Buying products and using services is part of our daily life. Doing so, we demand high quality products and good service at a low price. Today these goods and services are created by more than one company, distributed all over the world. The global economy gets more competitive and information is exchanged widely and instantaneously. Effective logistics and supply chain management are the basics to guarantee the availability and quality consumers ask for. In order to perform better than competitors, supply chain management is being recognized as one of the main tasks for achieving significant improvements in business processes.

Logistics can be defined as the process of planning, implementing, and controlling the efficient, cost-effective flow and storage of raw materials, finished goods and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption for the purpose of satisfying customer requirements.  More casually, logistics is about getting the correct things to the correct places in the correct time, while Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the integrative planning and controlling and handling of procurement, production, storage, distribution, and sales processes in an efficient and cost-effective manner to meet customers’ service requirements.

Although these definitions seem to be similar, most logistics has a tactical, problem solving focus concerning a single company while supply chain management is a more strategically oriented management perspective including the optimization of processes across the supply chain. The course is meant to be a survey of various logistic issues with focus on supply chain topics that organizations must address to remain competitive in a business climate increasingly shaped by information exchange, speed, and flexibility. One part of the course will discuss solution tools for solving logistic problems. These tools comprise a varied assortment of quantitative methods that address problems of distribution, inventory management, purchasing, warehousing, and customer service. The major part of the course will address the strategic, integrative supply chain management issues, like information exchange, buyer-supplier relationships, distribution strategies, outsourcing decisions, cycle time reduction, and strategic alliances.

The overarching objective of the course is giving a survey of SCM topics. Students learn about today’s issues in logistics and SCM and how they are treated. Students should also become familiar and competent with some of the analytical tools that managers use to address these problems.

The course is primarily lecture based. In addition, the course will be conducted by a combination of seminar-type lectures and discussions, case study work, and in-class computer applications. Class discussions will focus on those issues where comprehension is enhanced by additional elaboration or illustration. Individual participation by students is strongly recommended.

• Wintersemester 2010/11
• Wintersemester 2009/10
• Wintersemester 2008/09

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