Throughout the course, you have explored many concepts and strategies in supply chain management. For your final assignment, you will synthesize your knowledge of these concepts and strategies by participating in a global operations and supply chain management simulation, and examining your results.

The goal of the simulation is to optimize the outcome of your supply chain management. In order to be successful, apply relevant information from Units 1-5 to the coordination of processes across the supply chain. Complete the following:

Review Appendix A: "Computerized Beer Game," on pages 457-471 of your text, for complete instructions on how to play the game.

Complete the role-play until you believe you have met the goal of optimizing the outcome of the supply chain:

You may choose your role in the supply chain.

Select the short lead-time option described on page 467, the centralized option described on page 468, the demand function also described on page 468, or the global information option described on page 468.

Save a screenshot of your final Summary Report (described on page 471 in your text).

Examine your results from the role-play by responding to the following questions. This assignment should be 4-5 double-spaced pages in length:

Do you believe you optimized your decisions in the game?

How do you know that your decisions resulted in an optimized solution?

How did you configure the game initially, to help optimize your results?

What decisions did you make and strategies did you use to optimize the outcome?

How did you minimize the bullwhip effect?

If you had live collaboration in the game, would it have improved your outcome? Why?

What other lessons about supply chain management did you learn?