1
NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY
FINAL EXAM
INTERNATIONAL SUPPLY CHAIN
MANAGEMENT
Program: EEP
Date : 24/11/2021 Shift: 1
School of Trade and International Economics
Derpartment : International Business
Question 1: (2.0 points): What is global strategic supply chain management? Why global
strategic sourcing can help MNCs to achieve competitive advantage? Give some examples?
Question 2: (3.0 points): Analyze the influences of competitive globalization drivers to global
supply chain of MNCs? Analyze at least three trends affecting modern global supply chain
management to cope with the increasing pressure of cost, with examples of MNCs.
Read the case study then answer questions 3 and 4:
The Starbucks Corporation, founded in 1971, is one of the world’s largest coffee house chains, with
more than 17,240 coffee shops in over 50 countries. Starbucks’ product portfolio consists of food items,
as well as such beverage products as coffee specialties, tea and other refreshing drinks. Starbucks
Corporation also offers roasted beans and several merchandise products. However, Starbucks’ main
product is coffee. Starbucks uses like most restaurants the production strategy make-to-stock, which
means production is performed in expectation of a customer order. Reasons for that are the scale effects
resulting for example in lower transportation and manufacturing costs and higher flexibility compared to
other production strategies. To decrease the lead time of coffee deliveries and to further decrease the
transportation costs, Starbucks aims to manufacture in the region where the coffee is sold. To reach the
aim of regionalization of coffee manufacturing, Starbucks owns five coffee roasting plants, four of them
located in the United States and another in the Netherlands. Additional to its company-owned coffee
roasting plants, Starbucks works with 24 contract manufacturers in the United States, Canada, Europe,
Asia and Latin America. Starbucks has spread its production across a wide territory; nevertheless
transportation, logistics and distribution are still the biggest part of Starbucks’ operating expenses.
Question 3: (2.0 points): What kind of production strategy does the Starbucks Corporation use and
why?
Question 4: (3.0 points): What kind of sourcing strategy is Starbucks using, in terms of numbers of
suppliers and geographical aspects?
Code: GSCM.03.21
T
ime
:
90 minutes