Assignment (60 points): In practice, what we find, is that those companies that are the market leaders, are the ones who have sought and achieved the twin peaks of excellence: they have gained both, cost leadership and product/service differentiation. The figure below shows this position (The Goal), one, that it is very difficult to imitate by competitors. Operations and supply chain management plays a pivotal role in enabling companies to occupy or at least begin moving towards this position. C. d. How is inventory management helping us deal with uncertainty and why is this important? 2. Spend analytics and category strategy development a. What role spend analytics plays for harnessing corporate spend? b. What role spend analytics plays in identifying souring risk? What is the connection between savings and risk management? d. What is the connection between spend analytics and category strategy? 3. Buyer-supplier relationship management a. What is the critical role of managing buyer-supplier relationships for cost/value advantage of a company? b. What are the key characteristics of partnering relationship? c. What is the critical role of aligning corporate goals for the success of partnering relationships? d. What are the key facilitators of partnering and how they help/enable with cost/value advantage of a company? Limit your answers to 750 words per selected topic, so in total I am expecting around 1500 words. I am seeking quality over quantity when it comes to your answers. Use concepts you learned in the class and your own reflection to frame your answers. Please use this template for answering the questions. High The Goal: Superior customer value at less costs Value Advantages Tailored products/services Reliability Responsiveness Speed Low Your answer for the first selected topic (30 points): : LOW High Cost advantages Your answer for the second selected topic (30 points): - Asset turnover - Capacity utilization Cost competitive products and services Supply base consolidation Your task will be to select from the three options below two operations and supply chain management themes of your choice and reflect on the following question: In what way do you believe they (the themes you selected] help a firm in its efforts to occupy the position of value and cost advantage as depicted in the above diagram? You can frame your answer in the context of your firm that you work for or provide a general reflection for "a firm". Options of operations and supply management themes: 1. Inventory management a. What is the inventory management's impact on financial performance of a company? b. What is the connection between the inventory management and customer service levels? C. Critical discussion on balancing of costs of inventory and service levels. Page 2 of 3 Page 3 of 3