Full course description
Welcome to Supply Chain Strategy and Design. Whether you're new to supply chain thinking or building on experience you already have, this course will give you frameworks and tools you can apply immediately in your professional role.
We'll start by examining how supply chains have evolved from traditional one-way systems to modern, integrated networks that emphasize information flow, sustainability, and stakeholder collaboration. You'll explore the fundamental trade-offs supply chain leaders face every day—balancing cost against speed, efficiency against flexibility, and local responsiveness against global scale. In your first reflection activity, you'll analyze a real supply chain to see these principles in action.
Next, we'll dive deep into network design. You'll learn how to strategically position facilities, optimize transportation and distribution, manage inventory effectively, and leverage technology to improve performance. This isn't just theory—you'll apply network design principles to organizations you know, examining real decisions about where to locate warehouses, which transportation modes to use, and how to balance cost with service.
Then we tackle one of today's most critical challenges: risk and resilience. You'll learn to identify and categorize risks using professional frameworks, develop mitigation strategies across four strategic domains, and build adaptive capacity into supply chain systems. We'll examine real disruptions—from the COVID-19 pandemic to the Suez Canal blockage—to understand what makes supply chains vulnerable.
Finally, we explore sustainability as a strategic imperative. You'll investigate green logistics, circular supply chains, ethical sourcing practices, and performance measurement frameworks. Throughout the course, reflection activities will help you connect concepts to organizations you interact with—either professionally or as a consumer.
The course culminates in a strategic supply chain proposal where you'll bring everything together. You'll analyze an organization's current network, identify optimization opportunities, assess risks, recommend sustainability initiatives, and create a digital model of your proposed improvements. This project mirrors the kind of strategic work supply chain professionals do in the real world.
So let's get started. The supply chains you touch in your career will benefit from the strategic thinking, analytical skills, and ethical leadership you develop here. I'm looking forward to this journey with you!