MSc Logistics and Supply Chain Management

The aim of this programme is to equip you with state of the art knowledge and the skill set required to lead a successful career in logistics and supply chain management (SCM) in an international context. The ambition is to help shape the logistics and supply chain managers of the future, enabling them to analyse and solve problems and to make decisions with an awareness of the strategic context, the role of technology and of managing within and between organisations. The programme is designed to provide you with a solid core knowledge in operations and SCM, logistics management, procurement and supply, and analytics.

The programme is designed for graduates interested in careers in logistics, supply chain management, physical distribution and transport management. There is a large demand for graduates in logistics and supply chain management. Graduates from this course can expect to work as logistics managers, procurement managers, supply chain analysts, business consultants and business analysts.

Demand has never been higher for people who can apply quality management science to supply chain and logistics management. This course  equips you the skills to achieve this.

Course structure: Information contained on the website with respect to modules is correct at the time of publication, and the University will make every reasonable effort to offer modules as advertised. In some cases changes may be necessary and may result in some combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, staff changes and new research. Not all optional modules are available every year.

Logistics Management

This module introduces you 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 you 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. You will learn through profound reading, state of the art research, delivery evaluating and discussing case studies, as well as gathering the perspectives of practitioners and academics.

Strategic Supply Chain Management

This module examines the principles and practices of supply chain management, and examines supply chain management in a variety of sectors and contexts, from consumer goods markets to business-to-business services. Beyond that, it looks at supply chain management critically, as just one manifestation of the more general issue of trans-organisational operations management. For most of the timehe programme focuses on  considering inter-organisational relationships from various perspectives, to do so you are required  to understand how they relate to matters within the organisation.

Statistics and Descriptive Analytics

At the heart of many management problems lies data that need to be described, analysed and interpreted. The overall objective of this module is to develop your abilities to describe, analyse and interpret data soundly, making effective use of computer software. The skills learned on this course underpin many  of the other modules on the Management Science Department programmes. Although the module assumes little prior knowledge of statistics, those with prior knowledge should not expect to find it easy.

Operational Research and Prescriptive Analytics

This module provides an introduction to Business Analytics and Operational Research. It begins with a description of the origins of the subjects, an overview of their subsequent development, and a discussion on how to model real-life problems adequately. The remainder of the course gives an overview of some of the most widely used models and solution methods, including decision analysis, linear programming, inventory control, simulation and Markov chains.

Operations and Supply Chain Excellence

Successfully managing its operations and its supply chain activities is central to any organisation’s ability to compete for revenues and resources.

The aim of this module is to introduce a series of innovations and capabilities in operations and supply chain management that have been associated with excellence and outstanding performance.

These include strategic procurement management, lean production principles, supply chain contract design and negotiation, supply chain financing and risk management, and managing business process flows.

The module will look at these subjects in both manufacturing and service contexts.

Transportation and Logistics Modelling

The purpose of this course is to understand and use in somewhat simple contexts some of the basic models from logistics. Algebraic formulations will be used as vehicle for describing models and discussing their relationships.  This module focuses 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 help solving such challenges.

The main topics encompasse: facility location, network design, warehousing and inventory control, vehicle routing and scheduling, and environmental considerations in transportation and distribution operations.

Global Sourcing

The purpose of this module is to introduce you to the key principles, theories, practices and tools of strategic sourcing. The module also aims to initiate you 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 are part of this module: 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 you aware of contemporary developments in purchasing such as digital sourcing.

Forecasting and Predictive Analytics

After introducing the topic of forecasting in business organisations, issues concerned with forecasting model building in regression and its extensions are presented, building on material covered earlier in the course(s). This course also teaches you extrapolative forecasting methods, in particular Exponential Smoothing , as well as Machine Learning / Artificial Intelligence methods, in particular Neural Networks. All methods are embedded in a case study in forecasting in organisations.

OPTIONAL

Dissertation (Industry)

The aim of this module is to provide you' 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 identify and implement a solution approach to the business problem. Throughout the project you will develop knowledge and understanding of professional engagement both in you  interactions with the client and in the reporting of their outputs and discourse on your research.

Dissertation (Research Project)

The other option for the dissertation is to undertaken a research project. This module gives you the opportunity to develop into competent and capable research investigators able to design, develop and implement a research methodology appropriate to the research being undertaken. It will provide you with the opportunity to deliver a robust, rigorous and purposeful research project that draws upon and contributes to the body of knowledge in the field of project management. The module, as part of the wider programme, aims to support the development of a generation of reflective practitioners.