Supply Chain Management involves the management of a company’s supply chains by ensuring the efficient and effective flow of products and services, in order to raise customer value and possibly gain a competitive advantage over other similar businesses.
Without proper Supply Chain Management, a business can be in turmoil and will receive bad reviews from customers for poor service or inferior product quality.
Supply Chain Management is necessary for almost all areas of both big and small businesses, ranging from product sourcing, development, production, logistics, and distribution.
Therefore, Obtaining Supply Chain Management skills can undoubtedly boost an individual’s career prospects. In this day and age, people tend to be involved in many different activities besides just studying and work.
So, managing time to gain additional skills has become quite difficult, especially when we take into account the time wasted due to traveling.
However, there are many ways in which a person can gain Supply Chain Management skills from the convenience of their homes, as long as they have internet connectivity.
These skills can be attained by doing courses, specializations or even obtain degrees online, which are provided by a number of online academic service providers.
Of course, you can always find a home tutor if you want but online is probably the easier option to go for, right?
1. Coursera:
Coursera offers a few online courses and specializations on Supply Chain Management by collaborating with different universities, namely Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Rutgers University, Georgia Tech, and so on.
The course offered by KAIST is called Supply Chain Management: A Learning Perspective, and it covers the primary principles of value creation with respect to customers, the creation of products, coordination of value-creating functions, leadership roles, etc.
The approach of this course is dynamic and focusses on building long-term capabilities of individuals.
Rutgers University conducts most of the supply chain related courses such as Supply Chain Management Strategy, Supply Chain Logistics, Supply Chain Operations, Supply Chain Planning, Supply Chain Analytics Essentials and Supply Chain Sourcing. Rutgers University also provides a specialization on Supply Chain Management.
Georgia Tech collaborates with Coursera to provide a course on Supply Chain Principles, and it emphasizes the creation of integrated supply chain models and understanding the extended supply chain.
2. Study Portals:
Similar to Coursera, study portals also provide a range of courses on Supply Chain Management collaborating with several universities around the world.
However, instead of sticking to courses, they also provide degrees such as Bachelors and Masters from reputed universities.
For example, they provide a Bachelor degree in business called Logistics and Supply Chain Management which requires a duration of 36 months in total. This degree is provided under Swinburne Online, and it enables students of this program to learn the planning and management of the flow of goods and other forms of resources in the global marketplace.
A student will be able to develop their project management skills along with their negotiation skills. They will also learn how products can be secured, and how they can manage their handling, distribution, and storage effectively and efficiently.
This courses in this degree are conducted by professionals in the supply chain industry, and individuals can obtain actual skills and experiences that will help them obtain employment in various types of industries.
Individuals will be able to obtain different types of supply chain management related jobs by enrolling to this degree, such as supply and distribution manager, supply chain manager, export and import manager, replenishment analyst, and logistics operation manager.
Finally, Study Portals also provides a Master degree in Supply Chain and Logistic Management collaborating with RMIT University.
Any position related to supply chain management requires individuals to be responsive to customers and utilize sustainable strategies across the entire value chain.
A sound understanding of logistic systems, proper implementation of strategic management, and effective use of data to analyze different situations in order to make better business decisions are of utmost priority.
This Master degree on Supply Chain and Logistics Management provides a path to obtain a formal qualification to boost the careers of individuals interested in fields such as import and export, manufacturing and transport, and lastly, logistic management industries.
This master degree has been designed to accommodate a flexible lifestyle, which makes it convenient for those who seek to study from home. They also offer 6 intakes per year, and only one course is focused on at a time making it easier for students to succeed. Compared to a traditional master degree, this online degree requires less time for completion.
3. EdX:
EdX is one of the biggest open online course platforms and collaborates with many renowned universities to provide courses in a wide range of disciplines.
They provide a versatile range of courses in Supply Chain Management, collaborating with top universities in the world such as Massachusetts University of Technology (MIT), UC Louvain and Chalmers University of Technology.
The courses under MIT include Supply Chain Fundamentals which from both an analytical and practical level, looks into the fundamental concepts of logistics and supply chain management, Supply Chain Dynamics which teaches interactions between firms and other external entities in various industries, Supply Chain for Manufacturing which deals with planning and integration of the different components of a supply chain so they can work synergistically.
It also includes Supply Chain Analytics which deals with implementing methodologies for analysis and modeling of supply chains, and finally, Supply Chain Technologies and Systems which deals with the use of technology in the different areas supply chain management.
UCLouvain collaborates with EdX to provide a course called Supply Chain Management: A Decision Making Framework which looks into how rationale can be applied to make appropriate decisions in supply chain management.
Lastly, the courses under Chalmers University of Technology include Master Control in Supply Chain Management and Logistics which focusses solely on enhancing logistic skills do excel at supply chain management and boost organization’s productivity, and System Design for Supply Chain Management and Logistics which focusses on design of the supply chains, creation of competitive advantage, and utilizing effective analysis to increase returns.
Due to the widespread availability of internet connection, it has become easier for people to engage in skills development activities or even obtain a formal qualification online by using the services of many online academic platforms.
These online platforms try to provide courses and degrees in a flexible manner so that people can obtain a plethora of skills from the convenience of their homes.
In terms of Supply Chain Management, there are plenty of courses and degrees available which anyone can take part in from home, without the need for enrolling to a university or specialized school.
