772108 Sustainable Logistics s Operations Management (Individual Report) Assignment Brief 2025/26

Assignment Brief

Sustainability in Logistics s Operations Management 772108

The assignment will be assessed via a written report (100% of the marks of the module).

You are required to write a report with a word count of 4,000 words

(excluding your Title Page, Executive Summary, Table of Contents,

Reference List and any Appendix). Please note that the word count is strictly 4,000 words with 10% +/-. Failing to address the provided word limit will result penalty of negative marking. Please see the assignment structure to find out more.

In your report you are required to answer All three sections, A, B and C. You are expected to use company examples to support your essay. These companies could be manufacturing, retail or services.

A)Section A: 1 x Sustainability issue (Challenge)

Identify only ONE sustainability issue (Please see the ideas below). Please refer to the module material for explanation of a sustainability issue.

• Theory: Give us some explanations about what’s the issue, why it is important, and how this issue affects us (think about triple- bottom-line)?
• Practice: Give an example from a real-world case study (a company or an organisation) of how they react to the challenge. E.g. any actions or procedures they took.
  Some ideas of the sustainability challenges/issues:
• Carbon Emissions in Transportation
  –Focus on freight, last-mile delivery, or aviation emissions.
• Waste Management in Supply Chains
  –Includes packaging waste, industrial waste, and e-waste.
• Water Scarcity in Manufacturing
  –Especially relevant in textiles, agriculture, and electronics.
• Ethical Sourcing and Procurement
  –Includes modern slavery, fair trade, and supplier transparency.
• Overreliance on Non-Renewable Resources
  –E.g., fossil fuels, rare earth metals in electronics.
• Plastic Pollution in Packaging and Distribution
  –Especially in FMCG and e-commerce sectors.
• Reverse Logistics and Product Returns
  –Environmental and operational challenges of handling return.
• Biodiversity Loss from Resource Extraction
  –E.g., palm oil, mining, or deforestation for logistics hubs.
• Energy Consumption in Warehousing and Distribution
  –Focus on lighting, refrigeration, automation, etc.
• Climate Change Adaptation in Global Supply Chains
  –Disruption from extreme weather, sea level rise, etc.

B)Section B: 3 x Sustainability Processes

• Theory:
• Use THREE of the processes introduced in class in this part of your report.
• Discuss the theory briefly to show the process of adaptation as companies alter their strategies in response to sustainability concerns.
• Example of sustainability processes: 1) Design for
• Sustainability 2) Sustainable Procurement 3) Sustainable Transportation 4) Circular Economy 5) Planning and Controlling C) Disruption and Risks 7) Humanitarian

Logistics 8) Reverse Logistics 3) Cleaner Production 10) Sustainable Consumption.

• Practice:
• You must include three real-world examples (Note: Choose established companies or organisations only. Please see a separate file of the list of companies for idea generation.) to support your discussion. One example is required for each process.
• Your report must include the Costs and Benefits Analysis of adaptation for each sustainability process in each of your real- world example discussions. Also, briefly show the evaluation of the analysis. This is the most important discussion in Section B.

C)Section C: 2 x Sustainability Goals

Using any TWO examples of the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (UN SDGs), critically discuss how companies are adopting these goals in support of their management practices whilst caring out logistics operations.
For critical argument, ALL selected SDGs, must be mapped against at least One for each of five the UN’s Blueprint for Business Leadership Qualities. You need to use Two real-world business examples to support your discussion.
For UN’s Blueprint for business leadership qualities, you can find them from here: https://blueprint.unglobalcompact.org/sdgs/sdg01/
Business leadership qualities mean “the characteristics that make an organisation an effective leader in sustainability in their industry”.
In total, 5 UN Blueprint Business Leadership Qualities: 1) Ambition 2) Collaboration 3) Accountability 4) Consistency 5) Intentionality.

