MSc Business Analytics: Operational Research and Risk Analysis

A strategy is a decision-making framework for playing the “game” of business. These decisions, which occur daily throughout every firm, include major tasks like capital investments and operational priorities to more mundane or routine tasks like how each individual working in an organisation shuffles through their To-Do list every single morning. Without a strategic framework to guide these decisions, organisations will tend to run in several directions, incur costs, plunder profits, and suffer enormous discord. The supply chain is simply a network of firms in complex contracts to source, make, and deliver products or services to customers. The complexity of supply chain interactions, the variety of contracting arrangements and the sheer number of parties involved makes it challenging, interesting and practically worthwhile to develop the requisite knowledge and capabilities for defining and designing network-level strategies to underpin successful supply chain management (SCM).

The indicative lectures covered on this course include an Introduction to Strategic SCM, The Theory of Make-Buy, Supplier Portfolio Management, Supplier Selection, Negotiation, Supplier Performance Measurement, Supplier Relationship Management, and Managing Supply Chain Risks.

* Required for CIPS accreditation

BMAN70111 Programme Req: BMAN70111 is only available as a core unit to students on MSc Operations, Project & Supply Chain Management, and as an elective to students on MSc Business Analytics and MSc Data Science (Business & Management pathway)

• Introduce students to the basic issues of supply chain management.
• Provide an understanding of the role of theory within supply chain management.
• Explore the broad range of activities associated with the sourcing process
• Provide a foundation for Global SCM.

At the end of the course unit, students should be able to:

• Appreciate the role of SCM within the organisation 
• Understand organisational theory and how to apply it to SCM problems and issues 
• Understand and analyse the overall sourcing process

Formal Contact Methods

Minimum Contact hours: 20 

Delivery format: Lecture and Workshops 

Written Exam (100%)

 

MAIN TEXT BOOK:Cousins, P; Lamming, R; Lawson, B; and Squire, B (2008) Strategic Supply Management: Principles, Theories and Practice. FT/Prentice Hall: Harlow.

ADDITIONAL READING: David Simchi-Levi, Philip Kaminsky, Edith Simchi-Levi, (2014) Designing and Managing the Supply Chain: Concepts, Strategies and Case Studies, 4th Edition, McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

Informal Contact Methods

Office Hours

Online Learning Activities (blogs, discussions, self-assessment questions)

Drop in Surgeries (extra help sessions for students on material they may be struggling with)