Supply chain management has been defined as the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing, procurement, conversion, and logistics management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with supply channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers. In essence, supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies.

This course provides an introduction to the many critical facets of supply chain management. The course coverage ranges from basic topics of inventory management, logistics network design, distribution systems, and customer value to more advanced topics of strategic alliances, the value of information in the supply chain, information technology, decision-support systems, and international issues in supply chain management. State-of- the-art models, concepts, and solution methods are provided for the design, control, operation and management of supply chain systems.