Operations and Supply Chain Management

(BUS 280)
Instructor:
Ming Zhou, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management
School of Global Innovation and Leadership
Lucas Graduate School of Business
San Jose State University
Class Time:
Aug, 25 to Dec, 08, 2014
Monday
6:00 pm 8:45 pm
Classroom: BBC 022

Office: BT 464
Office Hours:
Phone: 408-924-3572
Mon 03:30pm 05:00 pm
Email: ming.zhou@sjsu.edu
and by appointment
To make an appointment, email is the best method to reach me.

Course Material:
Textbook:
Operations and Supply Chain Management
Russell and Taylor, 8th Edition
ISBN: 978-1118738542

Course Website:
Course slides and other materials will be available on Canvas
(http://sjsu.instructure.com).

Cases and reading materials are available from Kings library ABI/Inform online
database.

Course Description:
Analysis of effective and efficient flow of materials, products, services, and information
within and across organizations. Includes: process flow analysis, capacity planning,
quality, lean supply chain, layout, aggregate planning, supply chain networks,
inventory management, sourcing, ERP, and logistics planning.

Attendance:
I will randomly check class attendance. You are ALLOWED to miss one class during the
semester for no specific reason. Occurrences of further absence are justified only by
medical and/or family emergencies under the support of appropriate documents, such
as a doctors note. Prolonged absence can result in severe grade deterioration. It is in
your best interest to discuss such incidents with me as early as possible.
College Policy:
a) Academic integrity statement (from Office of Judicial Affairs):
Your own commitment to learning, as evidenced by your enrollment at San Jos State
University and the Universitys Academic Integrity
Policy requires you to be honest in all your academic course work.
Faculty are required to report all infractions to the Office of Judicial Affairs.
The policy on academic integrity can be found at http://www2.sjsu.edu/senate/S0412.pdf
b) Campus policy in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act:
If you need course adaptations or accommodations because of a
disability, or if you need special arrangements in case the building
must be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as
possible, or see me during office hours. Presidential Directive 97-03
requires that students with disabilities register with Assessable Education Center (AEC)
to establish a record of their disability.
c) College of Business Policies and Procedures:
Please check the URL at
http://www.cob.sjsu.edu/cob/5_STUDENT%20SERVICES/cobpolicy.htm
To ensure that every student, current and future, who takes courses in the Boccardo
Business Center, has the opportunity to experience an environment that is safe,

attractive, and otherwise conducive to learning, the College of Business at San Jos State
has established the following policies:
Cell Phones:
Students will turn off their cell phones or put them on silent mode while in class. They
will not use their phones, which includes making or receiving phone calls, webbrowsing, text-messaging, video or audio entertainment, gaming and so on, in class.
Students whose phones disrupt the course and do not stop when requested by the
instructor will be referred to the Judicial Affairs Officer of the University.
Computer Use:
No computer usage is allowed during class lecturing. Any violation, at a minimum, will
be asked to leave the class and will lose participation points for the day, and, at a
maximum, will be referred to the Judicial Affairs Officer of the University for
disrupting the course. (Such referral can lead to suspension from the University.)
Students are urged to report to their instructors computer use that they regard as
inappropriate.
Academic Honesty:
Faculty will make every reasonable effort to foster honest academic conduct in their
courses. They will secure examinations and their answers so that students cannot have
prior access to them and proctor examinations to prevent students from copying or
exchanging information. They will be on the alert for plagiarism. Faculty will provide
additional information, ideally on the green sheet, about other unacceptable procedures
in class work and examinations. Students who are caught cheating will be reported to
the Judicial Affairs Officer of the University, as prescribed by Academic Senate Policy
S04-12.
Questions and Class Preparation:
All students are encouraged to bring questions, concerns, and comments to my
attention as soon as they arise. Please do not wait! Once final grades are submitted,
changes to grades will only be made to correct calculation errors.
Students will receive the greatest benefit by completing all the reading assignments in
advance of class, attending class, and being active participants in classroom discussions.
Sharing of opinions, ideas and questions is strongly encouraged and greatly benefits all
participants.
Course Requirements:
Grades in this course will be computed as follows:

Class Participation (CP)

Final Project (FP)
Mid-term Exam (FE)
Final Exam (SE)
Final Grade:

20%
20%
30%
30%
100%

Your exam will be graded in a 100 point scale. Class participation and final project will
be graded in 20-point scales. Your overall grade can be calculated as below:
Final Grade = CP + FP + FE x 30% + SE x 30%
For this class, overall grades are converted to letter grades following the table below:
94% and above

93% - 90%

A-

89% - 87%

B+

86% - 84%

83% - 80%

B-

79% - 77%

C+

76% - 74%

73% - 70%

C-

69% - 67%

D+

66% - 64%

63% - 60%

D-

below 60%

I DO NOT curve any individual exam, participation, or your final project. A curve, if
applicable, will only be applied to your overall grade. However, there is no guarantee of
if and how much I will curve the overall grades.
Please do not expect that falling slightly below a grade-break means you will receive the next
highest grade. I will not bargain with anyone on grades. The grades are final once they are
posted. Questions, such as Is there anything I can do to earn some extra credits or I
am so close to a B, can I get a B, will not receive any answer. For example, a final score
of 79 results in a final grade of "C+". It would be a mistake to expect otherwise.

