How do companies adopt technology advances in Supply Chain Management (SCM)?

Assignment- Research question, designation of study organization and annotated reference list

Assignment Four: Basic Management Research Topic, Designation of Case and Annotated Reference List. Students will select a case [the case is a company or organization that you will apply your research question to. The paper is two pronged. For example you wish to write about innovation. You read literature about innovation and then apply what you read to a case example such a Rubbermaid, or Apple or another company known for innovation.

Another example you are interested in writing about strategy/strategic planning you might wish to apply what you read about strategic planning to Walgreens as the case as depicted in Daft page 61. You are interested in environmental scanning read literature on environmental scanning then select a case/company that applies such as Wal-Mart] to be studied from the resources available in the UMUC library databases, design a research question to apply to that case and develop an annotated reference list of no fewer than five articles from peer-reviewed journals found in the UMUC library databases. Students may, in the course of further researching the case and topic, augment the peer reviewed articles with articles from other sources provided that the majority of research is conducted in peer-reviewed sources. If the student is taking UCSP 611 concurrent with MGMT 610 it is recommended that the topic of this assignment be the same as the topic for the UCSP 611 assignment. However, the annotated reference list and the final Research Paper must be for this course and submitted according to the standards established for this course.

The requirements and standards for the annotated reference list are below. The sample annotated reference is what your annotated references are to look like.

The annotations you will create for a research paper will be critical annotations. Each entry in your annotated reference list should include:

• A citation of the source in correct APA format
• An annotation that includes

1. the scope and purpose of the work
2. a brief description of the content of the source (2-3 sentences)
3. information explaining the authoritativeness of the author

• What are his/her credentials and the quality of the research?

• Is the author an expert in the field?

• Has the author written other articles on the topic? (Many of the databases include links to the authors that provide a listing of other articles written by them. Some articles provide the authors' academic credentials.)

4. evaluation of the scholarly value of the article

- Is it in a scholarly journal?
- Does it have a reference list consisting mainly of scholarly resources?

5. evaluation of the objectivity of the article

- Does the article present more than one point of view?

- Does the author support the statements s/he makes with facts or evidence or are his/her statements unsubstantiated?

6. an assessment of the relevance and usefulness of the source to your research question

Sample Annotated Reference List Entry

Research question: In a global environment is it important to understand cultural differences to promote quality management and collaborative teamwork?

Vecchi, A., & Brennan, L. (2011). Quality management: A cross-cultural perspective based on the GLOBE framework. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 31(5), 527-553. doi:10.1108/01443571111126319

This article summarizes the results of a survey aimed at determining whether quality management is "culture-specific." The survey responses of managers at 641 companies in 21 countries were evaluated using the global leadership and organizational behavior (GLOBE) framework. The authors conclude that some cultures are more favorable for quality management implementation, and argue that managers can use this knowledge to "better understand how to transfer best quality management practices" (p. 545) across cultures. One of the authors, Louis Brennan, a professor in the School of Business at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, has authored or coauthored over 50 peer-reviewed articles, including several studying the significance of culture to management. The other author, Alessandra Vecchi, is Senior Research Fellow - Management at the London College of Fashion. She has coauthored 11 journal articles, as well as numerous book chapters, on the subject of management. Total quality management is one of her specific research interests. This article is published in a scholarly journal and has an extensive reference list of mainly scholarly articles. The authors' conclusions are supported by evidence and facts from the survey. The literature review and survey data illustrate my research premise that it is important to understand and take into consideration cultural differences when attempting to establish quality management and teamwork in a multicultural work environment. I can use the data and conclusions to illustrate the arguments I will make in my paper.