously been published or gathered by
someone else – another person, company or
official body – and the reasons for producing the
information may differ to your own research
objectives. Primary research consists of your own
survey for the purposes identified by your own
research objectives.
The student soon discovered that there was an
overwhelming amount of information in the
library and found the librarians were extremely
helpful in directing him to refine the information
search to specific market reports and trade
journals.After half a day the student found the
librarians had found a wealth of detailed facts on
consumer trends, new product developments,
competitors, movements in the market and so on.
With some further work the student was then
able to extract the key information.
The comparative analysis of companies required
the student to prepare a checklist of areas that
were key to successful visual merchandising in
these product categories.The checklist
preparation was important because they knew
that they needed to be objective and that they
had to compare like with like. It was also
important because time was precious and
limited.The student did not want to miss
anything and have to do it again.This also
enabled them to make research notes as they
conducted the research in a format that would
be easy for them to evaluate.
From this activity the student was able to see
what best practice was and to benchmark4 the
new employer against this best practice; it was
then possible to synthesize this into a series of
objectives and recommendations as the basis for
a strategy.
The student soon learned that within days of
joining the company that they had already
identified all of their individual ideas and had
Page 8
developed a very similar strategy which the
company wanted the student to implement. This
strategy was very successful and doubled market
share in one product area within twelve months,
increasing revenue by £15m.
However, the research had been outsourced to a
market research agency, and had taken six
months of primary consumer research to
complete at a cost of over £50,000.The actual
cost of the research was really very minor
compared to the additional sales that could have
been gained if the research had taken less than
six months.
5. Research methods
A deductive research strategy would involve you
in deducing a hypothesis5, or a series of
hypotheses, that you would then test using your
own empirical research.
For example T.C. Powell (1995 cited in Bryman &
Bell, 2003) suggested 15 hypotheses in order to
test whether TQM (Total Quality Management)
creates economic value for the organisation and
these included;
Hypothesis 1:TQM firms outperform non-TQM
firms
This was then examined by identifying firms
with and without TQM and comparing
performances.
An inductive approach would involve you in
developing theories or hypotheses from your
own research which are more generally
applicable.
Actually, there can be elements of the inductive
approach in a deductive study and vice versa. For
example, you may have induced a theory but
wish to examine or test the extent to which it is
more generally applicable.
Gert Hofstede’s (1984 cited in Bryman & Bell,
2003 p18) study of cultural difference involved
the administration of over 100,000
questionnaires.The following statistical analysis
formed the basis of his framework of cultural
dimensions – power distance, uncertainty
avoidance, individualism, masculinity.This was a
classic example of an inductive approach.
You need to be aware that research does not fit
into neat little boxes and it is not a linear process,
although it is often presented in that way. It can
often be very messy, frustrating and create more
uncertainty rather than less.
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
4
Benchmark - to
provide a standard
against which
something can be
measured or
assessed
5
Hypothesis - a
tentative
explanation for a
phenomenon, used
as a basis for further
investigation
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
5.1 Business research criteria and rigour
It is very important in the assessment of your
project that the assessor believes your
conclusions.The better the quality of your
research design, implementation, analysis and
synthesis, the more likely this will be. In order to
believe your research findings a clear objective
consideration of limitations and any potential for
bias is required. If you are critical of your
research approach or of the data gathered then
you will not lose marks for this, because it is
giving the assessor valuable guidance in terms of
how solid the conclusions are.
There are three main criteria you need to take
into account:
Validity;Where you have devised a measure,
does this tool really accurately measure what you
wish to measure? Does IQ, for example,
accurately measure intelligence? If you are
suggesting a causal relationship between two or
more variables, can you be sure of this or might
there be some other causes? To what extent are
your findings more generally applicable? Are your
findings actually of practical significance to
people?
Reliability;To what extent could you conduct
exactly the same study again and to what extent
would you obtain the same results?
Replicability;The study must be capable of
replication.
Remember that you will be examining one
business case, so the issue of how far you can
generalise your findings must be treated with
caution.You may be able to find secondary
evidence to support a wider application of your
findings in the form of a research paper or article
in an academic journal, for example.
research and is current (up to date) enough to be
still useful. (See ‘Sources of Information’ for useful
sources of secondary data.)
Even quantitative surveys conducted by your
own organisation would be classed as secondary,
unless they had been specifically commissioned
for the purposes and objectives of your project.
In order to overcome limitations and potential
bias in your research methodology you can try to
correlate your findings from different sources. If
you can do this, then your research will be
viewed as good quality. Correlation of research
findings from three different sources is often
referred to as triangulation but this would also
usually involve different methodologies.
If you can find journal articles or published
research papers that support the results of key
informant interviews, then that should be more
than sufficient. Finding different authors whose
research also correlates with yours is important;
that is one reason why your proof of wider
reading and research will attract marks.
5.3 Quantitative vs qualitative research
It is highly unlikely that you will be involved in
quantitative research for two very sound reasons.
The first is the time and cost of surveying and
analysing a statistically significant sample; the
second is the complexity of quantitative
sampling and statistical analysis which would be
more appropriate at a Master’s level dissertation.
It is also something of a fallacy to believe that
qualitative research will not involve any form of
quantitative analysis. It is quite common to
illustrate or analyse qualitative data using charts
or graphs. In the example below I was
encouraged by my supervisor to produce a
statistical analysis of the findings of my
interviews and the responses to key questions.
5.2 Secondary vs primary research
Secondary research and analysis involves the
gathering of data that has already been generated
by another party for another purpose.This is not
data that the researcher is generating themselves
for the purposes of their own research.There is a
very substantial amount of information in the
public domain and even more when you add
sources of information available to you from your
study centre and from within your own
organisation.
Qualitative research in business explores people’s
views and behaviour in order to determine
attitudes and feelings towards management and
organisational issues.
You may decide that it would be useful to obtain
the views of key members of your own
organization.This would be classed as primary
qualitative research. If you decide to do this you
will need to focus upon:
•
This is, in fact, also one of the limitations of
secondary research – you will need to ensure
that the secondary data you gather actually
addresses the objectives of your particular
The data gathering instrument
– interview or
– questionnaire or
– focus group
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Work-based project guidance
•
The method of gathering data
– face to face interview,
– telephone,
– e-mail,
– letter
– SMS
•
•
You will need to refer to texts on research
methods for advice on how to structure your
questions and you will also need to pilot or test
your instrument and to analyse the results of
your test and adjust the method accordingly. Even
then the results may be contradictory or flawed
in some way.
Leading a focus group also requires a
considerable amount of expertise in the way the
group is formed and also in chairing the group
and analysing the findings.
Certain key players in business research can be
classed as ‘key (or expert) informants’
“They often develop an appreciation of the
research and direct the ethnographer6 to
situations, events or people likely to be helpful
to the progress of the investigation.” (Bryman &
Bell, 2003, p323).
Interviewing key informants can be helpful
provided that you do not try to stretch their
views too far and you really do establish their
credentials as ‘Key Informants’. In the example
below I established these credentials by citing
the interviewee’s position as policy-makers and
reinforcing this with information on the market
share of their organisations.
Jankowicz (2005, p223 from Table 9.1) suggests
the following criteria for ensuring the academic
rigour of qualitative research.