Please keep in mind that the grade you receive is highly correlated with the effort you
put into the class. I dont give grades, you earn them. If you expect a certain grade, put
the required effort in from day one.
Cheating, in any of the exams, will be reported to the department and the Judicial
Affairs Officer of the University. This may lead to a grade of F. The instructor
reserves the right of interpretation for all definitions of academic dishonesty and
their applicability.
Exams: 60%
The exams will consist of true or false, multiple choice, short essay, and calculation
questions. Two exams will be given. Exams can be taken only on the assigned dates. In
the case of emergencies, make-up exams will be given. Make-up exams will be different
from the regular exam.
For AEC accommodation, approval documents from the AEC is needed to validate your
request. Please bring your accommodation need to my attention at least two weeks
before an exam. You are responsible for obtaining AEC paperwork and my signature in
order to receive proper accommodations.
In the rare case where a student has to reschedule an exam due to medical or personal
emergencies, you are required to contact me or arrange other people to contact me on
your behalf within a week before or after the exam date.
Final Group Project: 20%
In the final project, you are required to apply an operations management technique we
discuss in the class to a real-life problem. For instance, previous students have worked
on using forecasting methods to forecast the demand of Starbucks, calculating the
breakeven point of a local grocery store, selecting a vendor using decision tools etc.
Your group needs to collect some real-life data in your project. Not all data have to be
real, but at least a significant portion of your data should be.
A 10-15 page write-up (including a title page and all your calculations and supporting
materials, such as tables and figures) should be submitted. Your write-up should be
formatted:
1. Double spaced.
2. Font size no bigger than size 12 in Book Antique or Times New Roman.
3. Page margin should be no larger than 1.25 on any side.
Despite your presentation schedule, all write-ups are due on 12/01 before the class
starts.

I recommend you to organize your write-up as below:

Introduction: briefly introduce the background and other necessary information.
This section should be less than one page.
Problem Definition: Define your problem and defend why your proposed technique
would apply.
Calculation: Show your calculation and results in this section. You are responsible
for read-proof all the numbers and results.
Discussion and Analysis: Discuss your results. Focus on how your results help
solving the problem and what the implications are.
Conclusion: Wrap up your write-up with a short conclusion that is supported by
your results.

Class Participation: 20%

Participation is the key to a lively class. 20% of the course grade will depend upon your
contributions to our class sessions.
The first 10% of participation is your in-class discussion participation. Class discussion
participation provides the opportunity to practice speaking and persuasive skills, as
well as the ability to listen. Comments that are vague, repetitive, unrelated to the
current topic, disrespectful of others, or without sufficient foundation will be evaluated
negatively. What matters is the quality of one's contributions to the class discussion, not
the number of times one speaks. Note: Attendance does not equal participation.
Guidelines for Evaluating Participation
Outstanding Contributor: Contributions in class reflect exceptional preparation. Ideas offered are always
substantive, provide one or more major insights as well as direction for the class. Challenges are well substantiated
and persuasively presented. If this person were not a member of the class, the quality of discussion would be
diminished markedly.
Good Contributor: Contributions in class reflect thorough preparation. Ideas offered are usually substantive, provide
good insights and sometimes direction for the class. Challenges are well substantiated and often persuasive. If this
person were not a member of the class, the quality of discussion would be diminished.
Adequate Contributor: Contributions in class reflect satisfactory preparation. Ideas offered are sometimes
substantive, provide generally useful insights but seldom offer a new direction for the discussion. Challenges are
sometimes presented, fairly well substantiated, and are sometimes persuasive. If this person were not a member of
the class, the quality of discussion would be diminished somewhat.
Non-Participant: This person says little or nothing in class. Hence, there is not an adequate basis for evaluation. If
this person were not a member of the class, the quality of discussion would not be changed.
Unsatisfactory Contributor: Contributions in class reflect inadequate preparation. Ideas offered are seldom
substantive, provide few if any insights and never a constructive direction for the class. Integrative comments and
effective challenges are absent. If this person were not a member of the class, valuable air-time would be saved.

