Analysis of a News Article on Supply Chain Management in Australia

This report critically analyzes a news article from the Herald Sun concerning the closure of factories by Murray Goulburn, Australia's largest milk producer, and the resulting job losses. The report, written in the form of a letter to the editor, evaluates the article's coverage of supply chain management issues within the dairy industry, particularly the impact of falling milk prices and the co-operative model. It critiques the article's lack of background information on supply chain management, the brevity of its discussion, and the absence of insights from other industry managers. The report acknowledges the article's strengths, such as its description of affected individuals and the inclusion of the CEO's comments, while recommending improvements for future reporting on national news. The conclusion emphasizes the need for clearer explanations, broader perspectives, and a deeper analysis of the factors contributing to supply chain disruptions.

Running head: PROCUREMENT AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Procurement and Supply Chain Management
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

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Date:
Address:
Respected editor,
Subject: Critique of news publication based on supply chain management
The letter is based on the news article that was published about the conditions of the
daily workers in the one of largest milk processor in Australia. The title of the article as given
by the Herald read as "Australia's largest milk producer to close factories, 360 jobs lost". The
article provides an overview of the condition of Murray Goulburn, one of the largest milk
supply chains in Australia. The fall in the price of milk created problems in the dairy industry
for the past year. Most of the farmers owned thousands of dollars due to the co-operative
brand at the time of falling of the prices. The decision taken to improve the financial
condition of the farmers cost the jobs of the people working in the factories
(Heraldsun.com.au. 2017). The letter criticises the manner in which the news was presented
to the public. The letter is addressed to the editor of the Australian Herald pointing out the
flaws in the article and the ways to improve in the future.
In order to ensure that the news provided to the people can be understood in a proper
manner, it is necessary to provide the background of the topic. In this case, the news article
focuses on the supply chain management that went wrong in Murray Goulburn. According to
Christopher (2016), supply chain management deals with the overview of materials,
information and finances of a company. The supply chain process follows in a systematic
manner starting from the manufacturers to the customers. The coordination and integration of
the flow are conducted with the use of supply chain management within companies (Rushton,
Croucher and Baker 2014). The concept of supply chain management can provide a clear idea
in the mind of the people before they begin to read the article. Such a concept was missing
from the article published by the Herald. The article described the issue directly with the use

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of the term “supply chain management” only once. This can prove to be a problem for the
people reading the article, as most people have no idea about the concept of supply chain
management and the fact that it can lead to loss of jobs. Hence, this is one criticism that the
article can face based on the lack of clarity provided by the concept.
Another important critic that can be drawn from the article is the fact that the article provides
a very brief discussion of the event. The fact that the closure of factories can lead to loss of
jobs and the fact that this may lead to problems in the dairy industries in Tasmania and
Victoria are all that is provided in the article. The investment made by the farmers on the co-
op is stated because the company had misled the farmers. The reason behind the misleading
of the farmers is not stated clearly in the article. Many factors such as low monetary stability,
excess employment and so on can lead a company to mislead its works. Hence, farmers owed
debts to the co-op in order to cover up the tracks of the company (Stadtler 2015). A similar
situation occurred in Murray Goulburn where farmers were asked to pay the co-op and ended
up being in debt. The reason behind the fall in the price of milk is also not stated in the
article. The article provides a vague reference to the fact that due to the fall in the price of
milk farmers lost more than thousand dollars that were invested. The reason behind the fall of
prices of milk needs to be clearly stated in order to avoid similar conditions in the future.
Moreover, such information can help other dairy organisations to avoid such a tragedy in
their workplace and save the jobs of the employees (Monczka et al. 2015). Hence, the
interview of the managers of other dairy organisations was required to be taken by the
newspaper.
Despite these criticisms, the article provides an excellent description of the topic. The
article gives an amount of people that may be affected due to the loss of jobs. The fact that
the article provides the good side of the company is also appreciated. It has been stated that
supply chain management requires companies to maintain good financial stability. This is

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important as maintaining a proper supply chain requires financial stability of an organisation
(Maloni et al. 2015). Despite fall in prices of milk, Murray Goulburn was able to pay the
farmers and relieve them off their debts. The fact that the article highlighted this segment is a
big positive factor for the article. This denotes the fact that news article does not always
portray news that consist of negative information about the topic or item of interest. Another
positive factor of the article is the fact that display of comments made by the chief executive.
This is a positive fact, as it is not easy to gain comments of a person ranked in senior posts of
an organisation after some tragic incidents that are of national importance (Dekker et al.
2013). The article managed to provide a brief point of view of the chief executive and
provide the thoughts of the company concerning this tragedy.
The recommendation about the future step that is to be taken by the managers of
Murray Goulburn is not stated in the article. It is not necessary for the editors to provide
recommendations based on the topic, however, the article could have provided reviews about
managers of other organisations and identify the thought process going on in other dairy
organisations. This could help the article gain more praise and ensure that dairy organisations
in the country identify the potential threats that exist in the economy of Australia. The factors
that led to the fall in the price of the milk in the country could have been analysed by
managers of other organisations. Mangan and Lalwani (2016) stated that a catastrophe that
can hit the supply chain of one organisation could be critical for other organisations as well.
Hence, the opinion of other managers is required in order to understand the seriousness of the
issue. The article lacked this factor in presenting its case to the public. Thus, despite the
positive results of the article, the fact that it also failed to incorporate the relevant information
makes the critic of the article stronger. It is a request to the editor to keep these points in mind
while writing about national news in the future

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Thus, it can be concluded that the article based on the supply chain management in
the Australian dairy organisation has been met with a lot of criticism. The criticism has come
due to the failure of the article to provide the concept of supply chain management and a
proper description of the scenario. The criticism needs to be taken as part of the
recommendation for the editor. The strong point of the article was the fact that the interview
of the chief executive was taken and published in order to provide an insight into the thought
of the senior managers of Murray Goulburn. The negative critics are more because the article
lacked clarity and proper description about the occurrence of such an issue. In order to
improve the article, the editor needs to ensure that proper information about the topic is
provided. It can be helpful to get the interviews of other business organisations regarding the
matter that has been investigated .
Yours Sincerely,
ABC

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Bibliography
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Heraldsun.com.au. (2017). Herald Sun | Breaking News from Melbourne and Victoria |
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Mangan, J. and Lalwani, C., 2016. Global logistics and supply chain management. John
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Appendix