Master of Business Administration

This course is an introduction to the principles of effective purchasing and supply management. The course provides an understanding of the important role of the Purchasing function in Supply Chain Management, including an overview of the concept of the supply chain. The course’s scope ranges from understanding how effective purchasing management contributes to an organization’s successful performance and the relationship between corporate strategy and purchasing strategy, to the specifics of sound purchasing practice associated with that performance. The issue of electronic procurement is also explored. The principles discussed are applicable to the purchasing operations of all organizations.

Required for the concentration.

Required for the concentration.

This course explores the traditional functional areas of transportation, warehousing, material handling and packaging, distribution planning, finished goods inventory, order processing and customer service. The responsibilities, processes, and technologies supporting each functional area will be analyzed and the criticality of integrating these functions into the supply chain will be discussed. The framework for analyzing these topics will stress the need to develop the integrated view of the supply chain system and to utilize performance measures for evaluating and improving supply chain system performance.

Required for the concentration.

Required for the concentration.

The focus of this course will be on the impact of effective supply chain management on the organization’s productivity and competitiveness. Students will explore the links between overall business strategy and supply chain strategy, and will develop an in-depth understanding of the principles of supply chain excellence. Field research, combined with Duquesne supply chain management software, will provide students with experience in supply chain management development and integration.

Required for the concentration.

Forecasting, Production Planning and Inventory Planning are central to the success of any firm and have proven to be a major factor in effective supply chain integration. These topics are often thought of as “nuts-and-bolts” operations management issues which have gained visibility for their value to the supply chain process. This course will focus on the strategy behind integrating the critical processes, by developing a working knowledge of the techniques currently used to manage Forecasting, Production Planning and Inventory Planning, and applying that knowledge through, case analysis. Decision support technology for the planning process will be introduced to provide insight into current challenges, opportunities and trends in the management of these disciplines.

Required for the concentration.