TEK716 Economy of transport and distribution lp1 HT21 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the Department of Technology Management and Economics

v1.0 2021-08-09 See bottom for revision history

ALL the online study occasions are located under the same Zoom Link (unless a special link provided in the calendar event).

Recurring Zoom link for ALL study occasions: https://chalmers.zoom.us/s/62578877482

Passcode: 230316

Contact details

Examiner:  

Ceren Altuntas Vural (Links to an external site.), Division of Service Management and Logistics
ceren.altuntasvural@chalmers.se
031-772 6903

 

Course assistant/supervisor:
Alena Khaslavskaya, Division of Service Management and Logistics
alena.khaslavskaya@chalmers.se 
031-772 6714

Supporting the Apelsin Case

Dan Andersson, Division of Service Management and Logistics 

Guest lecturers: 

Per Olof Arnäs, Einride & Steerlink Partners
per-olof.arnas@steerlinkpartners.se

Sinem Tokcaer, Izmir University of Economics

sinem.tokcaer@ieu.edu.tr

Violeta Roso, Chalmers University of Technology

violeta.roso@chalmers.se

Student representatives: 

Ebba Hansén ebba.00@hotmail.com 
Oscar Jansson ogge.55@hotmail.com 
Eric Moberg eric98moberg@gmail.com 
Ruben Satink r.p.satink@student.rug.nl  
Pierre Wachtmeister pmc.wachtmeister@gmail.com   

Course purpose

The purpose of the course is to acquire a deeper understanding for the interplay between demand and supply for transport within the macro and micro economic environment. To achieve this purpose, the course focuses on various components that affect the costs for distribution and logistics and the relationships between these costs and the price of logistics services. In addition, the course studies the significant issues that affect the economics of logistics systems such as environment, technological change and trends in shipper preferences.

Content

- Activities and costs of transportation
- The actors of the transportation and distribution channels, process control and new trends in distribution
- Distribution structures and their individual characteristics
- The construction of distribution structures in a network, integration and complexity
- Resource utilization and pricing in transportation

Learning objectives and syllabus

Learning objectives:

- Explain and analyse the cost structures within the different transport modes during logistics operations
- Describe the main physical, financial and information properties in distribution systems.
- Evaluate the effects of new logistics concepts with regards to the efficiency of a distribution system.
- Explain the relationship between cost and price in transportation and logistics.
- Divide transport costs in fixed and variable costs.

-Understand resource utilisation from a financial perspective.

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen

Organisation

1. Lectures and seminars (live and pre-recorded)
2. Assignments
3. Cases
4. Guest lectures 

Examination including compulsory elements

4 Canvas-based assessment sessions where students are required to complete a real-time quiz on the related week’s topics. Mandatory attendance at guest lectures, seminars and other mandatory tasks. Project work in groups.

The assessments each give a maximum of 12.5 points and the group work gives a maximum of 50 points.

The threshold for passing each part is 40 %. Each examining part must be passed, and all other mandatory parts fulfilled for completion of the course. 

Grading thresholds for final grade (based on the total points):
40p = 3
60p = 4
80p = 5

Schedule

See Calendar here in Canvas for details. Canvas calendar will be the basis for the schedule. Check Canvas for all Zoom links and timing of different teaching and learning activities.

Recurring Zoom link: https://chalmers.zoom.us/s/62578877482

Password: 230316

Course literature

Novack, R.A., Gibson, B.J., Suzuki, Y. & Coyle, J.J. (2019) Transportation A Global Supply Chain Perspective, 9^th Edition, Cengage, Boston, MA. ISBN10: 0-357-16161-0 ISBN13: 978-0-357-16161-6

The book can be ordered both in an e-book or printed format from www.cengagebrain.co.uk

There is a special discount code for Chalmers students: EBBACKTOUNIVERSITY30

If you’d like to get the printed form, it might take appr. 10 working days for the book to arrive.

Scientific papers (for the literature seminar)

Lecture material (can be downloaded via Files/Lectures)

Case material (can be downloaded via Files/Apelsin case, some material may not be available from the start).

