An effective supply chain goes beyond the successful input and output of goods and services. With the right management, a supply chain has the power to influence entire business processes, create value and unite multiple organisations from all over the world. This complex discipline, with elements of IT, logistics and procurement, is increasingly important in today's globalised environment of interconnected networks.
In recent decades, organisations have become increasingly reliant on effective supply chains in order to compete in the global market. This course equips you with a global view of the strategic and operational processes you need to manage the key functions of these supply chain processes, including transportation, warehousing, inventory management and production planning. We combine advanced theory teaching with practical skills training in well-known software such as SAP®and Arena® to give you a core understanding of the contemporary issues and programs used in global supply chain management.
With easy access to the corporate world from our London campus, you'll develop methods of strategic and critical thinking to enhance your ability to effectively manage and improve existing structures within domestic and international companies. This real-world focus to our course ensures that you are able to respond to a variety of challenges with confidence and ingenuity, enhancing your ability to lead and helping you to advance into more senior roles quickly and capably.
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This course has 6 core modules, which provide an in-depth understanding of key areas such as business strategy, supply chain management, logistics, procurement, supply chain analytics and applied corporate finance. These modules will raise your awareness of the critical issues related to managing international operations and solving problems, as well as enhancing your capabilities in sourcing and managing suppliers, and measuring performance.
You will also select one optional module which will allow you to tailor your learning towards your interests and career plans; this will be from the four options of Enterprise systems and supply chain planning, Innovations Management, Managing Projects and Developing business networks for entrepreneurs.
Finally you will do a dissertation/project in a supply chain management area of your choice and using the knowledge and skills that you have gained in the course.
This module provides you with a comprehensive understanding of key principles and techniques of global operations and global supply chain management and how organisations match demand with demand. You'll develop critical and analytical insights into current operations and supply chain management practices, explore the relevant trade-offs and techniques to address ever changing demand and employ knowledge to the design, operation, control and improvement of business processes.
This module will inform you of the key developments in, and thinking from, the study of strategy and leadership. You'll explore the models, tools and theories used in strategy and leadership and critically appraise where and when such models, tools and theories are effective. The central aim of the module is to achieve a balance between theory and practice and to use strategy and leadership tools to address the complexity and uncertainty facing organisations.
This module aims to develop your understanding of procurement from a strategic, technological, business process and relationship perspective. This module will provide special emphasis towards negotiation and educate participants on various negotiation strategies.
This module allows you to explore the major concepts, models, tools, and metrics used in management analytics for overseeing management of supply chain. Specifically, in the first part of the module you'll be equipped with building blocks of supply chain analytics. In the second part, you'll gain fundamental machine learning concepts and techniques, which are most applicable to management research.
Logistics is the lifeline of any business which encompasses all activities from receipt of customer orders to delivery of goods at their doorstep. An organisation could have the highest brand equity, the most desirable products, and the best people but it could still fail if its logistics infrastructure and systems are not adequate. You'll gain an understanding of all key areas within logistics from an international perspective.
This module will develop your understanding of the major issues in corporate finance. In particular, you'll develop your ability to analyse corporate finance issues, apply finance theories to deal with practical issues in corporate finance, and investigate emerging issues and contemporary trends in the field.
The module will introduce the role of Enterprise Applications in Supply Chain planning and control processes. You'll not only develop a better understanding of the theory behind these processes, but also gain hands-on experience of these processes with SAP©, a leading enterprise resource planning software package, resulting in the requisite practical skills as well.
This module will allow you to develop a systematic understanding of the role of innovation as a key factor in a dynamic business environment and to equip you with the knowledge, expertise and skills needed to manage the innovation process at both strategic and operational level. The module provides an up-to-date overview of the mainstream theories and models of innovation and illustrates successful organisational practices through case study analysis.
This module introduces you to the project management techniques and how they are used across a range of sectors to realise strategic corporate objectives. In particular, the module aims to offer a comprehensive account of project management, programme management and project portfolios, based on a combination of scholarly work and professional practice. You'll develop your understanding of strategic project management and systems design processes. The module will also introduce and evaluate critical success factors for projects, and you'll learn to outline and develop skills in professional techniques used in project closure and evaluation.
This module will provide you with an understanding of business networks and its contributions to entrepreneurial behaviour. This will allow you to confidently discover and develop business networks that will enhance your career.
This module provides you with a means of furthering your skills and knowledge gained on the programme, by applying it to a specific organisational issue or problem. You'll be enabled to demonstrate proficiency in the design of a business enhancement project, application of appropriate methods of investigation, management of the change process, and maintenance of vision in the face of the vicissitudes of business realities.
More information about this course
See the course specification for more information about typical course content outside of the coronavirus outbreak:
Optional modules are usually available at levels 5 and 6, although optional modules are not offered on every course. Where optional modules are available, you will be asked to make your choice during the previous academic year. If we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, or there are staffing changes which affect the teaching, it may not be offered. If an optional module will not run, we will advise you after the module selection period when numbers are confirmed, or at the earliest time that the programme team make the decision not to run the module, and help you choose an alternative module.
We are regularly reviewing and updating our programmes to ensure you have the best learning experience. We are taking what we have learnt during the pandemic and enhancing our teaching methods with new and innovative ways of learning.
We aim to model a wide range of teaching strategies and approaches on the course which you can adapt to your own setting.
You will attend lectures, including talks by guest speakers, as well as seminars and workshops, some of which will focus on research methods. These sessions will involve peer group interaction and aim to sharpen both your critical and analytical skills. You will also work on case studies to enhance understanding of practice situations and undertake directed reading and study, including online activity.
