Logistics and Supply Chain Management

The purpose of this module is to introduce students to the key principles, theories, practices and tools of strategic sourcing. The module also aims to initiate students to the main approaches and tactics used in commercial negotiations and to contribute to the development of their negotiation skills. A number of important sourcing topics will be covered: from developing a sourcing strategy and analysing strategic sourcing decisions, setting up an efficient sourcing process and selecting and evaluating suppliers, to planning and conducting buyer-supplier negotiations in an effective way. The module will also make students aware of contemporary developments in PSM such as digital sourcing.

This module introduces students to the key concepts, approaches, and challenges in logistics management and examines the strategic and value-adding role of logistics within organisations and supply chains. It is designed to provide students with in-depth insights on contemporary issues around the logistics function in order to enhance their decision-making capabilities when confronted with dilemmas in dealing with tactical and strategic issues across industries and contexts.

Trade has become more global and organisations increasingly conduct business in difficult environments. For instance, Shell extracts a substantial amount of its crude oil in politically unstable countries while most disaster relief operations take place in insecure and resource-poor settings. The future logistics professional, therefore, has to seamlessly manage operations across varying contexts, from resource-poor settings to highly industrialised ones. This module, therefore, tackles relevant logistics issues with these developments in mind.

The teaching approach is interactive and combines theoretical and practical aspects. Students learn through role-playing, evaluating and discussing case studies, as well as gathering the perspectives of practitioners and academics.

The Operations Management discipline has traditionally been concerned with how organisations achieve excellence in processes and operations, and to this end several (continuous) improvement approaches and tools and techniques have been stressed. The interest in intra-firm improvement and excellence has more recently been extended to address also how firms can improve their operations in coordination with their supply chain counterparts. This has become relevant since specialisation of labour across industries and outsourcing trends entail that a large share of the value of products and services is created outside the focal firm.

This module provides an understanding of both intra- and inter-organisational approaches to operations improvement and excellence. In particular, it address: a) improvement tools and techniques that firms implement primarily in their internal operations, and b) supply processes and capabilities required to improve operations and achieve excellence in coordination with supply chain partners. The themes above are addressed both in manufacturing and service industries and cross private and public sector settings.

This module provides you with a theoretical and practical understanding of relevant concepts relating to organisational behaviour and leadership in the contexts of projects, supply chains and (temporary multi) organisations. This incorporates an understanding of self-awareness, teams within and between organisations, leader- and followership, as well as the leadership of change. After completing this module you will be able to:

• Interpret their own self-awareness as well as their own self-management
• Demonstrate social awareness including empathy and relationship management, including team membership
• Examine the development, composition and performance of teams and in particular of cross-functional teams
• Evaluate and apply team leadership in terms of leading with and without authority in different organisational structural contexts
• Appraise and lead change in organisations
• Demonstrate the ability to think clearly and apply critical thinking skills, including critical analysis, for example to reading academic journals to their won academic writing
• Show how the role of critical reflection applies to personal learning and development
• Demonstrate and apply standards of academic practice to assignments, specifically with regard to referencing, plagiarism, structuring, signposting and development of a reasoned, justified and cohesive argument.

This module presents the tools and techniques needed to effectively initiate, plan and manage a project through to successful completion. The approach is primarily practical and pragmatic, providing an integrated planning process that supports the production of a holistic and robust project plan. Examples from a broad range of industries are introduced throughout the module. After completing this module you will be able to:

• Explain and critically evaluate the purpose, importance & relevance of project management and its role in delivering successful projects
• Explain and critically evaluate the core knowledge of project management processes and methods within practical applications
• Explain and critically evaluate how the use of processes and methods links with the development of positive attitudes and behaviours appropriate to successful project completion

This module provides you with the skills to work professionally, think creatively and reflect critically, practice responsibly and to conduct a research project. It enables you to be workplace-ready but at the same time have the foundation to progress your studies to doctoral level, if you so wish. After completing this module you will be able to:

• Critically engage with other people’s work, sources of information, digital information systems and problems in practice
• Formulate valid and reliable research questions, hypotheses or conclusions through critical analysis and interpretation of information
• Appreciate the connection between research philosophy, approach and design as well as data collection and analysis techniques
• Develop a research design that is suitable and justifiable to address a particular research question, considering the relative strengths and weaknesses of different research methods
• Demonstrate the adoption of ethical standards in research and /or professional environments including the appraisal of ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment
• Evaluate and develop responsible practice in terms of economic, legal, ethical, social, environmental and philanthropic aspects for self-regulation in a business environment
• Demonstrate understanding and knowledge of key theories of critical reflection and development towards becoming a reflective practitioner

Based on core Operations Management concepts, this module develops an integrative view of supply chains and provides an over-arching logic within which other modules, focussing on logistics, procurement and excellence, can be better understood.

We begin by developing an understanding of key operations and operations strategy concepts and focus on supply chain performance, in the context of strategic competitive advantage, based on organisational capabilities. We then examine key strategic supply chain decisions in areas such as capacity and inventory, taking account of the characteristics of supply and demand in various markets and sectors, and the implications for supply chain finance.

Supply chains seek to bring together different functions and organisations to function 'in concert' to satisfy customer demand. We therefore critically examine core supply chain ideas such as integration and coordination, but also examine the implications of outsourcing and the challenges of trying to direct and control the activities of other organisations, such as suppliers.

Contemporary supply chains utilise digital and information technology, both for particular functions and to achieve supply chain coordination. The module will incorporate an exploration of the use of these technologies. It will also examine the increasing need for supply chains to be flexible and resilient to changes in technology, customer demands and supply market conditions, as well as wider changes in the business environment.

The aim of this module is to provide you with a valuable opportunity to research a real business problem for an organisation, delivering a viable and well-documented solution to the client. For a successful project, you will employ your knowledge of methods (qualitative/quantitative), problem scoping and the research literature to your knowledge and understanding of professional engagement both in their interactions with the client and in the reporting of their outputs and discourse on your research.

The aim of this module is to provide students with a valuable opportunity to research an area of your degree programme in-depth, linking this to business problems that arise in the real world. For a successful project, you will employ their knowledge of analytical methods, problem scoping, modelling and the research literature to identify and implement a solution approach to the business problem or expand on your knowledge of the state of the area being researched. Throughout the project, you will develop your knowledge and understanding of professional academic engagement both in your interactions with your supervisor and in the reporting of your outputs and discourse on your research.

Students will learn how to use information technologies to track the status of the company (e.g. by using dashboards). They will also learn how to create a decision support tool (i.e. the dashboard).

They will also become familiar with techniques and tools used to evaluate the performance of business processes, to make the diagnosis and to suggest improvements to make them still more effective and efficient.

Students will also learn about the contribution of information technologies in achieving the company's strategic objectives, either as an innovation leading to a strategic advantage or as a further support to the company's strategy.

The purpose of this course is to understand and use mathematical models in making strategic, tactical, and operational logistics decisions. Emerging logistical concepts will be introduced and the associated mathematical modelling needs will be discussed. Algebraic formulations will be used as vehicles for describing models and discussing their relationships. There will be a focus on modelling, the use of professional software, and the understanding of results. For problems where exact solutions are hard to achieve even for simple instances of the problem, heuristics will be discussed. The main topics covered are: facility location, network design, warehousing, vehicle routing and scheduling, and Terminal (airport) capacity management.

Students will attend tutorial sessions aiming to guide them to prepare their project and will also learn a spreadsheet-based solver (e.g. Excel Solver) in one of their tutorial sessions.