1. Express each issue you wish to investigate as
clearly as you can
2. Familiarize yourself with the situation in
depth and build a ‘rich picture’ of the
meanings involved
3. Identify themes and potential explanations
4. Use these explanations to search for
additional evidence
5. Consider alternative explanations
6. Pay attention to the less obvious as well as
the more obvious
7. Check the accuracy and consistency of your
data
8. Cross-check your explanation
5.4 What is ‘action research’?
“An approach in which the action researcher and
a client collaborate in the diagnosis of a problem
and in the development of a solution based on
the diagnosis.” (Bryman & Bell, 2003).
Action research is far more than simply
diagnosing some aspects of a process and then
presenting the data to the client, employer or
tutor.
One definition of action research is provided by
Lippitt (1979, Cited in Coghlan & Brannick, 2001,
p5)
Example 2
For example, my own MBA dissertation involved
research into the supply chain management of
major retailers in the leisure apparel market.The
only primary method was key informant
interviews.The key informants were at deputy
managing director or merchandising and buying
director level for major retailers.As I needed to
discover what the attitudes of retailers were to
supply policy these informants were ideal and I
did not require a large sample. In fact, it was a
relatively small sample, but their responses to the
questions were all very similar, so there was a
high degree of correlation.
If you wish to conduct some form of primary
qualitative research you are strongly advised to;
• Ensure that the objectives of gathering this
primary data cannot be achieved with
secondary data gathering
• Refer to texts on Business Research for
advice on methodology and interpretation
Page 10
Discuss with your tutor and take his/her
advice
Ensure that you have the time to undertake
the research and the level of analysis this will
require
“A procedure of collecting data from
participants of a system and providing
feedback about the findings of the data as an
intervention to influence, presumably in a
helpful way, the ongoing action process of the
system.”
In this view of action research you may be acting
solely as someone who is gathering data,
analysing the data and producing a set of
recommendations; or you may be more involved
in the actual implementation of the
recommendations.
The following exercise can be found in Coghlan
& Brannick, 2001, p84 and I believe you will find
it of practical benefit in helping to ‘Frame and
Select’ your project for action research:
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
6
Ethnographer –
ethnographic
researcher.
“Ethnography and
participant
observation entail
the extended
involvement of the
researcher in the
social life of those
who he or she
studies”. (Bryman &
Bell, 2003, p314)
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
Action research will involve you in experiential
learning through a process of diagnosing,
planning action, taking action and evaluating.As
you can see from the chart below, you would also
be involved in interpreting and evaluating your
experiences and taking action as an essential
element of these activities.
Consider the organisation in which you work:
1. What questions arise out of your experience
to which you would like to search for
answers?
2. What might be the answers to these
questions?
3. What do you think might be the underlying
causes of the situations for which you have
these questions?
4. What alternative answers might exist?
5. Where do you fit into the situation as defined
by the question?
6. What would other members of the
organisation think of you working on this
issue?
7. Who needs to be involved? Whose support
do you need to enlist?
8. Where would be a good place to begin?
9. How will you engage in uncovering the data?
A full-scale action research project may be too
demanding in terms of time and data collection.
You would also need the active cooperation of
your employer.This would be a possibility
though if the project scope and aims were tightly
focussed. It is hoped that in any case you will
gain experiential learning as part of this
assignment through a process of reflection (see
‘Reflective Statement page 16’.)
Keeping a reflective journal or diary is an
important element if you wish to fully participate
in action learning and gain major benefits in
developing your own experiential learning.
Action research is different to other research
methods because you are actively involved in the
organisation you are researching and you may
also be actively involved in implementing your
own recommendations.
Experiencing
Taking
action
Diagnosing
Reflecting
Interpreting
Experiencing
Taking
action
Evaluating action
Experiencing
Reflecting
Taking
action
Interpreting
Planning action
Reflecting
Interpreting
Experiencing
Taking
action
Taking action
Reflecting
Interpreting
Fig 1.The Experiential Learning Cycle in Action Research Projects. Reference: Coghlan & Brannick, 2001,
Figure 3.2, p. 30
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5.5 The ‘Case Study’method
triangulate or corroborate your findings by using
multiple sources of evidence.
It is anticipated that most Supply Chain
Management in Practice work-based projects will
use the ‘case study’ approach.The case study
method is defined by Jankowicz (2005, p220) as
a research method “in which you use a variety of
techniques in the workplace setting to explore
issues in the present and in the past; as they
effect a relatively complete organizational unit
(single case study) or group of organizational
units (comparative case study); which represent
different possibilities or stances for the
organization concerned; and in which you look
to the future by means of the recommendations
you make.”
A case can be;
• A single organisation
• A single location
• A person
• A single event
(Bryman & Bell, 2003)
If you wish to know a lot more about this type of
research then you should refer to Yin, Robert K.
(2003) Applications of case study research, 2nd
edition, SAGE. Extracts from this work appear in
most texts on business research and you will find
good coverage in Jankowicz (2005) and Bryman
& Bell (2003).
The data you will mainly be concerned with will
largely consist of documents, interviews and
possibly stakeholder analysis.
It is important to understand that this approach
will involve;
•
•
•
•
•
An analysis of the current situation.
An analysis of the context and background to
the case that have led to the present
situation.
Identifying and obtaining data in order to
examine hypotheses concerning key factors
in the present situation
Synthesising the data in order to produce a
set of recommendations for action.
If you are working for the organisation at the
centre of your study a further stage, if you
have the time and the management approval,
will involve evaluating the outcomes of your
recommendations during and postimplementation
Your final step will be to write the reflective
statement (see page 16)
You must be careful if you are seeking to
generalise your results to the businesses or
organisations since you will have sampled only
one organisation. If you do this, you should try to
6. Finding sources of information
The chart on page 13, which has been adapted
slightly, is from an out-of-print text on product
management by Richard A Collier (1995) but you
may find it helpful in organising your own research
and finding necessary sources of information.
He has classified information about companies
into two broad areas;
•
•
Information generated by the organisation
itself
Any information about the organisation that
is not generated by the organisation.
This information can be in the public domain or
may be restricted. For example, an analyst’s
report may be commissioned by investors into a
particular industry sector or company.You may
be able to gain access to such reports or to
market surveys if your own organisation has
commissioned or paid for them. If your project is
based upon a study of an organisation for which
you are not working then gaining access to such
reports would be unlikely.
Commercial organisations such as Mintel,Verdict,
The Economist Intelligence Unit, Euromonitor
and many others, publish market reports into
different sectors and these often include fairly
detailed market analysis, including major
competitors.The reports are very expensive but
can often be referenced in public, commercial
and university libraries. It is also worth checking
with your own employer whether they subscribe
to external research agencies or have
commissioned any reports that may be useful.
6.1 Sources of Competitor Information
Example 3
During the Second World War the UK military
had serious problems with time bombs.These
bombs detonated many hours after they had
fallen, when rescue services were hard at work
trying to save lives and put out fires.They were
designed to cause the maximum disruption
and panic.The problem bomb disposal officers
faced was in trying to get hold of one of the
timer fuses so that they could work out how to
disarm the bombs.This took some years but
finally one was obtained. It was discovered
later that the device was based upon a timer
mechanism the design and detailed plans for
which had been registered for patent.The plans
for the device were available in the patent
office in London and had been there for a
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number of years prior to the start of the war.
Hindsight is always 20:20 and the trick is
having a good idea of what information is
available and knowing where to look for it.
6.2 Sources of business information on the
internet
There are many sources of business information
on the Internet but it is not always easy to
choose the most useful sites. Here are some you
may find helpful.You do need to ask yourself the
following questions before using any information
found on the Internet:1. Do you know for certain who wrote or
developed this web page?
2. What authority or expertise does the author
have?
3. Is the web site part of some special interest
group or likely to be biased in some way?
