For your end of semester project, I would like you to put yourself in the position of a purchasing professional for a small business here in the DFW Metroplex. You are dealing with the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic in the business environment. I would like your paper to be not less than three pages in length, written in the MLA style (like these instructions),

For your end of semester project, I would like you to put yourself in the position of a

purchasing professional for a small business here in the DFW Metroplex. You are dealing with

the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic in the business environment.

I would like your paper to be not less than three pages in length, written in the MLA style

(like these instructions), and, of course, spell- and grammar-checked thoroughly.

THE SCENARIO: YOUR BUSINESS

Your business, Stone Hearth Brewing Co., is a small craft brewing operation that makes a small

but diverse selection of beers. Some of the reasons for your success over the first five years of

your business is:

A. The fact that you are very selective about what ingredients you use in your brewing as

well as the overall quality of your brewing and bottling process,

B. The emphasis you place on always being able to fulfill your customers’ orders on-time,

C. The discipline you maintain over costs (materials, shipping, facilities, labor, taxes…).

The challenges you face.​ The global pandemic of the COVID-19 virus has impacted your

business just like most businesses throughout the world. No business is an island unto itself, and

 

 

 

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your supply chain has been affected by shut-downs, delays, and the like. You are experiencing

longer lead times from your suppliers who are upstream from you. Some suppliers have critical

supplies/materials/ingredients on backorder or delayed shipment. Others are just unable to fill

your orders.

However, you have a different problem downstream when dealing with your customers. For

some reason, the demand for your product has increased dramatically when you compare

year-over-year sales from March to November (2020 vs. 2019). If you are able to fill the

new-and-improved demand levels, you could see an increase of between 50-75% over last year’s

year-end sales numbers.

Regarding your supplier relationships: Where possible, you have always practiced the use of a

limited number of suppliers–not sole sourcing, but also not a broad selection of suppliers. For

example, the bottles and caps you package your product in are specific to your brand and are

made by only a couple of suppliers at present. The labels which are applied during the bottling

process are the same way. The ingredients such as the hops and the grains, although commodity

items, must meet certain standards as well in order to uphold your quality standards. All of that

being said, all of these suppliers are experiencing the aforementioned delays and outages due to

the virus.

CONCLUSION: WHAT I WANT FROM YOU

Focusing ​only on the purchasing/procurement aspect of the business​, tell me how you as

a purchasing professional would deal with this situation. I encourage you to go through the book

from Chapter 1 through Chapter 14, drawing from the many facets of the purchasing process we

 

 

 

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have covered this semester. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate your understanding of

the material and your ability to apply what you have learned.

I would like for you to cite sources other than your textbook. Articles from industry

websites, professional journals, books, etc., are where you should be looking. (Note: Wikipedia

is not recognized as a valid source for academic writing.) Be sure to footnote whenever you use

someone else’s intellectual workmanship. Also, please do not copy/paste large swaths of text

from your sources right into your paper. That is lazy, and I would much prefer to hear your own

words (after they’ve been run through spell- and grammar-check, or course).

Your papers will vary a great deal, and grading will be very subjective–there’s just no

way around it. I encourage you to do a rough draft after having taken some notes and thought

out a plan of what you want to do. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE. Papers will

be due not later than midnight Friday, December 11, 2020. The final exam will be the following

Monday, December 14.

 

 

 

Works Cited

Dolor, L.I. ​Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit​, 1998. Print.

Dolor, L.I. ​Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh.

New York​: Columbia UP, 1998. Print.

Doe, R. John.​ ​ ​Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy

nibh, ​1998. Print.