Feedback on the assignment and the exercise activity

• For the coursework, you are looking at the issues that Severn Trent faces in selecting suppliers, but that is limited to the supplier selection in the given exercise, not for the generic Seven Trent. However, in your conclusion or recommendation you can discuss the wider issues of Severn Trent selecting suppliers as a company.
• The exercise is similar to the 10 min exercise you did in the Tuesday evening session, think about KPIs and supplier selection
• The prices given are per unit. Also, your chosen supplier would win the business for the next 3 years.
• With regards to the head office location, companies often put their HQ in locations with lower corporate taxes, there is no information given on the location of operation. Therefore, it’s up to you to decide what you want to do with that information

• You could rank (1-3), then apply a weighting to what you think is most important, (this would be a quantitative approach). Think about Severn Trent KPIs.
• A lot of the decision making is based on judgement and experience (this would be a qualitative approach). For example, when you buy something online, you are rating speed of delivery vs. ease of return.
• When applying a chosen theory, you can use any two combinations you like. If you find that the chosen theories don’t quite fit, that’s alright, as you can discuss this in your analysis as an issue of theory application in the service sector.
• The final question asks for a qualitative answer, which is requiring you to give a judgement answer based on the information you have and your experience you have, in a addition to Severn Trent’s  KPIs.

What should I include in the introduction?

In the introduction you don’t need to discuss the evening session or the mini exercise you did (you can put that in the description section of Gibbs model). All you have to do is introduce the exercise sheet you were given and tell us what theories you plan to apply. I would allocate 150-200 words for the introduction and the same 150-200 words for the conclusion. Try and write your introduction from the perspective of the purchasing and procurement department of Severn Trent (you can imagine yourself as a graduate there.)

How do I structure my report?

Have a small introduction where you talk about the given exercise and the theories you want to apply. Then state which reflective model you want to apply (Kolb or Gibbs). Follow the reflective model through sub-headings, e.g. description, feelings, evaluation…

How do I apply Kraljic when items are not specified?

You can apply Kraljic on the suppliers, rather than the items. For example, pipes would be strategic while builders are routine. However, they are all supplying the same items in the exercise. So, if you use Kraljic, your analysis would include supplier relationship theories as well, or you can talk about Porter’s value and how much value strategic suppliers add VS. routine suppliers.

What theories can I use?

Use a min of 2 theories (excluding the reflective model). This can be any combination you like. For example, Kraljic and supplier relationship, Kraljic and sourcing strategies, Kraljic and Pareto, Porters value model and Kraljic, Porters value model and sourcing strategies, supplier relationship and sourcing strategies… etc.

What can I do if the theories don’t fully fit?

That’s alright, you can reflect how theories don’t apply as well in the service sector. Or you could reflect on how you wish to apply the theory if you could but due to limited information, its difficult. You can also reflect on how you wish to apply theory, but the way service companies operate make the application difficult.

What issues can I include?

You can discuss some of the issues presented in the exercise (i.e. HQ location, staff numbers, accidents recorded). You can also use any of the notes you took from the session e.g. response time to customers is 4 hours. Only include issues relevant to the exercise and the supplier selection.

Next week we will have more issues that you can include in terms of Risk

In your conclusion you can discuss the generic issues facing Severn Trent as a whole.

Which reflective theory? Kolb or Gibbs?

You can use whichever one you are comfortable with

Intro 100

Literature review 550

Reflecting 550

Conclusion 100

Recommendation 50 ( as an action plan)