4. Can you contact the author or owner of the
website?
5. Is the information on the website up to date?
BLOGS7 or sites such as Wikepedia must be
treated with extreme caution.You can make an
entry yourself in Wikepedia and although the
editors do make every effort to ensure
inaccuracies are corrected or deleted along with
offensive or illegal content – they cannot be
guaranteed to catch everything.
Page 13
http://www.arts.ac.uk/library/4840.htm
This is the most comprehensive and easily
accessible guide to sources of business
information I have come across on the Internet.
It is part of the University of the Arts London
Library and Resources site and unlike a number
of universities it is open to the public.
http://www.carol.co.uk/
This is the Company Annual Reports Online
website.You will need to register but it is the
quickest and easiest way to access company
information if the company is fully listed.
http://www.direct.gov.uk/Homepage/fs/en
This is the official site of the UK Government.
“Directgov brings together the widest range of
public service information and services online.”
Produced by the Central Office of Information,
Directgov provides information from across UK
Government departments on topics ranging from
travel safety and parental leave to special
educational needs and local NHS services….
Should you need more information, the site gives
you access to government directories, as well as
links to relevant third parties who can offer
additional trusted advice and support.”
http://europa.eu/index_en.htm
This is the Gateway to the European Union with
links to the latest developments and guides to EU
legislation.
Public
Trade/ Professionals
Government
Investors
Company
generated
information
Advertising
Promotional materials
Press releases
Speeches
Books
Articles
Personnel changes
Job advertisements
Manuals
Technical papers
Licences
Patents
Courses
Seminars
Security and exchange
reports
Testimony
Lawsuits
Anti-trust/ merger and
monopolies
investigations
Annual meetings
Annual reports
Prospectuses
Stock/ bond issues
Externally
generated
information
Books
Articles
Case studies
Consultants reports
Newspapers
Environmental groups
Unions
Who’s who
recruiting
Suppliers/ vendors
Trade press
Industry study
Customers
Sub-contractors
Lawsuits
Anti-trust
State/ federal agencies
National plans
Government or EU
publications &
investigations
Parliamentary select
committee reports
Regulators reports
Security analyst
reports
Industry studies
Credit reports
7
Fig. 2 Ref. (adapted from) Collier, Richard A. (1995). Profitable Product Management, Butterworth
Heinemann, P46 Fig 2.4
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
BLOG - an online
journal or
newsletter in which
an individual has
the potential to tell
the world all about
his or her opinions
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
http://www.bubl.ac.uk/link
This is one of a number of a pre-evaluated
“subject gateways” available on the web, a
national information service for the academic
community, maintained by Strathclyde University,
with many thousands of articles and links where
experts have searched the web for high-quality,
reliable information. It is vast but very user
friendly. Use index letters to find broad subjects
and then progressively refine your search.
http://www.cim.co.uk/cim/index.cfm
The official site of the Chartered Institute of
Marketing
http://www.cipd.co.uk
The official site of the Chartered Institute of
Personnel and Development
It is worth remembering that issues such as
Leadership, Change Management, Knowledge and
Organisational Learning are key areas of focus for
HRM management.
http://www.cips.org
The official site of the Chartered Institute of
Purchasing and Supply
http://www.supplymanagement.co.uk/
• SupplyManagement.co.uk offers selected
content from the print magazine, breaking
news stories, plus a range of on-line-only
features, including:
• Streaming business and political news
• Archive of past articles
• Searchable events diary
• E-mail news alerts
• Commodity price database
• Articles and services are freely available to all
users, with the exception of the archive
search, "my page" personalisation and the
commodity price database, which require
log-in and are exclusive to CIPS members and
subscribers to Supply Management magazine.
http://www.ciltuk.org.uk/pages/home
The official site of the Chartered Institute of
Logistics and Transport
http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/
This site provides an incredibly comprehensive
set of links that will take you to a large selection
of business information sites on the Internet.This
is a good starting point for all types of business
information.
www.mhhe.com/pom/
Operations Management Centre, McGraw Hill –
many links
www.dti.gov.uk/
DTI site, including best practice guides and tools
www.businesslink.gov.uk - The Business Link
network
www.enterprisenetwork.co.uk
Sunday Times / DTI site
www.cf.ac.uk/carbs/lom/lerc
Cardiff University Lean Enterprise Research
Centre
www.iomnet.org.uk
Institute of Operations Management
www.efqm.org
European Foundation for Quality Management
http://bized.ac.uk
an academic business site
http://praxiom.com
ISO 9000 in plain English
www.autoindustry.co.uk
DTI Automotive industry site
www.xberry.fsnet.co.uk
DIY Manufacturing Systems Training for Everyone
– easy to follow guide to Lean Supply – excellent!
www.tangram.co.uk
a site for manufacturers of plastic window
frames, but with many useful Operations
Management pages, under General Information
www.loglink.com/logistics
a virtual logistics library
http://home.ku.edu.tr/~cakkan/links.htm
many links to useful Operations Management
sites
www.manufacturing.net
a vast resource centre operated by Reed Business
Information
www.scmr.com
site of the Supply Chain Management Review
http://web.mit.edu/clt/www/index.html
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Centre for
Transportation and Logistics
www.themanager.org
RMP Knowledgebase for Management
www.brunel.ac.uk/~bustcfj/bola
Business Open Learning Archive, Brunel
University
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Example 4
www.lean.org
Lean Enterprise Institute
www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/dt31/TOMI/index.html TWIGG’s operations management index
www.som.cranfield.ac.uk/som/mba
Cranfield School of Management, allows access to
Research, Publications Database
http://wwwmmd.eng.cam.ac.uk/csp/Tools_Techniques/index
.htm
Cambridge University, Index of Modelling and
Decision Support Tools
www.london.edu/otm
London Business School Centre for Operations
Management
7. Selecting and using informing frameworks
Before moving too much further into your
project it is worth considering that the informing
frameworks, concepts and theories covered on
your course are designed to help explain
complex phenomena occurring in business and
the business environment.They have been
developed following rigorous research and
critical examination of business practice.
Something referred to as ‘theoretical’ or
‘academic’ is often meant to imply that it is
interesting but of little practical value. CIPS will
want you to prove that this is not the case and
that the reverse is true of the theories covered
on your course.
You should think of these informing frameworks
like a set of tools. If you approach a job with the
wrong tools you are unlikely to make the correct
diagnosis or remedy the problem effectively and
may even cause more damage.
Fore example, consideration of Porter’s model of
generic strategies and the risk of being stuck in
the middle with a combination of differentiation
and cost leadership approaches was critically
appraised by Morschett, Dirk et al, (1996).
“Their studies reveal that three basic types of
competitive advantage seem to prevail in food
retailing: (1) price, (2) quality (with a
comprehensive set of quality-orientated
instruments, including customer service), (3)
convenience.We find quality leadership and
price leadership to be independent factors
which can be achieved without conflicting with
one another. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR;
Copyright 2006 Elsevier]” (Ibid)
If you take the Michael Porter model for the
’forces driving industry competition’ (Porter’s
own description) – Porter’s Five Forces (Porter
M., 1980).
This may be useful if you were, for example,
examining the balance of power between the
buyers and the suppliers in your organisation.
However, this model may not be so effective if
your organisation is part of a heavily regulated
sector, such as a utility or an NHS trust.This is
because the way this model is used in practice
is most effective when applied to free or, ideally,
‘perfect markets’, markets with no distortions in
competition. Failure to research more widely
and to discover this criticism may have resulted
in attempting to take this model too far in its
use as an analytical tool.This is not to say that
you cannot use it at all when analysing
regulated industries but you need to be aware
of its limitations and adapt or limit its use
accordingly.