A combination of exams plus individual and group coursework are the main modes of assessment on this course. You will receive regular feedback on your coursework and the dissertation project is a key element of the assessed work you will undertake.
We are regularly reviewing and updating our programmes to ensure you have the best learning experience. We are taking what we have learnt during the pandemic and enhancing our teaching methods with new and innovative ways of learning.
We are currently reviewing our approach to teaching and learning for 2023 entry and beyond. We've learned a lot about how to give you a quality education - we aim to combine the best of our pre-pandemic teaching and learning with access to online learning and digital resources which put you more in charge of when and how you study. We will keep you updated on this throughout the application process.
Your timetable will be built around on campus sessions using our professional facilities, with online sessions for some activities where we know being virtual will add value. We’ll use technology to enhance all of your learning and give you access to online resources to use in your own time.
The table below gives you an idea of what learning looks like across a typical week. Some weeks are different due to how we schedule classes and arrange on campus sessions.
This information is likely to change slightly for 2023 entry as our plans evolve. You'll receive full information on your teaching before you start your course.
Learning structure: typical hourly breakdown in 2023/24 | ||
Live in-person on campus learning | Contact hours per week, per level: | 7.5 hours |
Live online learning | Average hours per week, per level: | 5 hours |
Tutor set learning activities | Average hours per week, per level: | 2 hours |
This information is likely to change slightly for 2023 entry as our plans evolve. You'll receive full information on your teaching before you start your course.
Definitions of terms
Support
You have a strong support network available to you to make sure you develop all the necessary academic skills you need to do well on your course.
Our support services will be delivered online and on campus and you have access to a range of different resources so you can get the help you need, whether you’re studying at home or have the opportunity to come to campus.
You have access to one to one and group sessions for personal learning and academic support from our library and IT teams, and our network of learning experts. Our teams will also be here to offer financial advice, and personal wellbeing, mental health and disability support.
The aim of the programme is to develop students with strong strategic supply chain knowledge and advanced analytical and consulting skills. These characteristics are highly valued across industry sectors. This programme is ideal for anyone looking to enhance their career prospects within the supply chain industry or looking for a role as a logistics or supply chain manager. Specific roles include;
Prior to entering academia, Dr Shukla spent a number of years as a Management Consultant advising clients in a range of sectors on performance enhancement. His research interests are in the areas of Green and sustainable supply chains, reverse logistics, supply chain systems and supply chain risk management. He has published in leading academic journals such as the International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Production Research, Production Planning and Control and Supply Chain Management – An International Journal.
Dr Shukla has a Bachelors and Masters in Engineering from IIT Kanpur, a Masters in Operations Research from Lancaster University, an MBA from S.P Jain Institute of Management and Research, and a PhD from Cardiff Business School.
Dr Vedanthachari (Chari for short) is an engineering graduate with a PhD on the benefits of Enterprise Systems on Mid-Sized Manufacturing Businesses. His research and teaching interests include Enterprise Systems and Supply Chain Management.
He is lead tutor for SAP University Alliance program and a SAP certified associate. He also looks after Novus Partnership and supports under graduates in securing Supply Chain Placements and Internships. Recently he authored Logistics Management book for Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.
Dr Nguyen joined Middlesex University in 2013, prior to which he was a faculty member at the Division of Economics at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the University of Lyon in France. He has experience teaching International Trade, Development Economics, Econometrics, and Behavioural Economics.
Incorporating insights from economics and psychology, such as behavioural economics, he conducts field experiments to explore behaviours of consumers in the market, as well as employees and managers in the firms. He has published in top academic journals such as the American Economic Review.
Dr Nguyen competed his BSc in Mathematical Economics from the National Economics University of Vietnam, an MSc in Demography from the University of California at Berkeley and a PhD in Economics from the University of Hawaii.
Dr Deshmukh teaches the Applied Corporate Finance module in the programme and is also the Programme Leader for the MSc Banking and Finance course.
He joined Middlesex University in 2012, prior to which he was at Coventry University. Before joining academia, he worked in the industry as a fund manager. He is recognised as a reputed researcher and currently supervises several PhD students as well as serving as an internal and external examiner for PhD vivas and as a referee for various internationally reputed journals.
Dr Deshmukh has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and a Master’s and PhD in Finance
Dr Jiang has academic experience in both Italy and the UK. She served as a consultant in United Nations IFAD institute and worked in Huawei Italy before joining Middlesex University. She is a fellow of the Higher Education Academy and her research interests include sustainable global sourcing, supply chain management, and e-commerce innovation.
Dr Jiang holds a PhD in Operations Management, a Master’s in Business Administration, and a Bachelor’s in Economics and Management.
We’ll carefully manage any future changes to courses, or the support and other services available to you, if these are necessary because of things like changes to government health and safety advice, or any changes to the law.
Any decisions will be taken in line with both external advice and the University’s Regulations which include information on this.
Our priority will always be to maintain academic standards and quality so that your learning outcomes are not affected by any adjustments that we may have to make.
At all times we’ll aim to keep you well informed of how we may need to respond to changing circumstances, and about support that we’ll provide to you.
Start: September 2023, January 2024
Duration: 1 year full-time, 2 years part-time
Code: PGN122
Start: September 2023, January 2024
Duration: 1 year full-time, Usually 2 years part-time
Code: PGN200
Start: September 2023
Duration: 1 year full-time, 2 years part-time
Code: PGN20C
