Please welcome our guest lecturer this week – Larry Weiner.  I’ve worked with Larry for many years in various e-business initiatives and value his insights.

The topic of his lecture is: Evolution of the B2B Business Network – The rise of Supply Chain Operating Networks.

Bio:  Larry Weiner
Lead Architect – eBusiness
The Dow Chemical Company

Larry Weiner, a 20 year IT professional, has spent the majority of his career working in the Chemical Industry for the Rohm and Haas Company and The Dow Chemical Company.

Larry is a Philadelphia native and Temple University graduate specializing in SAP, eCommerce, eBusiness, system architecture and related integration technologies.

In his current role, Larry leads a global team of more then 20 implementation specialists who provide integration services for Dow Chemical and their partners to automate the work process for customers, vendors, warehouses, carriers, and other 3rd party logistics providers.

As discussed in class yesterday – below is the method I use to grade the case assignments.

Each case has a maximum of 10 points that can be awarded.

I choose 4 of the questions posed for grading  An answer that is complete (e.g. per question instructions) and touches the themes from the case will receive 2 points each.  This represents (2 x 4) 8 of the possible 10 points.

I also award a maximum of 2 added points for any of the following:

• Unique, creative, insightful comments or analysis from the case materials
• The critical facts and ideas in the answer are presented in a clear, readable and compelling manner.

The following are examples of answer to a possible case question.  The content (ideas) are the same in each example.  However, I believe that Example 1 presents them in a clearer, and more readable and compelling manner.

_______________  Example 1

Keys to Success:

More content available: providers bring sufficiently different content on one site obviating need to visit other sites or use different viewing options.

Free to use: users only need to register to watch much free content.

Popularity: Providers use social network platforms to attract more users / audience

Relationship with Partners: Understand each partner’s business to provide what they desire (profit, audience share, buzz, etc.)

_______________  Example 2

There are several keys to success. Having more content available as well as sufficiently different content on one site obviates need to visit other sites or use different viewing options. Providing viewing free of charge means users only need to register to watch much the content. Providers use social network platforms to attract more users / audience and drive up their popularity. A strong Relationship with Partners is also a key to success. The relationship allows understanding each partners’ business to provide what they desire most (profit, audience share, buzz, etc.).

The Fox school makes it relatively easy for professors to capture the video of the classes.  It’s another way for you to participate if you cannot attend class or to review certain sections of a class lecture of discussion.

As best I can, I’ll capture all the classes and post the links here.  Unfortunately, I have a habit of pausing the video capture during breaks and not turning on.

This link has all the video’s for the class.  In addition the individual classes are here:

Week 2  January 21   Crocs Case and I/T in Supply Chains

Week 3  January 28  Zappos Case and Electronic Markets

Week 4  February 4 WWT/ClearOrbit Case & Beer Game Intro

Week 5  February 11 Beer Game and Bullwhip Effect

Week 6  February 18  RFID

Week 7  February 25  Metro Case and Delivery of Info Goods

Week 8  March 10  Hulu Case & Procurement and Sourcing

Week 9  March 17  Xbox Case & eFulfillment & Distribution

Week 10  March 24  Amazon Europe Case & Ethics and Green Supply Chains

Week 11  March 31  Starbucks Case & SC IT Standards

Week 12  April 7  RosettaNet / ebXML Case & Guest Lecture

Week 13  April 14  Global SC Simulation Intro

Week 14  April 21  Global SC Simulation Debrief, Final Lecture

All members of a team receive the same points for the case submissions / presentations. If you feel that one or more members are not doing their fair share, please submit the following form to me by email.

Each student is expected to complete and submit this form to the instructor atleast once during the semester.

All responses will be kept confidential.

Click here for Team Member Evaluation Form

Instructions for Other Groups (not presenting, not posting answers)

One group will present this case in the class, and another group will post the correct answers to these case questions on the blog after the class discussion.  The remainder of the groups are required to submit a printout of their answers to the instructor at the beginning of the class.  All groups are to be prepared to discuss the case in the class.

Here are some tips for writing the case answers:

1. Answers should be brief and to the point (10 lines max).
2. Answers should be substantiated by proper reasoning from the case or other sources.
3. Avoid general statements such as “make customers happy”, “increase profits” etc without proper explanations.

Instructions for the group posting correct answers

Every week, one group will post correct answers to the case questions on the blog. Here are the instructions to that group:

1. Please post your answers as a comment to the post which contains the case questions.
2. The answer should be posted after we discuss the case in class (preferably before noon the following day).
3. Please make sure that you post correct answers based on the inclass discussion. Points will be deducted if you post incorrect answers to the case questions on the blog.
4. Feel free to discuss any answer with me if you are not sure of the correct answer to any question.

Instructions for the group making case presentation

Submission:

1. Submit the case study analysis via email to me (at Edward.Beaver@temple.edu) – no later than the day the case study is to be discussed in class. The file should be in Microsoft Powerpoint (.ppt or pptx) format.
2. Submit a printout of your presentation slides to instructor at the beginning of the class.
3. Please bring the case to class on a flash driveand make sure you hand it to me before the class starts.
4. Late submissions will not receive assignment credit

Content:

1. Briefly (3-5 slides) discuss the company and the main points of this case.
2. Present a slide or two on how the company is doing now (through some research on Google) – what their latest profit is or how they seem to be doing overall. If you can include some latest news about their supply chain, that’ll be great.
3. Prepare a diagram of the complete supply chain (as given in the case). On the diagram, highlight the insourced and outsourced components.
4. Prepare 1-2 slides on each of the case questions from the blog.

Presentation Style: Points will also be awarded for presentation style. Here are some tips that you may want to note:

1. Remember that the slides are not the presentation. Avoid reading verbatim from the slides.
2. Make sufficient eye contact with the class. It is not a good idea to read prepared notes directly.
3. Make the slides sufficiently interesting. For example, you can include pictures or videos related to the company.
4. Formal attire is not required for this presentation.