8. Analysing your findings
An essential part of successful analysis is to
critically evaluate the theories and concepts you
have covered and to select and/or adapt theories
that will be of most use in explaining and
examining your chosen topic. Some informing
frameworks will also help direct you towards
appropriate recommendations.
In any analysis you will need to provide a brief
explanation of the concept and show that you
understand it by evaluating its worth as an
analytical tool in the situation you are examining.
You must therefore, read more widely and
consult academic sources such as journal articles
in order to find out if other researchers have
criticised the models or developed adaptations
that might be more useful.
In general terms most projects will be case or
situational analyses.You may have come across
the ‘Universal Management Paradigm’ before in
dealing with case analysis:
•
•
•
•
•
Where are you now?
Where do you want to be?
How can you get to where you want to be
(the possible routes)?
Which are the best routes or solutions?
Follow the route recommended
(implementation).
This is very simple but quite effective if you
expand it to include necessary details as
recommended by Sheila Cameron in the MBA
Handbook (2005).
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Work-based project guidance
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Describe the situation, including relevant
elements of context and indicate why it
presents problems – this equates to
exploring the symptoms of a problem.
Analyse the problem, using course concepts
to help understand (or diagnose) the root
causes of problems
Decide on measures of effectiveness: what
are the criteria for a good solution; what
constraints exist?
Identify and describe the range of possible
solutions
Compare likely costs and benefits in terms of
your measures of effectiveness
Recommend, with arguments to support
your recommendations, your preferred
solutions
Consider the implementation of your
recommendations and any key requirements
for successful implementation.
10. The Reflective statement
Page 16
Reflection is an essential part of the learning
cycle. If you are doing something for a long time
without reflecting on what you are doing, and
how you are doing, then experience will teach
you nothing. Considering and attempting
different ways of doing it and reflecting and what
worked and what didn’t and why will help to
increase your learning.
This reflective process is expressed in Kolb’s
Learning Cycle
Experience
Reflect
Act
Theorise
It is worth remembering if you are conducting an
internal project that you may also be involved in
implementing your own proposals; an
exploration of theory on change management
and, possibly, project management, may also be
helpful.
9. Drawing conclusions, making
recommendations
The most important point to make here is that
your conclusions must directly address the broad
goal(s) and the detailed objectives you have
given for the assignment.This final section of
your report should flow naturally from the main
body.You are not introducing new material here
but are drawing together the arguments and
evidence already developed in order to underpin
your findings and recommendations.
(Adapted from- Kolb, D.A. et al, 1984)
In your reflective statement you will be required
to provide evidence that you have engaged fully
with this learning cycle and particularly with the
essential reflective element; also that you have
considered the extent to which you have
maximised the opportunity to learn and develop
from the experience this project has provided.
When making recommendations they should;
•
•
•
•
•
Be clearly stated
Directly address the objectives
Be prioritised in terms of urgency or
operational need (make sure the essentials
come before the interesting)
Have consideration given to resource
requirements and implementation.
Be cross-referenced to the supporting data,
argument or other research evidence in the
main body of the report.
Remember –
“…if recommendations give a high priority to
an interesting but not essential development,
and a lower priority to something needed to
ensure the survival of the organisation, there is
likely to be little respect for the writer of the
report.” (Cameron, 2005, p293)
It will be impossible to do this adequately in
retrospect and from memory. If you wait until the
ink is dry on your conclusions before you take
any action with regard to your reflective
statement then it will be a waste of your time.
The assessors want to see evidence of a real
engagement with the reflective process in your
individual cycle of learning.
In order to engage effectively with this process
you should start by considering the objectives
and learning outcomes of your project. Keep a
reflective journal. Record what you hope to gain
in terms of knowledge and skills development
and try to understand where you are at the start
of this project.
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Supply Chain Management in Practice
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Fig 4 Stages of the cycle can include the
following:
4. Table of Contents
Following directly after the title page.
Doing
5. Bibliography
A list of your sources of information (references)
in alphabetical order of the first author’s surname
is a mandatory requirement.The academic worth
of your work will be seriously diminished, you
will lose marks and the authenticity of your
assignment may be questioned, if you do not
include a detailed and accurate bibliography.This
should always appear at the end of your
assignment, that is, after the appendices.
Reflecting
Forming
Principles
Planning
Experiential exercises, using a
particular skill, doing a job,
implementing recommendations
Discussing your role and how
that influenced what happened,
keeping a reflective log/diary.
Talking to your manager / tutor /
mentor. Evaluating and action
taken.
Summarising and understanding
the general concepts and
principles that underpinned the
experience involved in different
aspects of your project.
Setting action plans, identifying
priorities for further skills
development. Active
experimentation / hypothesis
testing.
Keep a note of critical incidents – the highs and
lows of your project.What went right for you,
what went wrong and what you gained from
consideration and reflection – how did this alter
or modify your future actions.
When writing up your reflective statement try to
consider also what your future development
needs might be.
11. Presentation
You will normally be required to present this
assignment in the form of a report – not an
extended essay. If a different format is required
your tutor will provide you with details and
guidance regarding the format. If you are at all
unsure then you would be wise to contact your
tutor for clarification.
11.1Mandatory requirements - the ‘must-haves’
of the project
Keep an electronic copy of your work.
6. Word count / word limit
You must provide a word count, excluding
appendices.The word count should be given at
the end of your report.You must stay within the
word limit (6,000).This is important for two
reasons:
1. Practice in producing focussed and
concise business communication
2. Ensuring that each student is given equal
treatment
7. Page numbers
All pages must be numbered except for the front
and title pages.
8. Tables, charts and illustrations
• These must be sequentially numbered as
Table, Figure or Illustration
• Each should have a title and a reference
to the source.
• Each should appear in the table of
contents with page number
11.2 Not compulsory but important
1. Appendices
You do not have to use appendices. If you do
decide you need appendices then they must be
used appropriately.Appendices must not be used
as an opportunity to dump material that takes
you over the prescribed word limit; they are to
be a useful source of information that, if
appropriately referenced, would add value and
justification to your project.
Your report should consist of the following
1. A WBA Front Sheet – issued by your tutor
2. A completed Statement of Authenticity
3. A title page
Self-explanatory – nice to know the title of
the assignment.This will depend obviously
on the context and objectives of your
individual work.An example title might be;‘The Importance of Leadership in Supply
Chain Crisis Recovery at …. ; a case study
of………’
They must be numbered Appendix 1,Appendix 2
and so on.
Each appendix must have a heading that appears
in the table of contents, for example:
‘Appendix 1; Company market share statistics for
EU countries’
As already suggested, you must not use
appendices as a way of extending your word
limit.Your tutor will not specifically mark your
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The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
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Work-based project guidance
appendices but the way you make use of your
appendices will be taken into account when
arriving at the overall assignment mark.
For example, you may have gathered a large
number of statistics in table form. Rather than
reproduce a large and detailed table of statistics,
with much of the data not really relevant to your
analysis, you could instead include the whole
table and references in an appendix, so that your
tutor can refer to it if necessary.This would then
enable you to focus on the key elements you
have extracted from it – the really significant
statistics that identify important trends - in the
body of your report.
An example of how not to use appendices would
be to include an explanation of the Porters Five
Forces model as an appendix.That type of error
is among the most common.Academic models
must be briefly and critically examined and
applied within the report itself.
