Research Proposal

The proposal title

Challenges and opportunities of Inventory Management within a medical devices supply chain and its impact on the public healthcare ‘end-customer’:  case study – Ability Matters”.

The company

The company picked for the purpose of the dissertation case study research is Ability Matters. The enterprise is a part of an international group of companies, the Ability Matters Group, with principal activities focused on supply products and services to those who require a medical enhancement on their mobility and accessibility. The Group emphasis on the comfort of living of the patients and increasing their independence by offering a wide range of products and services. The Group associated the brands such as OpCare, Otho Europe, Ability Matters UK, Ability Matters IE, LM Orthopaedic and Peach.
The business, Ability Matters, was established in 1889 in Dublin, Ireland. Through merger and acquisitions, with over 500 employees across organisations, the Group became of the industry leaders in prosthetic and orthotic solutions as well as mobility aids in the UK and Ireland.
The Group is successfully maintaining the Public Healthcare contracts which are allowed to have a huge impact within the public and private rehabilitation programmes domestically and abroad.
The Group headquarter and most of its business units are located in the UK and due to the biggest unknowns in terms of politic, social and economic, Brexit, adding the other dimensions to the existing implications of the organisation’s supply chain as the organisation have a strong presence internationally in locations such as Netherland, France or the Middle East.

The rationale for the proposed research study

The researcher will have the ability to consulting the objectives and issues as well as findings, if any, with the Senior Management of the organisation. As an employee of the company, the practical insight on the day-to-day operations supported by education and experience supposed to be sufficient to identify issues and opportunities, especially within purchasing and inventory management area of the organisational supply chain. The researcher has defined this area as critical to improves services and shortage the lead time of supplied goods.
The main scope of the dissertation case study will be around domestic functions of the enterprise, highlighting the dual complexity of operations: the goals and intentions of the supply chain in the privately funded organisation with contrast to a different needs and objectives of the public healthcare services. This business model must be able to effectively blend two completely different approaches to conducting procurement processes, triggering operation procedures, financing and budgeting or event reporting issues. The industry is very process-driven, however, decision-making functions can be quite lagging due to significant differences in statuses and purpose of the company and his main customer.
In this matter, the value chain must be optimised to reduce mistakes, returns and miscommunications.
The research case study gives the opportunity to provide the answer for the necessity and possibility, if any of improvements within the procurement and the supply chain processes, especially in Inventory Management, purchasing and reverse logistics.
Question 1: Articulate the rationale for your proposed research study including an explanation of the topic of interest, the objective of the research, background and relevance.

• Define what the problem/opportunity is that you wish to address.

Question 2: Proposed title of the dissertation
Question 3: Client organisation

• Even If you have not identified an organisation yet, please propose a suitable company or body to which the research is applicable.

Question 4: Proposed Research Questions

• Secondary Research Questions
• Primary Research Questions

Question 5: Critical analysis of Literature
Identify two relevant journal articles dealing with the subject and the research question(s) addressed. The articles you have selected should underpin your literature review and in particular the theoretical framework for your research. The articles should use different research approaches for a similar research question – for example; one author uses a positivist approach and the other
an interpretivist.

• As you are conducting an original piece of research, you should demonstrate that your proposed area has relevance to the literature and you need to identify your niche/question/hypothesis.
• Please attach the two journal articles to the hard copy of the paper.
• You must critically compare and evaluate the research approach in each article, specifically addressing the articles’ engagement with following factors: (1) management of theoretical assumptions, (2) ontology and epistemology, and (3) methodological approach. You must also identify the theoretical paradigm that is guiding the research approach of the articles.
• You will evaluate the worth and effectiveness of each of the chosen approaches (e.g. positivist and interpretive) in addressing the subject and the research question, and their contributions to knowledge. In your opinion, is the question in each of the articles the ‘right’ question to ask and address? Do the methodologies employ really help to answer the question? Does one methodology do a better job of answering the question than the other methodology?

Question 6: Intended Methodology: Give an explanation of how you plan to research the topic of interest

• Give an overview of your epistemological and ontological position and how it relates to the intended methodology.
• You will need to demonstrate an awareness of the methodological approaches and data collection tools available to you and show some understanding of which would be suitable for your research.

Question 7: Expected Outcomes

• Explain what you believe the results will reveal and how you think these outputs will impact the client organisation.
• Detail any assumptions including time horizon and delimitations of scope for your research project.

Question 1 – P.E.S.T. and S.W.O.T. Analysis.

Required:
Conduct a P.E.S.T. and S.W.O.T.  analysis for your present or previous organisation and prepare a report for the senior management team that includes the following:

1. List, rank and explain three opportunities and three threats to your organisation.
2. List, rank and assess your organisation’s strengths – starting with the greatest strength to the least and explain why they occupy the position you have chosen. At least four strengths must be addressed.
3. List, rank and assess your organisations weaknesses – starting with the greatest weakness to the least and explain why they occupy the position you have chosen. At least four weaknesses must be addressed.
4. Discuss the action required by management to “exploit” the opportunities and “defend” against the threats.
5. Discuss the assumptions you have made in preparing the above analysis.
6. Briefly describe a “dataset” had it been available would be useful in supporting your analysis.

