MS 480 | Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences

GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY

Professor: Dr. Yasemin Aksoy

President, Strategic Operations Alignment (StrOpA), LLC., New Orleans.

Practitioner Professor, A.B. Freeman School of Business, Tulane University

Class Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 8:40 AM-11:40 AM.

Reading: See the course schedule below for a complete listing of the cases and reading material from Harvard Business School (HBS) Publishing Division. I have created a course area on the Harvard Business Online website where you can order the required materials for this course. If you have not registered with Harvard Business Online, you will be required to do so. Click on the link below to order the course materials:

http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/relay.jhtml?name=cp&c=c66294

Course Philosophy: Supply Chain Management is about optimizing the flow of materials, information, and capital across supply chains formed by suppliers, producers (including service providers), distributors, retailers, and consumers. In this course we start with an introduction to supply chain management and review the key competitive priorities of quality, cost, speed, and the right product mix along with the supporting philosophies of just-in-time/lean, total quality management/six sigma, and theory of constraints. We play the Beer Game and experience firsthand the implications of the bullwhip effect and discuss ways to reduce it. We identify key performance measures, discuss supply chains of different companies and address some of the key areas to improve to support the competitive priorities and the performance measures. These areas include supply chain alignment, cost-cutting partnerships, strategic sourcing decisions, achieving innovation and resilience across the supply chain, reduction of cycle-times, speedy delivery to the markets, and balancing the global risks and returns across supply chains.

Grading: Your grade will be based on homework (25%), class participation (15%), a group project (35%), and a final exam (25%). Homework will be provided throughout the class. Detailed instructions for the final project are provided at the end of the class schedule below. Group project report is due August 31 midnight electronically.