SCM Memos

You pick the company for the case background.
Your company has a goal to develop and implement a more formal SCM program.
You are a member of the SCM project team--a junior member.
Given your background in SCM, you think you can bring useful info about SCM to the project team. You are what academics sometimes refer to as a 'boundary spanner.'

Use at least 3 of the readings listed on the online syllabus and craft a memo that helps answer questions spinning around the minds of your managers such as:

What are the key aspects of SCM that we can learn from these sources?
What are the drawbacks of these factors with respect to potentially implementing them in our organization?
What's actionable/what's next.

Make sure you cite your sources. Feel free to use additional info resources. In fact, you will score more points with your reader (and grader) when you take initiative and pull in information and analysis beyond the 'bare minimum.'

Make sure that you let the data do the talking. Minimize your own editorial and commentary. As much as possible, you want to configure this info in a way that readers can make sense of it in a hurry. Strongly consider using tables (and perhaps graphs) to present key data/analysis.

Wondering about how to format and arrange your memo. Here's a sample for reference.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS 9/21/06

Some more thoughts after grading the first round of memos. By section:

Memo top: Initial your work next to your name. A sign of professionalism. Plus a human touch.

Introduction

What company are you (you are supposed to identify yourself with one)? What problem are you addressing? What do you plan to do here? Helpful hint. Use a professional tone. Avoid 'sell words' or emotional words (e.g., very, huge). Also avoid jargon. If you use acronyms (e.g., SCM) make sure you spell out fully before the first time you use the acronym.

Findings

1-3 key points.

Each should be stated in terms of your analysis and data. Otherwise, they appear to be your personal opinion. This is not what you want to express in an analytical memo.

Make sure it is clear how each finding relates to your company.

Readers will be wondering what we should do next. Remember to think conservative next step (CNS).

Discusssion

Your first paragraph or perhaps first two paragraphs should explain your data and method. What data are you using in this analysis? Source(s)? At minimum, you should be using 3 of the readings supplied on the online syllabus. Be sure to explain why you've chosen these readings. For example, you might select three articles that deal with a particular SCM factor like distribution, logistics, or purchasing. Or you might pick a few different factors--but they should somehow hang together. You want to demonstrate coherence--don't leave reader with impression that you randomly chose three articles (I'm definitely getting that impression as I'm grading these memos). You should clearly cite your sources--you can use footnotes, endnotes, or just include a reference section at the end. A solid format for how to list citations is here.

Once you've told the reader about your data sources, explain how you will use them here. What type of analysis will you do here? Confused about what this means? Here are some ideas:

If you've selected readings because they all fit a certain SCM factor (e.g., distribution), then you might pull out passages from the 3 articles that relate to distribution, and then compare them to what your company is doing (or not doing). So one idea is to drill down into one particular SCM factor.
You could look at multiple SCM factors. Compare the article 'benchmark' companies to your company.
There may be room to draw various supply chain configurations and compare them.

Whenever you see/write/read the word 'compare', your analysis can likely benefit from a table. For example, in nearly all the memos I've looked at so far, there's room for at least one table that helps you compare/analyze the following:

Table 1: Comparison of Article Benchmarks to (your company)

Factor	Benchmark Activity from Article	Our Company
factor1
factor2
factor3

The factors could be various dimensions of SCM (e.g., purchasing, logistics) or they may be various subdimensions of a 'higher order' factor (e.g., modes of transport, ways to measure logistics service, etc--all related to logistics).

Tables will likely serve as the centerpiece of your analysis.

Discuss how these findings relate to us and discuss conservative next steps (CNS).

Make sure you discuss limitations of your data and analysis.

Final note. In this type of memo, you are the boundary spanner. You are reaching outside the boundaries of your organization for knowledge, and then you're bringing it in and presenting it in a way that your superiors will be able to assimilate. Although you are a junior member of the team, you will be their teacher. You have to do this in a humble, non assuming way. That's part of your 'problem' in these cases.

Looking for examples of outstanding SCM memos? Here are some A+ examples from the archives.