Digital Supply Chain Management

Five core modules

• Essentials of Accounting and Finance

  • 10 credits
  • 18 hours over ten weeks in lectures or workshops
  • 8 hours per week self-directed study

  The aim of this module is to equip you with an understanding of the most common accounting and finance techniques and practices, and will include the use of published company reports and accounts, and other internally generated information, that enables management to make decisions and control operations.

• Digital Supply Chain

  • 15 credits
  • 30 hours over ten weeks in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self-directed study

  This module introduces you to the frontiers of digitalisation in supply chains. The key technologies behind modern supply chain designs are highlighted and their impact on how products and services are produced and delivered are analysed.

  You will be familiarized with high-level strategies for digitalisation and concrete applications in areas such as manufacturing, supply chain management, and service delivery.

• Analytics for Supply Chain Management

  • 15 credits
  • 30 hours over ten weeks in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self-directed study

  This module introduces you to some important methods relevant to supply chain management from the fields of analytics.  Many problems in today’s business world are often too complex to rely simply on intuition and common sense.

  The application of analytics is critical for firms to improve the quality of business decisions by grounding those decision in analyses of available data and quantitative methods.

  This module investigates principal analytical methods for understanding data and guiding decision-making related to various aspects of managing a supply chain.

• Business Process Management

  • 15 credits
  • 30 hours over ten weeks in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self-directed study

  This module therefore takes a detailed look at the responsibilities, issues and decisions required to manage these business processes within an organization effectively.

  The objective is to develop an understanding of how managers can design, analyse, measure, and improve processes in order to improve an organisation’s performance and attain long-term competitive advantage.

• Supply Chain Fundamentals

  • 15 credits
  • 30 hours over ten weeks in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self-directed study

  This module will ensure that you have a strong foundation to understand the more specialist supply chain management concepts and frameworks, This module will expose you to a range of basic and fundamental supply chain related concepts as well as the global and relevant supply chain management cases.

  Some of the contemporary supply chain management (SCM) issues, such as digitalisation, sustainability, risk management, will be also covered briefly.

Five core modules

• Professional Development Skills

  • 15 credits
  • 30 hours over ten weeks in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self-directed study

  The aim of this module is to strengthen the behavioural, analytical, and methodological skills that will assist you in applying the concepts you have learned through your studies into practice.

  The module includes topics on leadership, consulting skills and research methods to help you become a well-rounded manager.

• Sustainability in Digital Supply Chains

  • 10 credits
  • 18 hours over ten weeks in lectures
  • 8 hours per week self-directed study

  In this module, you will learn about supply chain sustainability and the complex ethical, social, and environmental responsibilities of business organisations towards a range of stakeholders.

  You will also examine the challenges and requirements of building sustainable products and sustainable supply chains across a wide range of contexts with a focus on the practical application to real-world business situations.

• Purchasing and Supply Management

  • 15 credits
  • 30 hours over ten weeks in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self-directed study

  In this module, you will learn about digital procurement.

  Through the examination of core procurement principles, frameworks, and tools, you will gain an understanding of how to plan and execute a procurement strategy that supports corporate goals and broader business objectives. You will learn about the role of integration, data, and analytics in digital procurement.

  You will also observe various digital technologies used in procurement that create opportunities for process automation, frictionless supply chain collaboration, and smarter procurement based on data science.

• Supply Chain Finance and Risk Management

  • 15 credits
  • 30 hours over ten weeks in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self-directed study

  The module aims to provide you with a profound understanding of the role of finance and risk management in supply chains, including the specific technologies that are used by the industry and banks. More specifically, you will explore various supply chain finance related issues such as:

  1. working capital optimisation with a focus on the role of technology in managing receivables, payables and inventories
  2. trade credit and technology-based financing techniques such as reverse factoring and dynamic discounting
  3. risk management strategies including the identification, assessment and mitigation of operational as well as financial risks within the supply chain using digital solutions.

  All these topics have in common that they are enabled by innovative technologies that are becoming increasing popular for managing digital supply chains.

• Machine Learning for Logistics

  • 15 credits
  • 30 hours over ten weeks in lectures
  • 12 hours per week self-directed study and group work

  This module takes a detailed look at the decisions managers need to make about logistics and supply chains. The module provides conceptual, analytical and practical insights into the effective management of supply chain in all organisations, in both the private and the public sectors.

  The module is concerned with large and small organisations from all over the world. This module introduces you to the analytical techniques from the discipline of management science required to be able to do this.

You will choose to do a Business Research Project and one elective, or choose to study four electives

• Business Research Project

  The optional Business Research Project will be of approximately 8,000 words. This offers an opportunity to specialise in a contemporary supply chain topic related to students' future careers. The Project should be based on independent research either in the context of a single organisation or using third-party sources.

  You are encouraged from the start of the course to think about a topic for your Project. A member of academic staff supervises the project, and you may choose whom you would like to work with.

  The Project must be submitted by the end of August. Company sponsored projects are encouraged and a number of such projects may be available.

  Many students use this opportunity to complete a project in conjunction with an organisation they might want to work for.

  This gets your foot in the door and can lead to permanent employment post programme, whilst earning course credit.

Electives offered in 2022

• Family Business
• Driving Supply Chain Innovation through Technology
• Managing Supply Chain Risk
• Country and Geopolitical Risk Management
• Retail Supply Chain Management
• Strategic Innovation in Hyper Competition
• Project Leadership

International electives

• Creating Value with Suppliers (taught in Bologna, Italy)
• Procurement (taught in Mannheim, Germany).

Please note that electives are subject to change and availability.