Remember the Appendix is not a waste bin for all
the materials you have come across in your
research, nor a way of making your assignment
seem somewhat heavier and more impressive
than it is.
2. Executive summary
This is useful, although not essential, in an
academic report. However, an executive
summary is essential for a business report. So, if
you are planning on giving your boss a copy of
the assignment, it would be advisable for you to
include an executive summary.This is quite
different to an abstract.
Your boss will not want to see a description of
everything in the report.What is required is a
focus on the key issues, priorities and
recommendations identified in the report.You
should also identify any resource implications.
This should be no more than two sides of A4.
3. Polish
This is a term often used to identify excellence
in presentation.As it implies, this means
smoothing out the rough edges and making the
work ‘shine brightly’, that is, stand out.
For many of you this assignment will be dealing
with issues that are of importance to your
employer and they will, in all likelihood, be
interested in seeing a copy of your report.
Spending some extra time making it as
professional as possible will pay dividends here.
Here are some points you should consider that
will help:
•
•
•
Always use the spell-check facility on your
word processing package
Proofread the final draft carefully, at least
twice before final submission, checking
grammar and referencing carefully for
accuracy and consistency.
Do not use the first person or personal
pronouns – this makes your work appear
opinionated and subjective – when exactly
the opposite is required. Use of ‘I’,‘my’,‘we’,
‘our’ is banned. If you positively have to refer
to yourself then do so as ‘the author’.
Recommendations should not be ‘my’
recommendations but rather
recommendations of ‘this report’.
It is a good idea to print reports
• single sided,
• with double-spaced lines
• with a 3.5 cm margin on the left and a 2.5
cm margin on the right.
This makes it look more appealing and easier to
read; it also allows your tutor or any reader to
easily make notes.
Example 5
Many years ago a consultant was hired to do
some consultancy work on the purchasing and
supply management strategy of a very large
retail multiple.At the second meeting with the
managing director and proprietor he was given
a copy of a previous consultant’s report for
background information. He was surprised to
see the author was someone he had worked
with several years previously.The report
identified accurately a number of key issues
with some sound recommendations.
Unfortunately, the report itself was riddled with
spelling and grammatical errors and some
incredible malapropisms .The owner of the
retail company had been through the report
and annotated it in detail. Unfortunately, he
had ignored the substance of the report itself
and instead identified all the language errors
with some fairly caustic comments.As a result,
the report was largely discredited and the
consultant was not re- engaged. Needless to say
this made the consultant certain that future
reports were proofread and spell-checked prior
to submission.The sad thing was that the
research identified a number of the same
concerns as the previous consultant and with
some similar recommendations.
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
Page 18
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
12. Time management
6
One of the biggest challenges we all seem to face
day-to-day is that of managing time.When
studying, that challenge seems to grow
increasingly difficult, requiring a balance between
work, home, family, social life and study life. It is
therefore of pivotal importance to your own
success for you to plan wisely the limited amount
of time you have available.
Step 1: Find out how much time you have
Ensure that you are fully aware of how long your
course lasts, and of the final deadline.The
meeting of deadlines is vitally important, as
submission schedules are extremely tight. If you
miss the deadline for handing in your work your
mark may be capped.
Step 2: Plan your time
You need to work backwards from the final
deadline, submission date, and schedule your
work around the possible time lines. Students
who do not submit will be treated as a 'no show',
and will have to re-enter for the next assessment
period and undertake an alternative assignment.
Many centres charge either a full fee or reregistration fee should students have to entirely
re-take the module. Obviously this adds to either
personal or company expense. Therefore, try to
be realistic in order to maximise your
opportunity to succeed, within pre-determined
time-frames.
Step 3: Set priorities
You should set priorities on a daily and weekly
basis (not just for study, but for your life).There is
no doubt that this mode of study needs
commitment (and some sacrifices in the short
term).When your achievements are recognised
by colleagues, peers, friends and family, it will all
feel worthwhile.
Step 4: Analyse activities and allocate time to
them
Consider the range of activities that you will need
to undertake in order to complete the assignment
and the time each might take. Remember, too,
there will be a delay in asking for information and
receiving it.
7
Confidentiality – if the assignment includes
confidential information ensure that this is
clearly marked on the assignment
Literature and desk research undertaken
This should be achieved on one side of A4
paper.
• A literature search in order to undertake the
necessary background reading and
underpinning information that might support
your assignment
• Writing letters and memos asking for
information either internally or externally
• Designing questionnaires (if used)
• Undertaking surveys
• Analysis of data from questionnaires (if used)
• Secondary data search
• Preparation of first draft report
• Writing reflective statement
• Producing final report version
• Submitting the project
Always build in time to spare, to deal with the
unexpected.This may reduce the pressure that
you are faced with in meeting significant
deadlines.
Warning!
Do not fall into the trap of leaving all of your work
to the last minute. If you miss out important
information, or fail to reflect upon your work
adequately or successfully, you will be penalised
for both.Therefore, time management is important
whatever the duration of the course. It is by no
means unusual for students to have personal
difficulties that materially effect their ability to
study.While it is sincerely hoped that this is not
the case for you, should these situations arise, you
will find your tutors sympathetic, if you should
have a genuine case. The important concern here
is to keep your tutors informed. Extensions to
deadline dates will only be considered in genuine
cases and will not be considered retrospectively.
Preparing terms of reference for the
assignment, to include the following.
1 A short title
2 A brief outline of the assignment purpose and
outcome
3 Methodology (the methods you intend to use
to carry out the required tasks)
4 Indication of any difficulties that have arisen in
the duration of the assignment
5 Time schedule
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
Page 19
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
APPENDICES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Beamish K, (21st April 20060, Guidance notes on
the concept of the CIPS Integrative
Units for Levels 3, 4, 5 and 6, CIPS
Bryman A & Bell E. (2003). Business Research
Methods, Oxford University Press
Cameron S. (2005).The MBA Handbook, 5th
Edition, FT Prentice Hall
Coghlan D & Brannick T. (2001). Doing Action
research in Your Own Organization, Sage
Publications
Collier, Richard A. (1995). Profitable Product
Management, Butterworth Heinemann
Jankowicz A.D. (2005) Business Research Projects,
4th Edition,Thomson
Kolb, D.A. (1984), Organizational Psychology, 4th
Edition, Prentice Hall.
Lippitt R. (1979).‘Kurt Lewin, action research and
planned change’, paper provided by the author,
Cited in Coghlan D & Brannick T. (2001). Doing
Action research in Your Own Organization, Sage
Publications
Richard Pears, Graham Shields (2005). Cite Them
Right, Pear Tree Books
Porter M (1980). Competitive Strategy;
Techniques for Analyzing Industries and
Competitors, Free Press
1. Citing your references using the Harvard
(Author-Date) system
Citing your references correctly is an essential
part of your academic work for three main
reasons:
• to acknowledge the sources you have used as
the basis of your research. Failure to do this
could be construed as plagiarism.
• to enable other people to identify and trace
your sources quickly and easily
• to support facts and claims you have made in
your text.
Citing
acknowledging within your
piece of work the source from
which you obtained information.
Reference
full details of the source from
which you obtained your
information.
Bibliography a list of the references you have
used, usually placed at the end of
your text.
2. Citing references in the body of the text
NB For citing electronic resources, please
refer to Section 3.
Internet Sources
Citing your references using the Harvard (author,
date) System.Taken from the Oxford
BrookesUniversityLibrarywebsiteon21.07.06from
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/library/resou
rces/harvard.doc
retrievedfromOxfordBrookesUniversityLibrarywe
bsite,21.07.06,
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/library/busin
ess/sources.html#directories
Competitive strategies in retailing—an
investigation of the applicability of Porter's
framework for food retailers. By: Morschett, Dirk;
Swoboda, Bernhard; Schramm-Klein, Hanna.
