Supply chain management is the backbone of the global economy.
Regardless of your role within a firm,
you will interface with a supply chain.
Supply chains span time zones, continents, cultures,
and companies.
Everything that you touch and use
came through some supply chain.
The ability to manage these far flung and complex networks
is now seen as crucial to the success or failure of a firm.
My name is Chris Caplice, and I'm
the executive director of the MIT Center for Transportation
and Logistics.
I'll be your primary instructor for this course, CTL.SC3x,
Supply Chain Dynamics.
If you take this course, you'll learn to see the big picture
and understand how firms and other entities
interact with each other in real life supply chains.
We will build off of the fundamental concepts taught
in the first three courses, and illustrate
how real complications impact supply chains,
and change how you should design, plan, and manage them.
Supply chains are complex systems,
so we'll start by exploring system dynamics.
You will learn how firms can improve their performance
through better collaboration and coordination.
We'll introduce process analysis and illustrate
how even sophisticated supply chains can
be analyzed using some simple tools and techniques.
We'll review some classic frameworks for business
strategy and demonstrate how supply chains should
be aligned to the organization's overall business objectives.
You will learn that there is not a single best supply
chain for every firm, but rather each company
should develop and utilize a portfolio of different supply
chains.
Because most supply chains are global,
we'll spend a fair amount of time exploring
the complications and challenges that the global supply
chains bring.
Finally, we'll wrap the course up
with a section on supply chain resilience and risk management.
I love teaching this course because it brings everything
we've studied so far together into a cohesive single
framework.
I hope that you'll decide to join us and take
the course, CTL.SC3x, Supply Chain Dynamics.