*** [Important Tips: Please utilise the words decisively to analyse the Practice / Case Study section vastly and more than the theoretical explanation in every section of the report.] ***

The overview:

Please avoid the following companies when choosing real-world examples.
To encourage originality and critical thinking, students should avoid using the following companies as their main case study:

1. Amazon – Overused in logistics and sustainability discussions.
2. Apple – Common in ethical sourcing and supply chain transparency.
3. Tesla – Frequently cited in sustainable innovation.
4. Coca-Cola – Often used in water scarcity and plastic waste topics.
5. Nike – Common in ethical procurement and labour rights.
6. McDonald’s – Frequently used in food waste and packaging.
7. IKEA – Popular in circular economy and sustainable sourcing.
8. Unilever – A go-to for SDG alignment and sustainability leadership.
9. Walmart – Often cited in sustainable procurement and logistics.
10. Google/Alphabet – Common in energy and data centre sustainability.

N.B. A list of companies can be found in the Assignment Brief section separately. Please check it as suggestion. You can use

Important Information about Penalties for Overlength Work

The University has a standard system of penalties that Academic Units must apply to Summative Assessment that is overlength. This report has

the 10% +/- specified limit, meaning that your maximum word limit is 4,400 words only. Please only count words from Section A until the Conclusion. Do Not count words in your Title Page, Executive Summary, Table of Contents, Reference List, and Appendix.

The following penalties must be applied to work that is over the specified limit, which is over 4,400 words:

A.Up to 10% over the specified limit, no penalty applied
B.10-20% over the specified limit, a penalty of 10% of the available marks for the assessment or reduction to the pass mark, whichever is the higher.
C.20-50% over the specified limit, the maximum mark awarded will be the pass mark.
D.More than 50% over the specified limit, the work will not be marked and a mark of zero will be recorded.

Suggested Structure of the Sustainability Report with Words Allocation:

Sample Assignment (Found on Canvas)

Students are strongly advised to study the Sample Assignment uploaded to Canvas
(Assessment → Samples). Use it to understand expected report structure, analytical depth, integration of theory with practice, and presentation standards. The sample is for guidance only; do not copy text or structure verbatim.

Read the Brief Decisively

Please read this Assignment Brief carefully and in full, paying special attention to:

• the word-limit policy and penalties;
• the list of companies to avoid as main case studies (Amazon, Apple, Tesla, Coca-Cola, Nike, McDonald’s, IKEA, Unilever, Walmart, Google/Alphabet);
• the case-study options (you may use one organisation across all sections if it clearly fits 1 issue, 3 sustainability processes, and 2 SDGs with Blueprint leadership qualities; or you may use different organisations);
• the requirement in Section C to map each chosen SDG to at least one of the UN Blueprint Business Leadership Qualities (Ambition, Collaboration, Accountability, Consistency, Intentionality).

Formative Feedback Policy (Week G s Week 10 only)

Formative feedback on drafts is available once per student per week in class only during Week 9 and Week 10 seminars (10–15 minutes per student). No feedback will be provided by email or outside scheduled class time.

Sources and References

It is important for you to conduct a comprehensive literature review of your chosen topics and industry. You should include sources such as peer-reviewed academic articles, academic texts, news articles, industry case studies and reputable web resources. The literature should be used to support your statements.

Additional guidance:

A good report will be well formatted and presented using an academic style of English. Please do not simply describe changes that have taken place, but provide some insights into the possible thinking behind, and justification of, changing strategies, processes, roles and responsibilities. Addressing programme competencies 1, 6, 8, G, 10, 11, 12, 13

This assignment tests whether you have achieved the Programme Competencies of the module:

e-Submission is the approved method for your HUBS programme of study. You must hand in your assessed Assignment(s), for all modules that you are taking during the Academic Year using the Canvas system. Submission of a printed copy is NOT allowed. You should submit via the Assignments menu item on the relevant module Canvas site.

Assignments must be submitted by the date and time stipulated. Deadlines will be strictly adhered to. Students submitting late, and who do not have mitigating circumstances approved by the Mitigating Circumstances Panel, will be subject to penalties for late submission as specified by the University. Please note that Saturday and Sunday are treated as “working days” for the purposes of the late submission policy.

Grading Descriptors Guidance

Level 7 Generic Assessment Criteria and Grading Descriptors:

The following are indicative performance descriptors for the various grade bandings. Work identified as belonging to a particular banding on a given criteria will broadly fit that description. However, it is recognised that each descriptor contains a number of sub elements and the student’s work may not exactly fit the description in terms of each sub-element, hence the descriptor is indicative.