Journal of Retailing & Consumer Services,
Jul2006,Vol. 13 Issue 4, p275-287, 13p; DOI:
10.1016/j.jretconser.2005.08.016; (AN 20551728)
Felicity Lawrence and John Vidal, (Monday July
24, 2006)
Food giants to boycott illegal Amazon soya,
Obtained on 24.07.07 from the Guardian
newspaper website at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/brazil/story/0,,18273
50,00.html
When reference is made in the text to a
particular document, the author (or editor,
compiler or translator) (individual or
organisation) and year of publication are inserted
in brackets:
for example Agriculture still employs half a
million people in rural Britain
(Shucksmith, 2000).
If the author’s name occurs naturally in the
sentence, only the year of publication is given:
for example
This concept is discussed by
Jones (1998) …
When referring to more than one document by
an author published in the same year, these are
distinguished by adding lower case letters (a, b,
c) after the year:
for example (Watson, 1999a)
If there are two authors, the names of both
should be given:
for example (Lines and Walker, 1997)
Where there are more than two authors, cite the
first author, followed by ‘et al’ (in italics)
for example (Morgan et al., 1998)
http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761553
932/Journalism.html?partner=orp#p32
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
Page 20
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
If the author is unascertainable, cite (a shortened)
title:
for example (Burden of anonymity, 1948)
Page numbers should be included when there is
a need to be more specific, for example when
making a direct quotation:
for example As Kelvin stated (1968, p.100)
‘the value of…’
If referencing a secondary source (a document
which you have not seen but which is quoted in
one of your references) the two items must be
linked with the term ‘cited in’:
for example …economic development
(Jones, 2000) cited in Walker (2001).
NB
(1) Whenever possible, try to read the
original source;
(2) some guides to Harvard advise that
you can only cite the secondary source for example. …according to Jones as cited by
Walker (2001).
Quotations
Short quotations may be run into the text, using
single quotation marks
(see Kelvin example above)
Longer quotations should be separated from the
rest of the text by means of indentation and
optional size reduction, and do not need
quotation marks:
for example Simone de Beauvoir (1972, p.365)
examined her own past and wrote rather
gloomily:
The past is not a peaceful landscape lying there
behind me, a country in which I can stroll
wherever I please, and will gradually show me all
its secret hills and dates. As I was moving
forward, so it was crumbling.
3. Arranging references in the bibliography
References are arranged alphabetically by
author’s name (or title, if no author) which has
been used in the body of the text.
a. Book references
Include, where possible, the following
information in the order listed here:
Author(s)/Editor(s)
Surname first, followed by first name(s) or initials
(be consistent). Include all names if there are
two or three authors; if more than three, use the
first name and then et al.
For editors, compilers or translators (instead of
author), give the abbreviation ed/eds,
comp/comps or trans following the name(s):
for example Peckham,T. and Smith, G. (eds.)
Year of publication
If date not known, use: n.d. If the date is
ascertainable but not printed in the document,
give it in brackets, adding a question mark if the
date is uncertain.
for example (1996) or (1996?)
Title
Capitalise the first letter of the first word and any
proper nouns.
Use bold, italics or underline (be consistent)
Include any sub-title, separating it from the title
by a colon.
Edition Only include if not the first edition.
Series Include if relevant.
Place of publication and publisher
Use a colon to separate these elements. If not
given use: s.l. (no place) and s.n. (no publisher).
Page numbers
Include if referring to a specific quotation and so
on
Examples of book references:
for example Gombrich, E. H. (1977).Art and
illusion. 5th ed. London: Phaidon.
for example Ridley,A., Peckham, M. and Clark, P.
(eds.) (2003). Cell motility: from molecules to
organisms. Chichester:Wiley.
for example Royal Society (2001).The future of
sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs). London:
Royal Society
b. Section/Chapter in book edited by
another
The explanatory notes given in Section 2a, for
books, are still relevant, but additional elements
of information are also required, so:
Author(s) of section
Year of publication
Title of section (use normal type) followed by
In:
Author/Editor of whole book
Title of whole book (use bold, italics or
underlined – as for complete books)
Editor
Place of publication and publisher
Page numbers of section
for example Smith, H. (1990). Innovation at
large. In: James, S., (ed.) Science and innovation.
Manchester: Novon, pp. 46-50.
c. Journal references
NB: Please see Section 3 for citing electronic
journals
Explanatory notes given on page 2, for books, are
relevant. The elements of information required
are:
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
Page 21
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
Author(s)
Year of publication
Title of article (use normal type)
Title of journal (use bold, italics or underlined –
as for complete books)
Volume number
Issue number and/or date
Page numbers
for example
Williams, J. (2000).Tools for
achieving sustainable housing strategies in rural
Gloucestershire. Planning Practice & Research 15
(3), pp.155-174.
d. Conference papers
For single papers:
for example Studer, M. (2001). Civilian
military relations and co-operation in
humanitarian emergencies. Paper presented at a
workshop organised by the Swiss Development
Agency, Bern, 26th January.
For papers published as part of a set of
proceedings in book form, treat the reference as
a section of a book.
for example Webb, N. L. (1993). Management
education reform in Canada. In: Management
education in the United States: eight innovations.
Proceedings of a conference, Colchester, 1991.
London: Routledge.
author, or by URL if neither author nor title is
given.
b. Arranging electronic resources in the
bibliography
References to electronic resources should be
integrated into your bibliography for printed
sources.As far as possible, provide the same
information as you would provide for a print
reference (author, title, date of writing, if
these are stated). Also provide the URL and
the date on which you retrieved it, as the
web changes constantly.
Example of web page: Labour Party (2005)
News and speeches: Our third term will be our
best yet. [Online]. Retrieved on 22 July 2005
from:
http://www.labour.org.uk/index.php?id=news20
05&ux_news[id]=tbnpf05&cHash=64dcd1591a
Example of electronic journal: Arimah, B.
(2005) What drives infrastructure spending in
cities of developing countries? Urban Studies
42(8), pp.1345-1368. [Online]. Retrieved on 22
July 2005 from EBSCOhostEJS database
http://ejournals.ebsco.com
e. Newspaper articles
for example Hunt, P. (1999).Time is running
out. Daily Telegraph, 8 February, p. 10.
Example of Internet journal (published solely
on the Internet): Francis, R. and Raftery, J. (2005)
Blended learning landscapes. Brookes eJournal of
Learning and Teaching 1(3) October [Online].
Retrieved on 16 January 2006 from
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/publications/bejlt/vol
ume1issue3/perspective/francis_raftery.html!
f. Videos
for example Open University (2000).Art in 14th
century Siena, Florence and Padua. 5:The Spanish
Chapel. 25 min. London: BBC for the Open
University.Videocassette.
Example of report from a database: Mintel
(2004). City breaks in the UK. Mintel Leisure
Intelligence : UK.April. [Online]. Retrieved on 14
November 2005 from Mintel database
http://reports.mintel.com
Guidance on other types of resources, such
as legal material, standards and personal
communications, is available in Pears and
Shields (2004).