Course design

The course is divided into two main parts, the percentages indicate work load:

• Theory - 50%
• Lectures, assessments and calculation sessions related to the course book (Transportation) plus guest lectures – 40 %
• Scientific papers on distribution economics and related topics. Seminars plus preparation of material – 10 %
• Case project, group work – 50 %

Lectures, assessments and calculation sessions

The course contains one introductory lecture (L0), 7 lectures on theory (L1-8, related to the course book), three guest lectures (G1-3) and four assessment sessions (A1-A4).

Lectures will be run live via Zoom. Zoom link appears at the top of this page. It is important that you follow the course book as the lectures will be organized interactively where discussions on selected small cases from the book or other previously assigned readings will be run at Zoom break-out rooms.

Two of the guest lectures are applied lectures where you’ll first learn how to solve certain problems and then you’ll solve related problems yourselves in the following session. It is important to work on these and come to the workshops with your questions for succeeding in their assessments.

For details regarding individual sessions, see schedule below and also Canvas Calendar.

The assessment sessions will replace the computer-based examinations of the previous years. Each assessment will cover the topics that are discussed during the previous week. An assessment can be a Canvas-based time-limited online quiz, a discussion session where groups hand-in material, a hand-in of an individual assignment. You’ll be informed about each assessment during the related week. This form of examination is called continuous assessment and is recommended as a better alternative to classical exams during distant education.

We might also use Canvas to add self-study assistance regarding some common calculation methods used in the course. To assist there will be an open calculation session (Ca) where a teacher will be available to answer questions. The questions and supporting visual material will be provided on Canvas and you’ll be informed when they are online.

Scientific papers

Apart from the course book, a number of scientific papers are included, see list here. These papers all relate to the course subject areas but to topics that we can't cover with the book. Each case group will choose one paper. It is not possible for the same paper to be chosen by more than one group. The case group will read and explain the paper to the other groups at a literature seminar. If the restrictions let us, we will try to do these seminars on campus and in a special way. In the alternative case, we will run the seminar online where each group will present their paper and there will be a wrap-up session where the main take-aways from each paper will be discussed. Students are expected to show slides or summary material at their presentations.

Each group shall therefore prepare a short presentation and a short summary of the paper. The aim of the literature seminar is that all should have knowledge on the basic ideas and results presented in the papers. Some tips on what to include in a presentation/discussion:

• What is the paper´s basic premise? What do the authors want to tell us?
• Identify 3 central takeaways/insights from reading the paper
• What questions would you like to ask the authors?
• Is the content of the paper in any way related to your case project? How?

After the literature seminar, each group writes study material (a summary) for their own paper (minimum 2 pages). All these summaries are collected into one document and published on Canvas. This document is then part of the course material for Assessment 4. You may submit your summaries here.

Case project

The case ("Apelsin") is a role play where the client is a CEO of a manufacturing company and the case groups are consultants hired to help the company. Initially, the problems are related to distribution of products to the customers, but as the case progresses, the focus may change. 

Note that this is an open-ended case. There are no simple or single solutions, it all depends on your individual assumptions.

The case consists of two parts (1 and 2) and is centered around two meetings with the company CEO and two case seminars. At the start of the project, all groups get the same data (more data may be provided later):

• A description of the company and its (public) history
• Data files containing freight transactions
• Excerpt from annual report
• Task description, as stated by the company
• A report by the logistics manager of the company that suggests some changes

A special access to the environmental calculation tool NTM Calc can be found (to be updated)

The meetings with the CEO are booked in the calendar in Canvas (one meeting per case part). Each group gets 2x15 minutes to ask questions directly to the CEO of the company. It is recommended to record these meetings since there will be lots of data given which may be needed later. Every group needs to submit their questions the day before the meeting with the CEO.

Reporting guidelines

Each of the two parts of the case project are to be reported in writing as well as in seminar format. The following submissions are expected for the two parts:

• Case Apelsin Part 1 
• Case Apelsin Part 2 

The case seminars are organised differently. As shown in the table below, five seminar groups will be formed. Each of the seminar groups will have members from all of the case groups. The seminars will last 45 minutes.

Every group is expected to submit their case project report on 20 September till 23:59 (part 1) and on 15 October till 23:59 (Part 2). Formatting details for the report are given below. In addition to the case project report, every student, individually, has to submit one question for the case seminar. This question needs to be about the course topics analysed in the case and can't be the same or very similar to other questions that are asked by other students. You will be able to see others' questions in your seminar groups so please read them carefully and avoid repeating questions within your groups. Questions are entered here for the seminar 1 and here for the seminar 2.

