Course Overview
The ever-increasing variety of products and customization in the marketplace poses a serious challenge to firms competing to deliver products faster and more efficiently to their customers. In order to compete effectively, firms must leverage advances in information technology (including the internet) and opportunities arising from a global economy to form strategic alliances and tightly integrate operations within their supply chains. Effective supply chain management has become the focus of attention for many senior managers in industry today. This course considers management of a supply chain in a global environment from a managerial perspective. The course will introduce students to different concepts related to supply chain management with a focus on analysis, management, and improvement of supply chain processes. The course is divided into five related modules: inventory and information management, distribution and transportation, global operations, supplier management, and management of product variety. Several new innovations in supply chain management will be discussed.