Module 1

Module 1: Identifying opportunities & challenges in supply chain (7.5 hours)

1. CASE DISCUSSION #1: Amazon.com: Supply chain management
2. SC and performance metrics
3. CASE DISCUSSION #2: Rethinking the medical SC at Shanghai General Hospital
4. Strategic alliances in SC

Module 2

Module 2: Managing supply chain risk (7.5 hours)

1. CASE DISCUSSION #: iPhone’s SC under threat
2. Risk management in SC
3. CASE DISCUSSION #4: Univ. of Chicago medicine: Transformation & sustainment of the SC & adapting to COVID 19
4. Process management in SC

Module 3

Module 3: Supply chain strategy for new-economy business models (7.5 hours)

1. CASE DISCUSSION #5: Tesla Inc.: Accelerating sustainable profits
2. Operations strategy and SC
3. CASE DISCUSSION #6: Pairing the fashion industry with the sharing economy- Style Theory’s entrance into Singapore’s fashion industry
4. Business models and SC

Module 4

Module 4: Some Supply chain issues & resolution (7.5 hours)

1. CASE DISCUSSION #7: SC analytics to manage blood at VHS blood bank
2. Decision-making tools for SC
3. CASE DISCUSSION #8: Can Block chain help Chateau Lafite fight counterfeits?
4. Technology in SC.

Course Description

The COVID-19 pandemic has tested supply chains like no other event in recent history. With the global populations isolating, distancing, and quarantining, the demand for certain products is sky- rising while market for others is plummeting. Companies’ supply of parts & materials and labour from around the world is being severely disrupted due to people not being able to go to work. In response to this supply chain shock, we are seeing larger companies beginning to build regional chains and smaller ones resorting to technology to get flexible. There is a massive challenge of balancing efficiency with resilience in supply chains that companies around the globe are facing, and it is not easy. In his book ‘The World is flat,’ Thomas Friedman names ‘Supply chaining’ as one of the ten significant forces that have ‘flattened’ the world economically. With growing competition, supply chains will have to be more robust, resilient, and efficient. Our world depends on supply chain managers to make products available to customers. They are the ultimate back-office power players moving millions of rupees worth of products daily. Problems in any part of the supply chain may create significant issues for business, and as you see in the present, times even more significant issues to human wellbeing. That is why good logistics and supply chain managers are such valued professionals. This course aims at building better decision-making skills needed for good quality SC managers, predominantly through discussion of carefully chosen case studies that each reflect a crucial issue in contemporary supply chain management.

Course Outcomes& Learning levels

The course aims to impart the learning required for a student to be a competent business professional and contribute value to a service organization in his/her their career. It is divided into five modules with distinct learning outcomes for each. On completion of this course, students will be,

1. Able to identify unique challenges and opportunities in supply chains (Evaluate).
2. Able to identify issues caused by disruptions and risk in supply chains (Evaluate).
3. Able to critique supply chain strategies (Evaluate).
4. Able to identify opportunities and challenges for supply chains in a new economy (Evaluate).

Evaluation Pattern

* Based on assignments / Tests / Quizzes / Case Studies / Projects / Term paper / Field visit report.

Course Text

1. Coyle, Langley, Novack & Gibson, ‘Supply Chain Management: A a logistics perspective’. Cengage, 10e.

Reference materials

1. Copies of cases & Copies of readings.