Questions for case seminar 1 are due on 22 September till 23:59. Questions for case seminar 2 are due on 15 October till 23:59. 

Every student will be graded both as a group member but also individually based on their contribution in the case project. The report is graded out of 20 points. Each student's performance in the discussion sessions during case seminars will be evaluated out of 4 points. Finally every student is expected to submit a reflection paper about the case project. The reflection paper is maximum 1 page and can be found here for the occasion 1 and here for the occasion 2.

Reflection paper is 1 point so in total a student can get a maximum of 25 points from each case project part. Deadline for submitting the reflection paper for case project 1 is 28 September till 23:59. Deadline for submitting the reflection paper for case project 2 is 21 October till 23:59. 

There are also two separate supervision sessions which need to be booked via Canvas. Note that you may submit questions for the supervision a day before each supervision by 18:00 in order to get better input during the supervision session.

The project reports:

Each report has a maximum limit of 6 pages, excluding title page, table of contents, reference page and appendices). Use the space wisely.

• Times New Roman 11pt for normal text
• Single line spacing
• 14 pt for level 1 headings
• 12 pt for level 2 headings
• Use outline numbering of headings
• Use page numbers

The report is submitted in Canvas as a PDF. All submissions will be checked by Urkund (anti-plagiarism). Do not copy text from other sources unless you are directly quoting.

Deadlines for report submission:

• Part 1 - September 20, 23:59
• Part 2 - October 15, 23:59

Groups

Case groups will consist of 5 members each unless special permission is given by examiner. Students can choose groups themselves in Canvas, the groups need to be formed before, at or immediately after the introductory lecture (the same day the course starts). These groups will do the case project and the literature seminar together.

There will also be 5 seminar groups, created by the examiner. These groups consist of one member from each project group. The system is explained in the table below:

	Case group 1	Case group 2	Case group 3	...	Case group 10
Seminar group I	Tony Stark	Udo Dirkschneider	Uma Thurman	...	Marie Curie
Seminar group II	Clark Kent	Anne Wilson	Bruce Willis	...	Albert Einstein
Seminar group III	Lois Lane	Joan Jett	Steve Buschemi	...	Stephen Hawking
Seminar group IV	Natalia Romanoff	Rob Halford	Lucy Liu	...	Donna Strickland
Seminar group V	Kara Danvers	Bruce Dickinson	Quentin Tarantino	...	Alexander Fleming

Tony, Clark, Lois, Natalia and Kara in Case group 1 will do the case work and literature seminar together. But in the case seminars, they will all belong to different groups. Tony will join Udo, Uma and Marie. Clark will join Anne, Bruce and Albert etc. This means that each seminar group will have one representative from each of the case groups, thereby making sure that all are given the chance to represent their own case group. 

Examination

4 Canvas-based assessment sessions where students are required to complete a real-time Canvas-based quiz on the related week’s topics. Mandatory attendance at guest lectures, seminars and other mandatory tasks. Project work in groups.

Project is graded in two parts, maximum 25 points each where max. 20 points are given to the written report, max. 4 are given to the contribution during case seminars and 1 point is given for the individual reflection paper.

The assessments each give a maximum of 12.5 points (total 50p) and the project gives a maximum of 50 points.

The threshold for passing each part (assessments in total, Case part 1 and part 2) is 40 %. Minimum 20 points from the theory part and minimum 10 from each part of the case are required to pass the course. Each examining part must be passed and all other mandatory parts fulfilled for completion of the course. 

If the students achieve equal or above 40% of each examination, then they will have completed the course before exam week.

Grading thresholds for final grade (based on the total points):

40p = 3
60p = 4
80p = 5

Changes made since the last occasion

This course was revised significantly in 2019 when it started to be run in English the first time. In 2020, new big changes came with distant learning. Other big changes include:

• The new course book: Novak et al (2019) Transportation A Global Supply Chain Perspective 9^th Edition.  
• Two computer-based exams are replaced with 4 assessment sessions in various formats which would help with simultaneous learning.
• Applied sessions with new guest lecturers
• Interactive discussion sessions in every lecture where students are expected to actively participate peer discussions in break-out rooms.

 

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Revision history

Date	Version	Changes	Changed by
2021-08-09	01		Ceren Altuntas Vural