INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS AND SUPPLY CHAIN

This is a survey course in Operations and Supply Chain Management (OSCM) that focuses on design, planning, coordination, and improvement of operations and supply chain management. The key objectives of the course are to help students think critically about the ways in which operational and supply chain concepts are fundamental to the overall functioning of the business and to provide an operations “vocabulary” for students to carry forward into the rest of their studies and beyond. During the course linkages between operations and other business functions (particularly, finance, accounting, marketing, and information technology) will be stressed. With increasing competition around the globe, supply chain management is both a challenge and an opportunity for companies. Hence a strong understanding of supply chain management concepts and the ability to recommend improvements should be in the toolbox of all managers. The objective of this course is to introduce the students to the key concepts and techniques that will allow them to analyze, manage and improve supply chain processes for different industries and markets. At completion of this course, the students will have the skills to assess supply chain performance and make recommendations to increase supply chain competitiveness.

This is a survey course in Operations and Supply Chain Management (OSCM) that focuses on design, planning, coordination, and improvement of operations and supply chain management. No specific knowledge is required to successfully follow the course and to be able to pass the exam but basic knowledge (undergraduate level) of business management is required.

Knowledge and understanding: This course is intended to provide students both with knowledge and understanding of OSCM theories as well as the capability to use this knowledge in actual decision-making related to operational and managerial problems. The course is structured to develop know-how and skills that allow students to elaborate and employ original ideas in complex contexts of analysis. Knowledge and understanding acquired by students will be evaluated through teamwork mid-term assignments and an individual final written exam. Applying knowledge and understanding: Classes involve a combination of traditional lectures, presentations and discussion of case studies in the OSCM domain. The course is highly interactive and aims at challenging students with exercises and cases based on real managerial problems. Case study discussions are critical to the completion of the course as they give students the opportunity to apply the constructs in real-file situations. Active class discussion is also encouraged and a mid-term teamwork assignment will be proposed to check the learning outcomes. This ability will be also evaluated with the final exam. Making judgements: The course aims at providing students with the ability to deal with complex OSCM problems autonomously. The course has strong emphasis on providing analytical skills, critical thinking, and managerial insights. The topics will be tested according to three main areas: Supply chain strategy (strategic fit, network design, global dual sourcing); Integrating relationships across the global supply chain (sales & operations planning, logistics management); Managing change in supply chain operations (sustainability and project management). Communication skills: Communication skills will be trained through continuous interaction between the students and the teacher as well as among the students themselves. To this end, students are expected to make presentations during classes both individually and in team (e.g. presentation and analysis of teaching cases, data, documents provided by the teacher). The goal is to stimulate students’ ability to communicate in front of an audience and boost their familiarity with communication techniques and tools. Learning skills: With increasing competition around the globe, supply chain management is both a challenge and an opportunity for companies. Thus, a critical goal of this course is to enable the understanding of this double face of supply chain management. Students are required to prepare materials and readings before the classes and discuss them with the teacher. This learning approach aims at fostering the students’ participation and engagement. These skills will be evaluated in-class discussions and during the final exam.

The course addresses the following topics: 1. Introduction to Operations & Supply Chain Management (OSCM) 2. Operations and Supply Chain Strategy 3. Managing Processes and Capacity 4. Product/process innovation 5. Managing quality 6. Managing inventory 7. Customer Service Management 8. Logistics Management 9. Sourcing & supply management 10. Sustainability in global supply chains: the triple-bottom line 11. Outsourcing: problems and issues of sustainability 12. Sustaining supply chains during crisis On successful completion of this course, students will be able to: - Understand the elements of the supply chain - Critically explain the main approaches to supply chain management - Critically understand the links between corporate strategy and supply chain design - Understand the basic process of demand and production planning - Understand the performance metrics of the supply chain - Identify the critical aspects of sustainability in supply chain management contexts

Textbook: “Managing Operations Across the Supply Chain”, by Swink et al., 4th Ed., pub by McGraw-Hill. Additional books and reading for non-attending students will be communicated through the course webpage learn.luiss.it

Lectures will follow and expand the topics presented in the book. Slides and exercises will be provided to help the students. Every lecture will present a mix of theory and business cases. The on campus classes focus on the constructs and theories of OSCM while the online classes will be dedicated to case studies, discussion and exercises. The students will be grouped in order to work on specific assignments. The discussions of the assignments will allow students to apply the OSCM issues autonomously and develop their skill to make judgments and take decisions.

During the course, students will be asked to work on a project. Details about the project work will be released during the second week of the course. The project work counts for 40% of the overall valuation. A mid term exam (30%) and the final written exam (30%) will complete the evaluation. The project work is compulsory for attending students.

A genuine interest in the topics discussed in the course. Consequently, a grade above 28 is required to be accepted for the thesis.