Graded Assignment: BUS430 Project: Integrative Cases
Project Instructions
Read the two cases and respond to the following questions. Then, respond to the questions that follow the cases. Feel free to
use Google, the company websites, and other credible sources of information. Be sure to verify your answers by checking
multiple sources. The following rubric identifies how much each item is worth if full credit is earned.
Project Questions
Case 1: How the iPhone Is Made: Apple’s Global Production System
1. What are the benefits to Apple of outsourcing the assembly of the iPhone to foreign countries, and particularly China?
What are the potential costs and risks to Apple?
2. In addition to Apple, who else benefits from Apple’s decision to outsource assembly to China? Who are the potential
losers here?
3. What are the potential ethical problems associated with outsourcing assembly jobs to Foxconn in China? How might
Apple deal with these?
4. On balance, do you think that the kind of outsourcing undertaken by Apple is a good thing or a bad thing for the American
economy? Explain your reasoning.
5. How can a company like Apple, with a global supply chain, hedge against the risks of significant supply chain disruption
due to the emergence of a new virus such as the SARS virus that appeared in 2003 and the COVID-19 virus that appeared
in 2020?|
Case 2: Walmart International
1. As one of the largest companies in the world, Walmart has a reasonably limited international exposure-only 28 countries.
What do you think Walmart can do to have a broader platform in more of the world’s 195 countries?
2. Walmart operates via a number of brands around the world (for example, Asda in the United Kingdom). Many companies
are becoming more and more standardized in their operations and have adopted organizational structures to support such
standardization. Can Walmart adopt a more effective global strategy and, if so, what type of organizational structure
should the company create to best serve its operations in the global marketplace?
3. Walmart’s international division used to exercise tight centralized control over operations in different countries, but more
recently it has decentralized significant decision-making responsibilities to each country. Why do you think Walmart has
taken this step? What are the benefits? What are the costs?
4. Walmart Stores Chief Operating Officer Judith McKenna was named president and CEO of the company’s international
unit effective February 1, 2018. The role is seen as a stepping stone to the top job at the world’s largest retailer, with
current CEO Doug McMillon and his predecessor Mike Duke having run the international unit previously. If international
is such an important part of the company, what can Walmart do, should do, or must do to leverage its position as the
largest retailer in the world?
