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School Name
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School of Intelligent Finance and Business
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Module Name & Code
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Supply Chain Risk Management/IFB213TC
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Academic Year/Semester
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AY24-25 / Sem 2
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Type of Assessment
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Coursework
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Weight of Assessment
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100% of the final grade for this module
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First Attempt/Resit
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First Attempt
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Submission Date
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5pm, 7 April 2025
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Word Count
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1500 (+/-10%)
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COURSEWORK
Read the case study on Golden Star Ltd and then complete the required tasks.
Golden Star Ltd is a private petrochemical company headquartered in the city of Qingdao, China. It is one of the so-called “teapot” oil refiners and operates two oil refineries along the coastline of Shandong province. Most of the petrochemical products produced by Golden Star Ltd are sold to domestic customers. Because the domestic economy of China is slowing down, the People’s Bank of China (the central bank) has started to ease its monetary policy to stimulate economic growth. Monetary easing is likely to cause devaluation of Chinese Yen again the US dollar and Euro, which are used by Golden Star Ltd to buy crude oil from foreign suppliers.
All of the crude oil used by Golden Star Ltd are imported. Around 30% of the crude oil imports come from Iran and Russia; the rest are from Angola, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia and United Arab Emirates. Currently, transactions with Iran and Russia have not been affected by the sanctions imposed by the US and EU because they are not settled in Euro or US dollar. However, there is a risk that in the future that the US and EU may tighten the sanctions on Iran and Russia. For example, if both regimes decide to strictly enforce secondary sanctions on the entities buying crude oil from Iran and Russia, Golden Star Ltd will have no choice but to stop importing crude oil from these two countries because its transactions with the other supplying nations are settled in US dollar or Euro. Also, the political instability in the Middle East and the on-going Russo-Ukraine conflict have made the global oil price more volatile in the past five years. For example, a drone attack to a major oil installation in Saudi Arabia in 2019 caused a benchmark oil price, the Brent Crude Futures price, to increase by almost 20% in two days.
In the past two years, Golden Star Ltd has been working with a local university to improve the refining process used in its refineries. The CEO of Golden Star Ltd plans to introduce an improved refining process in the next three months. If this process is successfully implemented, the yield on high-value-added products, such as gasoline, will increase by 10%. However, past experience suggests that the implementation of a new process is not always smooth. For example, at the early stage of the implementation, Golden Star may encounter temporary disruptions to the normal production in its refineries.
Golden Star Ltd did not have any major accident in the past 5 years. However, recent inspections of its refineries and warehouses by local authorities identified several deficiencies in its compliance with the local health and safety regulations. Some of the deficiencies, if not quickly addressed, may lead to catastrophic accidents, such as fires and explosions. Local authorities fined Golden Star CNY 2 million for the compliance issues and required it to take immediate actions to improve its compliance.
Required Tasks
Task 1
Use the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) model to analyze the potential failures in the supply chain of Golden Star Ltd:
a) Identify the failure types and the potential cause(s) and effect(s) of the failures. [20 marks]
b) Estimate and then rank the Risk Priority Numbers (RPNs) of the potential failures identified in a). Note that you should justify the ratings assigned to the three components of RPNs (i.e., Occurrence, Severity and Detectability). [20 marks]
c) Recommend some control measures that could reduce the ratings of the three components of RPNs calculated in b) and then re-estimate the RPNs, assuming that your recommended measures will be successfully implemented. [20 marks]
Task 2
Apart from the potential risks revealed by the case study, identify any two potential ESG risks in the supply chain of a petrochemical company like Golden Star Ltd and then briefly discuss how to mitigate these risks. [20 marks]
INDICTIVE GRADING SCHEME
1. Presentation of the Coursework (including writing quality; effective and accurate use of statistics, tables, diagrams, or/and illustrations and word count/page numbers) [10 marks]
2. Content of the Coursework:
§ Task 1 (three sections; each with 20 marks) [60 marks]
§ Task 2 [20 marks]
3. Referencing, Citations and Independent Research (including correct application of the Harvard citation style. and evidence of independent research) [10 marks]
[100 marks in total]
Performance Descriptors:
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Grade
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Point Scale
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Criteria
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A
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80+
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Ø Excellent execution of the assessment brief
Ø Evidence of extensive independent research; many relevant, suitable references have been consulted to write the coursework
Ø Mastery of relevant subjects/topics at the level that is beyond what has been explicitly taught
Ø Excellent application of the Harvard citation style
Ø Excellent ability to synthesize information, construct arguments and perform. critical analysis
Ø Excellent presentation & writing skills; the coursework focuses on the tasks and is well-structured
Ø Potentially worthy of publication
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B
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70 - 79
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Ø Excellent execution of the assessment brief
Ø Evidence of significant independent research; adequate number of relevant, suitable references have been consulted to write the coursework
Ø Mastery of relevant subjects/topics
Ø Very good presentation; only one or two minor deficiencies
Ø Commendable ability to synthesize, construct arguments and perform. critical analysis
Ø Very good writing skills; the coursework focuses on the tasks and is well-structured
Ø Very good application of the Harvard Referencing Style; only one or two citation mistakes.
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C
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60 - 69
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Ø Very good execution of the assessment brief; only a few omissions and minor mistakes
Ø Evidence of independent research; adequate number of references have been consulted to write the coursework although a few of them are not directly relevant to the course work or not from ideal sources
Ø Good command of relevant subjects/topics
Ø Good presentation although some areas could be improved
Ø Able to synthesize, construct arguments and perform. critical analysis
Ø Good command of English although there are a few grammatical, typographical or/and punctuational errors; the coursework focuses on the tasks and is well-structured
Ø Good application of the Harvard Referencing Style; only a few citation mistakes
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D
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50- 59
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Ø Good execution of the assessment brief; but there are some omissions and mistakes
Ø Evidence of independent research; however, the number of references or/and the quality of some references falls short
Ø Adequate understanding of relevant subjects/topics although there are a few learning gaps
Ø Satisfactory presentation although there are some deficiencies
Ø Able to synthesize, construct arguments and perform. critical analysis; but some parts of the coursework are descriptive
Ø Adequate command of English although there are some grammatical, typographical or/and punctuational errors; some deficiencies in the structure or/and the writing sometimes deviates from the tasks
Ø Satisfactory application of the Harvard Referencing Style; but there are some citation mistakes
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E
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40 - 49
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Ø Marginally satisfactory execution of the brief; there are significant omissions and/mistakes
Ø Inadequate independent research; significant shortfalls in the number and/or quality of references
Ø Marginally satisfactory understanding of relevant subjects/topics; there are some noticeable learning gaps
Ø Marginally satisfactory presentation but there are noticeable deficiencies
Ø Little effort to synthesise, critically evaluate and analyse; some sections are very descriptive
Ø Attempted to apply the Harvard Referencing Style; but there are many citation mistakes
Ø There are many grammatical, typographical or/and punctuational errors; the writing lacks focus and/or structure
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F
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0 - 39
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Ø Poor execution of the brief; there are many significant mistakes and/or commissions
Ø Little evidence of inadequate independent research and little effort to incorporate relevant references into writing
Ø Unsatisfactory understanding of relevant subjects/topics
Ø Unsatisfactory presentation; there are many significant deficiencies
Ø Very poor command of English; there are a lot of many grammatical, typographical or/and punctuational errors
Ø The coursework is ill-structured and most sections have little connections to the tasks
Ø No attempt to apply the Harvard citation style
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