BUS363: Singaporeans are Familiar with Supermarkets which are Self-Service Shops: Total Quality Management Assignment, SUSS, Singapore

SECTION A

Background

Singaporeans are familiar with supermarkets which are self-service shops offering a wide variety of food, beverages, and household products, organized into sections and shelves. Supermarkets have evolved in Singapore as our lifestyles change. They have replaced many grocery stores. Some supermarkets cater to the general public while others offer niche products to more specific customer segments. However, supermarkets are facing intense competition. For a supermarket to thrive, implementing total quality management becomes a necessity.

Requirements

In this ECA, we are focusing on a physical supermarket chain that operates under one brand name. You are required to select one supermarket chain (hereafter called the “Supermarket” in the ECA questions, but you must use its name in your report) operating in Singapore. Assume you are a Quality Consultant contracted by the Supermarket to analyze its business and apply Total Quality Management (TQM) concepts and practices to help it improve its business.

You must address the following questions in sequential order. Your analysis and the written report shall be developed in the context of the Supermarket and its current situation in Singapore.

Question 1

(a) Identify the Supermarket chain (include the supermarket’s name, address in Singapore and, if any, website address). Explain, in general, different supermarket customer segments and how the Supermarket positions itself.

(b) Discuss two (2) current challenges the Supermarket faces in its business or operations environment in Singapore, and how the Supermarket can or has tried to solve it.

Question 2

Appraise any four (4) relevant principles of TQM for the Supermarket. For each principle, describe a related action the Supermarket has or could have taken to improve its performance or customer satisfaction. Comment on the effectiveness of the action as positive, neutral or negative if the Supermarket has taken, or as negative if the Supermarket has neglected it.

Question 3

Describe one work or service process that the Supermarket may have a quality issue(s) with. Then evaluate the costs of quality (prevention, appraisal, and internal and external failure costs) due to the problem(s) in this process.

Question 4

Six Sigma is a well-organized package of quality tools and methodologies to improve quality. For the work or service process facing quality issue(s) discussed in Question 3, assemble Six Sigma DMAIC processes to solve the problem. You must begin by introducing the DMAIC process to the Supermarket. For each step of DMAIC, propose one (1) quality tool and demonstrate how it can be used in the Supermarket’s situation to derive results.

SECTION B

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Supermarket has requested you (the contracted Quality Consultant) to make a presentation to the management team on your findings and recommendations based on Questions 3 and 4 in Section A.

Prepare a video recording of the presentation of at least 3 minutes but not exceeding 6 minutes.

There are two methods for ECA video assignment submission; either Record Media or Upload Media. For Upload Media, please note that your file size should be no more than 500MB and the format is in .mp4.

SECTION C

Prepare a set of PowerPoint presentations upon which the video presentation is based. Please note that the PowerPoint must be converted to PDF before submission to SUSS (Canvas).