Example of report available as pdf:
Commission for Rural Communities (2005).The
state of the countryside 2005. Cheltenham:
Countryside Agency. [Online]. Retrieved on 22
July 2005 from:
http://www.ruralcommunities.gov.uk/data/uploads
/State%20of%20the%20Countryside%202005.pdf
4. Citing electronic resources
Electronic resources, including the Internet, are
subject to copyright in exactly the same way as
printed books or journals.To show the extent of
your research, and to avoid plagiarism, it is
essential that you fully acknowledge all sources
used, both printed and electronic, including web
pages.
a. Citing electronic resources in the body
of the text
As far as possible, follow the guidance given
for printed sources (Section 1) - cite by
author if known, by title if no identifiable
Further examples are given in: Pears, R. and
Shields, G. (2004). Cite them right: referencing
made easy. Newcastle upon Tyne: Northumbria
University. Library copies are available.
Sources of further information
The Open University (n.d.). References,
Bibliography and Plagiarism, retrieved on 20 July
2006 from
http://library.open.ac.uk/help/helpsheets/cite.ht
ml
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
Page 22
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
Bournemouth University (n.d.). Citing references.
[Online]. Retrieved on 21 July 2005 from:
http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/library/using/cit
ing_references.html
Li, X. and Crane, N. (1996). Electronic styles: a
handbook for citing electronic information. 2nd
ed. Medford, N.J.: Information Today.
Pears, R. and Shields, G. (2004). Cite them right:
referencing made easy. Newcastle upon Tyne:
Northumbria University Press.
University of Chicago Press (2003).The Chicago
manual of style. 15th ed. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Lindsay Sellar
Oxford Brookes University Library
January 2006
Ref: Citing your references using the
Harvard (author, date) System.
Taken from the Oxford Brookes University
Library website on 21.07.06 from
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/library/resou
rces/harvard.doc
The web contains many hundreds of millions of
pages, including everything from rigorous
research to trivia and misinformation. Before
making use of information found on the web in
your academic work, you need to make sure it is
of high quality. You should also remember that if
you use information from the web in your
academic work, just like printed sources, those
web pages must be cited in your references. See
our guide to Citing web sources for further
information).
When evaluating the quality of web resources,
consider the following:
Accuracy, Authority, Bias, Breadth and depth,
Comparison, Currency
Accuracy - finding “facts” or figures quoted on
the web is not automatically a guarantee that the
information is accurate. Can you check the
information against other sources? Does it fit
with what you already know? Do the authors of
the page tell you where they got the information
from?
Authority - who is providing the information,
and what evidence do you have that they know
what they are talking about?
It is not always easy to see immediately where a
particular web page comes from, and an
impressive-looking, whizzy web page is not
necessarily a guarantee of good quality
information! If you have found the page via a
link or a search engine, look for a “Home”,“Front
Page”, or similar icon, and follow it to try to see
whether the page authors are well-known
experts, and whether they provide a mission
statement,“real-world” postal address and phone
number, or a bibliography of their other articles,
reports or books.
Bias - As with any source of information, it is
possible for a web page to appear objective, but
in fact be promoting a particular standpoint. Be
critical; for example, if you have found
information on a particular drug.Are the writers
of this web page from the company which
makes the drug? From a campaign group trying
to get the drug banned? Or from an independent
research institute?
Breadth and depth of information - How
detailed is the information? What evidence is
given to back it up? Does it cover all relevant
areas of the subject? Does the web page link to
further relevant sources of information?
Currency - It is easy to assume that information
on the web must be very current (up-to-date),
but in fact there are now many pages on the web
which have not been updated for years. Does
the page say when it was last updated? (If not, try
checking the View – Page Info option in your
Web browser and see if a date is given.) Do all
the links to other sites still work? Remember,
even if the page has been updated recently, all
the information may not have been checked.
Comparison with other sources - To help you
have confidence in the information you find,
compare it with other sources of information on
the subject: published statistics, journal articles,
textbooks or other web sites.
Finally, remember that there are a range of preevaluated “subject gateways” available on the
web, where human experts have searched the
web for high-quality, reliable information.Ask
your Brookes subject librarian for ideas, or try
BUBL Link (http://www.bubl.ac.uk/link/) to get
you started.
For further information on evaluating
Internet and web resources, see:
Cooke,Alison (2001). A guide to finding quality
information on the
Internet: selection and evaluation strategies. 2nd
edition. London: Library Association Publishing.
Available at Headington and Wheatley Libraries at
004.678/COO
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
Page 23
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
Grassian, Esther (2000).Thinking critically about
World Wide Web resources. Retrieved on 12 July
2004 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/college/hel
p/critical/index.htm
Howe,Walt (2001). Evaluating quality. Retrieved
on 12 July 2004 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.walthowe.com/navnet/quality.html
Taken from the Oxford Brookes University
Library website on 25.07.06 from
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/library/guide
s/evalweb2004.doc
Appendix2
UK business libraries
University Libraries, Business Schools and
the UK Libraries Plus Scheme
Most academic libraries will provide some of the
basics you need. It is important that you consult
the web sites below and phone first to find out
whether you may use them.Web sites that give
details of access to Universities include:
The British Business School Librarians
Group provides an interactive map of members
(mostly in universities, but also in private business
schools), with links to their web sites:
http://www.bbslg.org/
UK Libraries Plus is a scheme that allows parttime, distance learning and placement students to
borrow from universities which have signed up
to join and borrow books.Access to electronic
sources is not usually given. Full details are given
at: http://www.uklibrariesplus.ac.uk
A guide to all UK higher education web sites
including catalogues and opening hours,
produced by Ian Tilsed at Exeter University:
http://www.ex.ac.uk/library/uklibs.html
The Open University guide to using higher
education libraries:
http://www6.open.ac.uk/librarydatabase
SCONUL Research Extra Our Library
participates in the SCONUL Research Extra
Scheme which provides external borrowing
facilities to academic staff and postgraduate
research students (PhD, MPhil) in 150+ higher
education libraries in the UK:
http://www.sconul.ac.uk/use_lib/srx/
The SCONUL Vacation Access Scheme usually
allows undergraduate and postgraduate students
reference use of other UK higher education
libraries free of charge during the vacations of the
host institution. If you request admittance to
another library you should be prepared to present
proof of your status.The production of your
university ID/library card may be acceptable but
please check before you go by looking at their
web pages or telephoning in advance. Details are
available at:
http://www.sconul.ac.uk/use_lib/vacation.html
Special Libraries
There are many hundreds of special libraries that
may be of use to you. Many government
departments, trade associations and other official
bodies run information services. Below are listed
only a few of the most important ones.
At the end of this handout are listed
directories that will help you to find details
of organisations involved in your area of
research.
Please remember to phone to check if you are
entitled to use them; there are restrictions on the
use of the libraries listed below and those listed in
directories.
Chartered Management Institute
Management House, Cottingham Road, CORBY
01536 204 222
The Management Information Centre provides a
search and postal book lending service from a
wide variety of sources covering every aspect of
management.A photocopy service is also
provided. Members have access to EBSCO's
Business Source Corporate and other online
resources remotely. Membership is open to all
students, including part-timers and open learners
for fees of £75-00 p.a. for part-timers and open
learners, and £50-00 p.a. for full-timers at the time
of writing.
British Library Business Information Service
Euston Road, St. Pancras, LONDON 020 7412 7454
http://www.bl.uk/welcome/business.html
This library holds the most extensive collection of
market research reports available to the public in
the UK. Consult: MARKET RESEARCH:A GUIDE
TO BRITISH LIBRARY HOLDINGS in the Quick
Reference section of Wheatley Library (016.65883
SCI) for details. Most standard series of market
research reports are available, and the library
attempts to cover markets not covered by them.
