Initial Publication Date: December 7, 2016

Faculty Reflection: Amit Arora

Savannah State University
Course(s): Global Supply Chain Management

A Success Story in Programmatic Change

As a Supply Chain Management professor, I found a few InTeGrate modules particularly useful for supply chain courses. A few of these modules are listed below:

  1. Mining-Least Cost Lab
  2. Documented Problem Solving: International Trade and Comparative Advantage
  3. Sustainability Campaign: Social Norms Marketing vs Community Based Social Marketing
  4. Humans' Dependence on Mineral Resources
  5. What's Up With Your Stuff?
  6. Making Sustainable Business Decisions In Four Different Industries and Their Effect on People (Social), Planet (Environment), and Profit (Economics)
I used a part of the module "Humans' Dependence on Mineral Resources" in my course. This module explains explains how and why managing mineral resources is a global challenge that depends both on geological (mineral-forming) processes and non-geological factors with various impacts on the environment and communities. Rare earth minerals are important components in electronic industry supply chains.

Incorporating InTeGrate Materials

InTeGrate Module used in the above course: Humans' Dependence on Earth's Mineral Resources

Rare earth elements are an important part of electronic industry supply chain. The complex—and often polluting—middle steps that turn mined material into useful ingredients, including metals and magnets, are important source of supply to manufacture electronic devices. This module is helpful to business students in order to understand the criticality of sourcing decisions in a supply chain.

Adaptations

Other material used in the course to supplement the InTeGrate module:

Wall Street Journal article "China Still Dominates Rare-Earth Processing" dated December 5, 2013.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303661404579177602839587772

Wall Street Journal video: http://www.wsj.com/video/how-china-rules-the-rare-earths-market/7091904F-9207-4960-89DF-AFC12C56FE36.html

Outcomes and Evidence