Professor Hong Yan

Department of Logistics and Maritime Studies

The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Talk 1

Capstone Project
An Introduction
 What are we different than other?
In OOCL, a department director asked trainees
to give a small forecasting report about the
container demand in the global market. Every
one submitted a report next day, except Angela
In Angelas report, she described global
economies, demand and supply changes,
competition in shipping industry, and then, she
gave:
1. factors of container demand
2. a demand forecasting model
 What are we short of?
In Bandy Liu Shipping Insurance Co. Ltd., Mr. Ng, the
CEO, asks a group of trainees, is US$1 per container a
good price? Quinnie gives her answer as follows.
It is very cheap. But we need to further look at:
1. The history of cases of the client
2. Details of the ship, ship model
3. Shipping management company
4. Crew number and quality
5. Liability limit
6. Marine conditions
 Format of Project
In LMS, we have two groups
LGT4209 GSCM Capstone Project
LGT4208 ISTL Capstone Project
The capstone project is conducted in group study
format, with 3 to 4 student in each group
Each group may have members from either
GSCM or ISTL program
Logistics, Shipping and Supply Chain are highly
related topics.
 Purposes
Apply knowledge acquired real business
problems
Develop global outlook through the literature
research.
Dig out creativity and innovation
Enhance leadership and teamwork skills
 Outcomes
Demonstrate ability on integrating learnings from all subjects

Develop systematic approach to business analysis and solutions

Write and present your findings

Develop communication skills with supervisors, or future bosses

Apply different functional areas to process analysis

Get insights from the process analysis

Understand ethical issues in both business research and practice

 Work Elements
Project Proposal
What is the problem? How to do it? What is expected?
Progress Report
What have been done? Difficult points? Next steps?
Reflective Essay
To plan and summarize your individual roles
Presentation
A presentation is given in the end of semester
Final Report
The final report should be in the given format provided
 What is Reflective Essay
At beginning, think and plan your individual role in the group
Organizer, planner, coordinator, writer, presenter, ..
With me, the group works better!
At end, summarize your role in the group work
I learnt this and that through the project group work: knowledge, skill,
friendship, leadership,
I am not burden!
It is required to include the total word count at end of the essay.
You can include relevant objective data and evidence, real-life
and personal examples in support of their evaluations.
 BBA Generic Outcomes
Communicate effectively in English, Putonghua and written
Chinese, at a level appropriate for business purposes and general
conversation.
Demonstrate a global outlook and understand cultural diversity,
globalization and their implications for business.
Apply creative thinking in the business setting.
Identify and respond appropriately to ethical issues as they arise
generally and in the business setting.
Adopt an entrepreneurial perspective, identifying and evaluating
business opportunities as they arise.
 Self-Reflective Essay
The essay is about 1,200 words, excluding appendixes and references

Identify any 3 of the 5 generic learning outcomes above that you feel you are
relatively weak in. (350 400 words)

Relate the project experience to the possible improvement of the 3 identified

weak generic learning outcomes (350-400 words)

Demonstrate your entrepreneurial thinking from the Capstone Project (350-

400 words)

Show your creativity over the ideas, supporting evidence and chosen examples
throughout the essay.

Assure the readability of the language in essay submission.

 Assessment Methods
Totally, it is for 6 credits.
Specific assessment % weighting Intended subject learning outcomes to be assessed (Please
methods/tasks tick as appropriate)

a b c d e f

Project Proposal 10%

Progress Report 5%

Reflective Essay 15%

Final Report 45%

Presentation 25%
Total 100 %
 Ethical Issues
Respect and appreciate other peoples work
We learn, but we should not copy!
FB rule: Any cases of plagiarism, including but not
limited to copying from the worldwide web or printed
articles without acknowledgement and/or cooperating
with your peers within or outside the university
community, will immediately lead to an F for this
assignment.
Submit a hard copy of the report, with the Turnitin
Summary Page showing the Similarity Index
 Important Schedule
Formal Proposal: Oct. 28, 2016
17/03/17 for 2+3; 28/10/16 for 1+3
Finalized proposal to supervisor and me.
Progress Report: Jan. 20, 2017
June 2, 2017 for other two schedules
One to two pages, 1. what done, 2. what next
Presentation: Apr. 18 - 19, 2017
July 11, 2017 for other two schedules
Detailed arrange is announced later
Final Report: Apr. 21, 2017
With self reflective essay, turnitin report
Any Question?
 Business Research

Overview the current research

Explain or evaluate the current business practice
Identify the behind logics for business
explanation
Generalize a practical model to a particular
industry, or company
 Characteristics of Research
Describe the problem
What is it? Why is it important? Why interesting?
Define the related concepts
Most of business related concepts are not clearly and
precisely defined. For example, quality?
A piece of good research must be
Interesting
Logical
Detailed (evidences)
 Project Format
Related Academic Research
Business Consulting Research
Multiple Case Study
Critical Literature Survey
Empirical Study
Field Survey Report
Research on Research Tool
 Choose a Topic
From observation to research topic
Observation: China Mobile has about 450 call
centers while most of world operators has only 1!
Research topic: Location and capacity of China
Mobile call centers.
From large reading to dig a topic
Large reading: about 200 papers in bullwhip
effect
Research: different effects under different
conditions
 Choose a Topic
From communications
A research seminar: Shanghai port is ranked the top
in the operations efficiency
Research: wait! What is efficiency? Lets
differentiate the through put data: transshipment
and original
From a detailed thinking
Container security is important, after 9-11.
Research: what is container security? What are
factors related to it? How are they measured?
 Your Capacity
Look at what you can do
Mathematical tools
Engineering sense
Language skill
Most important:
hard working and confident
do it on time
 Verify Your Topic
Communicate with your supervisor
Conduct literature review
A topic is confirmed if
It looks important and interesting to me
I can conduct it and complete it
It looks interesting and important to other people
(Researchers, Practitioners, Policymakers, others).
It is new and different from others in some points
It contribute to academic or practical area
 Steps in Business Research
Define the problem by identifying the
characteristics.
Review literatures to see what and how others
work on the issue or related issues
Measure these characteristics.
Compare vertically or horizontally.
Analyze and explain the difference between
the result and practices.