However, the publisher may insist on an embargo
of up to five years before they are made available
to the public.The collection is international and is
not restricted to the UK.The library additionally
holds trade directories, exhibition catalogues,
trade journals, and other trade literature, including
stockbroker reports. Click on the "Using our
reading rooms" link on the page above for details
of how to obtain a reader’s pass.All students are
welcome at the present time.
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
Page 24
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
Bookings must be made for workstations. Charges
are not made for searching databases, but
downloading is not permitted. Copy cards must
be purchased to print. Electronic sources include:
Company information
• Bureau Van Dijk databases include Fame,
also available at Brookes, providing detailed
accounts of 117,000 UK public and private
companies.Amadeus provides financial and
other details of 6.1 million companies in 34
European countries. Osiris does the same for
27,500 quoted companies worldwide. See
also the entry under the UK trade and
Investment Centre below.
• Disclosure USA/Worldscope company
reports from over 15,000 publicly quoted US
companies. Detailed financial information on
21,000 leading world companies. Detailed
financial data for 2.5 million UK and Irish
companies.
• Global reference Solution provides access
to Dun and Bradstreet’s directory of 86
million world businesses.
• Mergent Online provides data for 15,000
American and 20,000 other world
companies.
• Onesource provides detailed profiles of 1.7
million companies and 6 million executives
worldwide from 2,500 sources.Text sources.
• ABI/Inform provides full text of articles
from 1,000 academic and other business
journals.
• Business and industry reports on
companies, products industries and markets
from 1,000 trade and business news
publications.
• Business Periodical Index bibliographic
guide that indexes business journals.
• COBRA-Complete Business Advisor
encyclopaedia of practical information for
anyone starting or running a small business.
• Directors' Briefing and Start-Up Briefing
on starting and running a small business.
• European Business ASAP (Thomson Gale)
full text articles from scholarly and other
business journals.
• European Intelligence Wire (formerly
McCarthy) business news from international
newspapers and business magazines.
• Grantnet provides details of every variety of
grant available to businesses in the UK.
• Investext Plus (Thomson Gale) also
available at Brookes, this provides detailed
reports on all world public limited
companies, on industries, markets and
countries, from stockbrokers, investment
banks and so on
• Lexis-Nexis full text news articles, plus
company details and financial information.
•
World Tourism Organization e-library
provides access to the full text of over 300
reports.
Business Statistics
• EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit)
Countrydata worldwide macro-economic
indicators and forecasts. See also UK Trade
and Investment Centre.
• Euromonitor GMID (Global Marketing
Information Database) includes statistics of
all varieties on world economies. See also UK
Trade and Investment Centre.
Market reports
• Datamonitor Business information
Centre Information service containing
10,000 company profiles, 2,500 industry
profiles and more than 50 country profiles.
• EIU (Economist Intelligence Unit)
Viewswire Daily updates on important
economic, political, business and market
developments for 195 countries.
• Euromonitor GMID (Global Marketing
Information Database) includes market
reports, also available at Brookes as
Euromonitor Market Research Monitor, for
many world economies. See also UK Trade
and Investment Centre.
• Frost & Sullivan in-depth market research
and strategy reports on healthcare, chemicals,
IT, telecoms, electronics, industry,
transportation, aerospace and defense.
• ISI Emerging Markets provides high-quality
sector reports, news, country reports and
contact information on 50 emerging markets,
such as developing countries and economies
in Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, the
Middle East and North Africa. Data from
7,800 publications is provided.Allows users
to view the market from a "local" perspective,
monitor company, industry and market
performance, and keep abreast of current
developments and trends. See also UK Trade
and Investment Centre.
• Key Note full text of 250 market research
reports on the UK.
• MAPS full text of all Market Assessment Reports.
• Marketing Surveys Index details of 5,000
published market reports from 1,100 world
publishers.
• Business Insights (previously Reuters) also
available at Brookes, reports on the global
healthcare, consumer goods, finance,
technology and energy sectors.
• Snapshots 1,700 brief market research
overviews covering a wide range of countries
and products. See the UK Trade and
Investment Library.
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
Page 25
The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
Supply Chain Management in Practice
Work-based project guidance
Institute of Chartered Accountants in
England and Wales
Chartered Accountants Hall, Moorgate Place,
LONDON 020 7920 8620
http://www.icaew.co.uk
A fee-based service is available for non members.
Chartered Institute of Personnel and
Development
151,The Broadway Wimbledon, LONDON, SW19
1JQ 20 8612 6200
http://www.cipd.co.uk/about/library
A fee–based service is available to non-members.
Public Libraries
Most public libraries provide a basic service and
are generally under-used by the business
community.The larger industrial city's central
reference libraries tend to provide better
services.The UK Public Library web page
provides links to internet sites and catalogues,
where they are available:
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/square/ac940
/ukpublib.html
The following public business libraries are
especially worth phoning to see if they can help:
City Business Library
1 Brewers Hall Garden, LONDON 020 7332 1812
http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/leis
ure_heritage/libraries_archives_museums_gallerie
s/city_london_libraries/cbl.htm
Particular strengths are UK and foreign trade,
professional and telephone directories, trade
journals and international newspapers. Files are
maintained on industries and products, and
foreign countries. Some market research material
is available (mostly UK). Company annual reports
are available.A fee-based service is available.
Electronic sources include:
• Financial Times
• European Intelligence Newswire (formerly
McCarthy) business news from international
newspapers and business magazines. See
British Library.
• Business and industry reports on companies,
products industries and markets from 1,000
trade and business news publications. See
British Library.
• Hydra financial data from world companies.
• Fame Accounts and share prices for all public
and private UK companies, also available at
Brookes.
• Snapshots 1,700 brief market research
overviews covering a wide range of countries
and products. See British Library and UK
Trade and Investment Library.
•
CCH Business Profiles advice on setting up
every variety of small business.
Downloading from CD-ROMs is not permitted
and printing is charged.
Birmingham Commercial Library
Central Library, Chamberlain Square,
BIRMINGHAM 0121 303 4531
Manchester Commercial Library
St. Peters Square, MANCHESTER 0161 234 1990
Sheffield Commercial Library
Surrey Street, SHEFFIELD 0114 2734743
Directories of Libraries and Information Services
The directories that will help you to find other
useful organisations are:
• ASLIB DIRECTORY OF INFORMATION
SOURCES IN THE UNITED
KINGDOM(QR026.002541)
The standard guide to all public, academic
and special libraries.
• DIRECTORY OF BRITISH ASSOCIATIONS
(QR 062 DIR)
Particularly useful for tracing trade
associations which run information services.
• GUIDE TO LIBRARIES AND
INFORMATION UNITS IN GOVERNMENT
DEPARTMENTS AND OTHER
ORGANISATIONS (QR 027.00254 GUI) As
the title suggests, particularly useful for
tracing official libraries.
• TRADE ASSOCIATIONS AND
PROFESSIONAL BODIES OF THE UNITED
KINGDOM(QR060.025TRA)
Further details of useful organisations,
including a brief membership profile.
Ref: retrieved from Oxford Brookes
University Library website, 21.07.06,
http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/library/b
usiness/sources.html#directories
At the time of going of production (Jan 2007) all website references and addresses were active.
© The Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply January 2007.
Level 6 - Graduate Diploma in Purchasing and Supply
Page 26
© Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply January 2007.ED10/01/07
Easton House, Easton on the Hill, Stamford, Lincolnshire PE9 3NZ, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1780 756777 • Fax: +44 (0)1780 751610 • Email: info@cips.org • Web: www.cips.org