Course Descriptions

MSCM 551 Supply Management (3 credits)
Examines the challenges of integrating the members of an organization's supply management system. Such improvements reduce time-to-market and improve quality and the inflow of technology from the firm's supply base, thereby increasing market share and profitability. These improvements also result in reductions in the total cost of ownership for purchased materials, services, and equipment. Addresses supply management's role in: social responsibilities, buyer-supplier relationships, ethics, cross-functional teams, quality, price and cost analysis, methods of compensation, total cost of ownership, the development of requirements, acquisition of services and equipment, outsourcing, global sourcing, postaward activities, and legal issues.

MSCM 552 Operational Processes (3 credits)
Examines operational processes of the supply chain from acquisition of materials through conversion to physical distribution of goods and services. Topics include workflow systems, inventory systems, quality systems, production systems, logistics systems, cost estimation, optimization, and continuous improvement. Common business processes and business skills addressed include: production planning, workflow scheduling, cost estimation, resource allocation, work methods design, inventory management, and continuous improvement methods.

MSCM 553 Logistics & Supply Chain Systems (3 credits)
Provides an understanding of supply chain dynamics and analytical methods used to analyze, plan, and manage supply chain operations. Topics include: e-commerce, supply chain problems and issues, analytic techniques and applications used to address supply chain planning and management, and a comparative foundation of current industry applications, their benefits, and limitations.

MSCM 554 Strategic Cost Management (3 credits)
Investigates the highly dynamic, timely, and little understood area of cost management in the supply chain. Promotes cost reduction as a critical tool in competitive business strategy redirecting emphasis from price to the total cost of ownership. Identifies costs throughout the supply chain system and methods of measuring costs and determining cost drivers. Develops written strategies on reducing/managing costs.

MSCM 555 International Negotiations (3 credits)
Addresses the art and science of negotiation with the "science" learned through readings and the "art" learned through experience gained in simulated negotiations. These negotiations frequently are set in a foreign country, exposing participants to nuances of conducting business abroad. These mock or simulated negotiations are conducted both online and during the residence sessions held on campus.

MSCM 558 Project Management Principles (2 credits)
The integrative project is a core element of the Graduate Certificate and the Master of Science in Supply Chain Management.  The ability to apply project management knowledge, tools and principles to the effective execution of process improvement or system implementation projects is central to modern supply chain management. This course provides students with the foundational capabilities required to be effective project managers in a supply chain context. Topics addressed include team formation, team sponsorship, and team governance, developing charters, project management, quantifying financial impacts, and presentation skills.

MSCM 559 Integrative Project (1 credit)
Each candidate identifies a sponsor-based supply management or supply chain-related project to complete during the certificate program. Projects are approved by management of the sponsoring organization and the Director, SCMI, and have the potential of contributing significantly to the sponsor's bottom line. The project may be conducted in a team environment if the project value exceeds the combined tuition of the team members.

MSCM 571 Leadership & Ethics for Supply Chain Managers (3 credits)
Addresses leadership to build collaboration in supply chains. Students will learn to: identify forces that support or destroy collaboration, discover ways of discerning the perceptions of others, uncover attribution errors, create an arsenal of ethical strategies, identify areas where new human alliances need to be created, and build a learning journal. Topics addressed include: foundations of ethical leadership, diversity and inclusion, comparative leadership and management, international cultural context of leadership, leadership in a team-based context, and leadership and the learning organization.

MSCM 572 World Class Supplier Development (2 credits)
Supplier development consists of the process and activities that a buying firm undertakes to improve a supplier's performance and capabilities to meet the buying firm's supply needs. Buying firms use a variety of activities to improve supplier performance including: assessing suppliers' operations, providing incentives to improve performance, instigating competition among suppliers, and working directly with suppliers, either through training or other activities. Topics addressed include: strategic perspectives, supplier development process, supplier development enablers, barriers to supplier development, and world-class supplier development.

MSCM 573 Organization Change Management (2 credits)
Supply chain management organizations support the overall objective of a smooth flow of quality products, services, and information to optimize end customer satisfaction. This course focuses on organizational change in relationships, structures, communications systems, and culture. Topics addressed include: business process reengineering, diagnosing change, managing change, change leadership, organizational and culture behaviors, organizing for change, and change implementation.

MSCM 574 Global Supply Management (1 credit)
World Class Supply ManagementSM requires active participation in the global marketplace. While many processes and practices are the same nationally and globally, many nuances exist when dealing with a global supply base. This course addresses these nuances, with a strong focus on cultural issues. Topics addressed include: global management perspectives, supply channels, direct suppliers, currency exchange and payment, socio-economic and political alliances, and cultural issues involving social justice.

MSCM 575 Law, Ethics & Contracts for Supply Chain Management (2 credits)
Ethics, diversity, and legal issues are of paramount concern to organizations that operate in today's global environment that pits supply chain against supply chain. Proactive companies recognize that striving for diversity and maintaining ethical policies and actions help enable world class supply chain management. Topics addressed include: diversity suppliers, protecting the physical environment, workplace values, ethics in business, contract formation, and the legal context of SCM.

MSCM 576 Finance for Supply Chain Managers (1 credit)
SSupply Chain Managers require knowledge of finance to enable analysis of projects, justification for proactive investments, and estimation of supply chain costs. Topics addressed include: the motivators of finance professionals, time value of money, net present value, internal rate of return, working capital management, financing inventory, financing capital equipment, international finance, hedging, and options.

MSCM 577 Marketing in a Supply Chain Management Context (1 credit)
The course introduces marketing in the context of effective management of the firm's supply chain. Supply Chain Managers require knowledge of marketing in order to develop, evaluate, and implement effective supply chain strategies. Topics addressed include: the motivators of marketing professionals, the marketing environment, life cycle strategies, market segmentation, market intelligence, product design, branding, packaging and services, and international marketing.

MSCM 578 Value Network Management (3 credits)
This course begins by analyzing present day relations between customers and their suppliers at all levels. It then addresses the theories and mechanics involved in the development and management of buyer-supplier alliances. The third phase of the course addresses the complex nature of buyer-supplier networks, supply families, and virtual corporations. Students will learn about strategic sourcing, public sector sourcing, subcontract administration, developing and managing buyer-supplier alliances, and developing and managing networks, supply families, and virtual corporations.

MSCM 599 Advanced Integrative Project (3 credits)
The advanced integrative project is a sponsor-based, supply chain-based project. Projects are approved by management of the sponsoring organization and the Director of SCMI and have the potential of contributing significantly to the sponsors' bottom lines. The projects may be conducted in a team environment if the project value exceeds the combined tuition of the team members. Topics addressed include: team formation, developing charters, project management, quantifying financial impacts, and presentation skills.

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