Note: The above system is from Prof. Richard J. Murnane at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

The second 10% of your participation is class article presentation. You are required to
fully read and understand all articles before their assigned class meetings. Your group
will assume the responsibility of presenting selected articles to the class.
Requirements for articles/cases:
Thoroughly cover important contents and facts of an article.
Make sure the basic flow of the articles is preserved.
Your comments and analysis are key differentiators in my grading system.
For each article, you have up to 20 minutes for your presentation. You can use
another 10 -15 minutes for discussion and/or Q&A.
Upload your summary to course website (under discussions) after your
presentation.
For students who are not presenting, you are required to read all articles and
prepare a one page summary. I will RANDOMLY collect the summaries and
raise questions to non-presenting students. You will be given one time
exemption for being unprepared. The definition of being unprepared is:
o Do not have the summary or
o Have the summary but not being able to answer questions.

Starting from the second time, a grade penalty will be applied in the
following schedule:
o 2nd time: 2 point of your participation grade will be deducted. The
maximum of ones participation grade after the penalty would be 13.
o 3rd time: 3 points of your participation grade will be deducted. The
maximum of ones participation grade after the penalty would be 10.
o 4th time: 4 points of your participation grade will be deducted. The
maximum of ones participation grade after the penalty would be 6.
o 5th time: 5 points of your participation grade will be deducted. The
maximum of ones participation grade after the penalty would be 1.
o After the 5th time, your participation grade will be zero and another
20% penalty will be applied to every other assessment item. For
instance, a 20% penalty will be deducted from your exams, discussion
participation and final project.
If one or more of your group members cannot make it to the presentation, you
are required to contact me at least 12 hours before the class meeting. If the entire
group misses the presentation, the group will loose the full 10% of presentation
participation. Each additional group miss of presentations will cut 20% off all
other assessment items.

 Your grade will be based on the following aspects with a 1 (worst) 5 (best)
range. The grade average of the following five dimensions gives you a
numerical grade of a presentation.
o Completeness and accuracy of information presented
o Validity of comments and suggestions
o Time management
o Ability to encourage discussion and participation
o Ability to answer your classmates questions

Course Outline:
NOTE: Advance preparation for each class session is noted as part of that session. You
are required to briefly go over a chapter and/or thoroughly read articles/cases before
coming to class meetings. If you are not clear about what preparation is needed for a
particular class session, please contact me as soon as possible so we can clarify the
assignment PRIOR to the class meeting. While I will make every effort to adhere to this
schedule, particularly with respect to exams, ALL DATES AND ASSIGNMENTS ARE
SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Advance notice of any changes will be given with ample time
for student feedback.
Date
8/25/2014
9/1/2014
9/8/2014
9/15/2014
9/22/2014
9/29/2014
10/6/2014
10/13/2014
10/20/2014
10/27/2014
11/3/2014
11/10/2014
11/17/2014
11/24/2014
12/1/2014
12/8/2014

Session
1st
2nd
1st
2nd
1st
2nd
1st
2nd
1st
2nd
1st
2nd
1st
2nd
1st
2nd
1st
2nd
1st
2nd
1st
2nd
1st
2nd
1st
2nd
1st
2nd
1st
2nd
1st
2nd

Topic
ClassLogistics
IntroductionandOperationsStrategy(Ch1+OutsideMaterials)
LaborDayCampusClosed
DiscussionofOperationsStrategyReadings
Forecasting(Ch12)
SVCEEvent
ForecastingPractices
ProjectPreparationDayNoClassMeeting
ProcessesandFacilityDesign(Ch6,7andPartofCh8)
ProcessesandFacilityDesign(Ch6,7andPartofCh8)
ProcessesandFacilityDesignPractices
ProductandServiceDesign(Ch4and5)
ProductandServiceDesign(Ch4and5)
DiscussionofProductandServiceDesignArticles
MidTermExam
SupplyChainManagementandDistribution(Ch10and11)
DiscussionofSupplyChainArticles
InventoryManagementandResourcePlanning(Ch13and15)
InventoryManagementandResourcePlanning(Ch13and15)
InventoryPractices
ResourcePlanning(Ch15)
ResourcePlanningPractices
Scheduling(Ch17)
Scheduling(Ch17)
SchedulingPractices
DiscussionofQualityManagementArticles
DiscussionofLeanSystemArticles
FinalExam

Reading List:
Operations Strategy:
Do trade-offs exist in operations strategy? Insights from the stamping die industry,
Business Horizon May-June 2000
Operations Based Strategy, California Management Review Summer 1998

Product and Service Design:

Service innovation myopia? A new recipe for client provider value creation. California
Management Review Spring 2008
Delivering excellent service: Lessons from the best firms. California Management
Review Fall 2001

Supply Chain Management:

Relational quality: Managing trust in corporate alliances. California Management
Review Fall 2001
Dont let your supply chain control your business. Harvard Business Review. December
2011.

Quality Management:
Too much of a good thing? Quality as an impediment to innovation. California
Management Review Fall 2007
How do customers judge quality in an E-tailer? MIT Sloan Management Review, Fall
2006

Lean System:
How to manage through worse-before-better? MIT Sloan Management Review,
Summer 2008
What to expect from a corporate lean program? MIT Sloan Management Review,
Summer 2014

10