Supply Chain Management
Description
The Supply Chain Management (SCM) course builds on aspects of the first-year Technology and Operations Management (RC TOM) course. However, whereas RC TOM focuses primarily on developing and producing products and services, SCM emphasizes managing product availability, especially in the context of rapid product proliferation, short product life cycles, and global networks of suppliers and customers. Hence, topics not examined in RC TOM such as distribution economics, inventory management, demand forecasting, and supply chain design are explored in depth in SCM.
SCM also differs from RC TOM in that RC TOM concentrates primarily on material and information flows within an organization, whereas SCM focuses on managing material and information flows across both functional and organizational boundaries. SCM emphasizes the "general manager’s perspective" in managing supply chains. Cases in the course illustrate that barriers to integrating supply chains often relate to managerial issues (e.g., misaligned incentives or change-management challenges) and operational execution problems (e.g., inaccurate inventory records) that fall squarely in the domain of the general manager. The course makes clear that suitable information technology and appropriate use of analytical tools are necessary, but by no means sufficient, requirements for effective supply chain management.