BUS403 Supply Chain Management

• Topics

  A supply chain consists of all parties involved in fulfilling a customer request. A supply chain may include manufacturers, suppliers, transporters, warehouses, retailers, customers, and also functions within an organization, such as marketing, operations and finance. Given such a broad scope and its importance in business, many companies have a whole department or job positions fully dedicated to supply chain management.

  In this course, we study supply chains, with particular emphasis on its effective management and the overall increased value it contributes to businesses. Specific topics included in the course are: design of supply chains, networks, global supply chain, online sales, sales and operations planning, demand forecast, incentive alignment in a supply chain, supply chain inventory management, managerial levers to improve supply chain profitability, sourcing decisions, chain-level coordination, pricing and revenue management principles, transportation, and a brief overview on the key pillars of sustainability.

  During the course, we will go through several applications/cases and guest lecture(s) to illustrate some of the important concepts and methodologies in supply chain management. Three compulsory assignments will be done individually or in groups.

• Learning outcome

  The basic idea behind this course is to provide state of the art models, concepts and solution methods important in the design, control, operation and management of the supply chain. The goal is to give an understanding of both high-level supply chain strategies and concepts, and analytical tools to solve supply chain problems.

  By the end of this course the students

  Knowledge

  • understand key concepts for effective and sustainable supply chain management
  • can address problems in supply chains by formulating models and applying relevant formulas
  • are familiar with the application and impact of effective supply chain management in real-world problems

  Skills

  • can analyze performance of decision making and solution quality in supply chains
  • have developed analytical skills for effective supply chain management

  General competences

  • understand how good supply chain management can be a competitive advantage for organizations
  • are able to communicate with both specialists and non-specialists about topics in supply chain
  • are able to take active and constructive role in a supply chain team

• Teaching

  Lectures, cases, guest lecture(s) from industry.

• Credit reduction due to overlap

  The following limitation applies only to students in BUS major, who started before autumn 2020: BUS432/BUS432E cannot be combined with BUS403 as "minimum two" courses in BUS major.

• Compulsory Activity

  None

• Assessment

  The course will have the following grading:

  Final home exam individually (in English). 4 hours. Counts 70%.

  Three group based assignments (in English) that count for 10% each (1-3 students in each group). The students must have passing grades (E or better) on all three assignments to be eligible to take the final exam. The students will work on

  • assignment 1 around weeks 37-38
  • assignment 2 around weeks 41-42
  • assignment 3 around weeks 44-45

  Only the final exam (70%) can be retaken separately.

  Grading scale: A-F for both the final exam and the assignments.

• Grading Scale

  A -F for the assessment parts and the total course grade.

• Computer tools

  Excel, including the Solver of mathematical programming models.

• Literature

  Chopra S. Supply Chain Management: Strategy, Planning and Operations, Prentice Hall.

  Articles announced on the course homepage.