Introductory description

Since the inception of Supply Chain Management in 1982 the concept and scope of supply chain is now embedded in the overall strategy of most leading organisations, who recognise it as a key part of their competitive advantage. Therefore, it is important for students to understand the key principles and their role within the supply chain.

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The module will cover various aspects of the supply chain management field, including but not limited to: an introduction to supply chain management, designing supply chains, competitive environment and how supply chains could provide competitive advantage, assessing supply chain performance, globalisation, sustainability, digitalisation, managing risks in supply chains, understanding the role of forecasting, supply chain integration, managing sourcing processes, and financial implications.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Develop a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental principles, theories, tools and techniques of supply chain management.
• Critically evaluate supply chain strategies and approaches to assess their alignment with the competitive environment.
• Assess any real-world supply chain management and supply chain issue by applying models, frameworks tools and techniques to synthesise gathered information and explore appropriate recommendations.
• Discuss the recent developments and advancements in the subject area, including but not limited to globalisation, sustainability, and digitalisation.

Indicative reading list

*Supply chain 4.0: improving supply chains with analytics and industry 4.0 technologies - Vasileios Zeimpekis; Emel Aktaş; Michael A. Bourlakis; Ioannis Minis, 2020.
*Fundamentals of Supply Chain Management - Dawei Lu, 2011
*The SAGE handbook of strategic supply management - Christine Harland; Guido Nassimbeni; Eugene Stewart Schneller 2013
*Supply chain management: strategy, planning, and operation - Sunil Chopra, 2019.
*Logistics & supply chain management - Martin Christopher, 2023.

View reading list on Talis Aspire

Subject specific skills

Understand the scope and contents of supply chain management, be able to conceptualise real-world supply chains into a theoretical model or framework, be able to analyse the market and competitive business environment from a supply chain perspective, be able to apply relevant management frameworks and theories in strategic planning and design of supply chain, be able to make constructive and educated suggestions for supply chain improvement and development, be familiar with supply chain management tools that facilitate the management practices.

Transferable skills

Communication skill, presentation and articulation skill, team work and team leader skills, dependability, adaptability to much wider employment opportunities, business and related technology literacy.