Question 2 – Cost-Benefit Analysis Exercise

Motorway by-pass
The Smart Transport Company (STC) specializes in providing all forms of road transport throughout Ireland.  Anita Smith is the General Manager of STC, and the company has a fleet of vehicles ranging from articulated trucks to small vans. Its most profitable route is the Dublin to Cork – every day, STC trucks and vans travel this busy road. Recently, a well-known traffic black spot – the large town of Gatestown was by-passed by a 35 km dual-carriageway that is designed to reduce the Dublin to Cork trip by up to 30 minutes during peak times, and by at least 12 minutes during off-peak times. The by-pass is 5km longer than going through Gatestown. Anita knows that her drivers have been looking forward to this new by-pass for several years. However, controversially – the new by-pass is tolled and some drivers are suggesting that it would be cheaper to go through the town than to pay the toll. Many transport companies, including STC, are complaining about the high tolls – especially for trucks. The tolls on the Gatestown by-pass are as follows:
 

 
Anita is not sure if she should tell drivers to use the by-pass and save a lot of time, or to continue to go through Gatestown as before though it will take longer. She wonders which option is best as STC is particularly vulnerable to fuel costs. She is also curious to know if all STC vehicles should use the by-pass or only some. Finally, she also wants to be able to compare options over the next two years.
You have been engaged to carry out a Cost-Benefit Analysis to help Anita decide what advice she should give the drivers. Assume the following points:

• All vehicles in the company’s fleet have diesel engines except cars
• Diesel is priced at 135.9 cent per litre
• Petrol is priced at 146.9 cent per litre
• All fuel will rise by 10% at the end of year 1
• Tolls will increase by 10% at the end of year 1
• National statistics indicate that accident rates on by-passes are 50% lower when compared to the older roads
• The number and frequency of STC vehicles using the Dublin to Cork road on an annual basis is as follows:

 
For each vehicle type, calculate the costs and benefits of going through Gatestown, and the costs and benefits of using the tolled by-pass. Once you have done this, consider the following questions:

1. What would you recommend to Anita for each type of vehicle, i.e. should the drivers use the by-pass or go through the town?
2. Include figures to your calculations for the benefits of using the by-pass such as:
   1. Reduced driver stress
   2. Less wear and tear on vehicles
   3. Reduced accident rate
   4. Less impact on the environment (e.g. reduced carbon emissions)?
3. What other intangible costs and benefits should you consider when reporting back to J?
4. Carry out some preliminary research of the suitability of Electric Vehicles for a transportation company such as this and include a brief note in your recommendations,

Question 3 – Value Chain Analysis and Activity Mapping

Required:
Describe and examine your organization’s Value Chain and Activity Map. Your answer should include a discussion on the following:

1. Partners
2. Suppliers
3. Business Critical activities
4. Core Competencies
5. Capabilities

Question 4 – Pareto Analysis Exercise – Warehouse Inventory Control

Deirdre Archer is a warehouse manager in a large DIY store. She has just completed a stock take of all inventories in the store and warehouse. She has long suspected that some items are over-stocked and others are under-stocked and wants to know if there is a better way to manage the warehouse inventory.
Recently, she heard about the Pareto Principle that states “20% of your inventory takes up 80% of your warehouse space” and wondered if this applied to the DIY store warehouse. She was also worried about whether she is correctly forecasting stock levels to meet demand on a yearly basis and wanted to know if the agreed re-order quantities from suppliers were adequate to meet demand and to ensure that no over-stocking was taking place due to larger than necessary re-order quantities. In particular, she wanted to concentrate on the Hand Tools Department as the stocktake showed that some items had high levels of stock, while others had very low levels.
Clearly, some items will be more important to the DIY store than others. This is because some items will sell better than others, so that if there are no or very few best-selling items in stock – many customers will be disappointed. Such items have a high value. On the other hand, low-value items might be those that have a high inventory level but do not sell very well. The concept of “usage value” (the number of sales multiplied by price) is often used as a way of discriminating between different stock items. Inventory for those items with a high usage value should be controlled carefully, while items with a low usage value need not be controlled as closely. Table 2.  shows a selected range of hand tools sold in the DIY store. Also provided are the price, annual sales, inventory, and re-order quantity of each tool. In order to be able to draw a Pareto chart you will first have to complete the following:

1. Calculate the usage value for each item
2. Rank each item in descending order according to usage value
3. Calculate the cumulative usage value
4. Calculate the percentage cumulative usage value

Once you have done this, draw a Pareto chart to represent these data. The left side of the chart should show the usage value. The right side of the chart should show the percentage of cumulative value. Finally, the bottom of the chart will display the names (or part numbers) of each item.
Once you have completed the Pareto chart, answer the following questions:

1. Does the Pareto principle apply to usage value in this case?
2. Which items would you recommend to Deirdre that she concentrates her efforts at controlling the stock level most closely?
3. What items would you recommend to Deirdre that do not need close control?
4. How could Deirdre forecast the correct levels of stock for each item?
5. What changes in re-order quantities would you recommend as a result of your analysis?
6. What minimum level of stock would you recommend be maintained at all times for items with high usage value?
7. What other stakeholders should be consulted.

Table 2.   DIY Warehouse Inventory Analysis.