Certificate in Global Supply Chain Management

The Certificate in GSCM is an affordable option for domestic and international candidates who need to gain or upgrade their supply chain management skills to meet current market demands as well as prepare for the American Production and Inventory Control Society (APICS) certification.

This Certificate program is suitable for those students who have obtained a Bachelor’s degree and are interested in managing or working in various aspects of the global supply chain.

The program will prepare students to optimize and support the business, as well as design innovative operating models and cost reduction strategies.

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Application Process

1. A completed application form and non-refundable application fee
2. Evidence of an interview with an admission counselor
3. Official transcripts showing a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution. Normally, a grade point average of approximately 3.0 or higher in upper division undergraduate work is expected

Benefits

By completing the certificate program in GSCM, students develop a deep understanding of the following:

• The methods used to design and operate supply chains in modern organizations
• How to manage assets strategically in order to gain or sustain competitive advantage and business value
• SCM management principles, tools, and techniques
• Strategic management of operations and assets as well as their role in organizations

Program Completion Time

This certificate is based on a sequence of 4 three-unit graduate courses for a total of 12 units, which would require enrollment for at least two terms. Courses are based on 11-week term schedules that run in Fall, Winter, Spring, and Summer. This completion time does not account for any pre-requisite courses a student may need if they do not possess the appropriate background.

Admission Requirements

• An undergraduate degree in business or related fields. Other backgrounds will be considered, based on their career interests and work experience.
• Prerequisite courses are available to those students who do not have a business background but would like to transition towards a career in SCM:
  • MBA 505 Enterprise, Management, Organization and Strategy

Curriculum

The curriculum consists of four courses in total. The following is a required course:

• GSCM 504: Fundamentals of Global Supply Chain Management

Students will also choose three electives from the choices below:

• GSCM 580: Global Strategic Sourcing
• GSCM 581: Managing Global Production and Operations
• GSCM 582: Total Quality and Service Management
• GSCM 583: Logistics and International Trade
• GSCM 584: Supply Chain Strategies including Planning and Network Analysis

Courses

GSCM 504. Fundamentals of Global Supply Chain Management

This course provides basic definitions and concepts for planning and controlling the flow of materials into, through and out of an organization. It explains fundamental relationships among the activities that occur in the supply chain from suppliers to customers. In addition, the course addresses types of manufacturing systems, forecasting, master planning, material requirements planning, capacity management, production activity control, purchasing, inventory
management, distribution, quality management, and Lean manufacturing. The basic concepts in managing the complete flow of materials in a supply chain from suppliers to customers are covered in this basics module. This module covers manufacturing, distribution, service, and retail industries, which includes the fundamental relationships in the design, planning, execution, monitoring, and control that occur. This coursework is intended to prepare students for the first APICS Certification exam.

GSCM 580. Global Strategic Sourcing

This course covers skills necessary to pursue sourcing related careers in manufacturing, services, retailing, and government agencies, including discussion of cutting- edge negotiation and sourcing strategies pursued in exemplar firms. Strategic sourcing enhances value, ultimately impacting the profitability of an entire organization. In this essential course, you’ll learn how to develop and implement a sourcing strategy that aligns with overall competitive strategy. The course and the associated case studies, activities and discussions provide the context and a framework for making effective sourcing decisions including a comprehensive approach to strategic sourcing. The course objectives are:
• To expose candidates to leading edge concepts and principles in strategic sourcing as pursued by leading edge firms
• To generate interest in pursuing sourcing as a viable career opportunity, be it in retailing, manufacturing, government agencies or non-profit organizations
• To provide applied learning opportunities in strategic sourcing through a combination of case analyses, sourcing project and article reviews
• To develop expertise in the areas of team building skills, presentation skills, analytical skills and report writing skills. We will use a variety of methods to achieve these objectives: case analysis, sourcing best practices project, article reviews and negotiation exercise.

GSCM 581. Managing Global Production

The objective of this course is to make the students to think about how supply chain management impacts all the areas and processes of the firm and its supply chain trading partners, to show how managers can improves their firm’s competitive position by employing effective practices. This course of production and operations management involves all the processes, which combines and transforms various resources used in these subsystems of the organization into value added product/services in a controlled manner as per the policies of the
organization. Major concepts like purchasing management, managing supplier relationships, ethical and sustainable sourcing etc., are explained in this course. Modern technologies like cloud computing, social media and advanced CRM are used as integrating the supply chain management concepts. This course is concerned with the transformation of that part of the organization that has a range of inputs into the required (products/services) having the requisite quality level.

GSCM 582. Total Quality & Service Management

The course aims to engage the student on contemporary issues pertaining to the management of quality in services and manufacturing, in international and domestic markets, as well as in the private and public sectors. Further, the conceptual and analytical skills developed in this course should enable the student to provide leadership in managing for quality. Much of what the student learns will be practitioner-oriented and directly applicable to the so-called “real-world”. Informative readings on quality management topics from reputable journals, and experiential learning exercises and projects complement the text and shape learning in this class. The
student is expected to engage the professor and his or her fellow students in the discussion of pertinent issues. Delivering quality service to clients, training the travel industry’s human resource component, the meaning and importance of quality, value of the customer and service quality, quality management process, its impact on organizations and the significance of service quality to tourism and hospitality concepts together with the mechanism of quality management approach to providing service excellence through several advancements in quality such as benchmarking and total quality management.

GSCM 583. Logistics & International Trade

The course deals about managing and coordinating this global web of physical and information flows to remain competitive in a turbulent and changing marketplace. This globalization of supply chain continues apace there is a growing skills and skill gap for the availability of workforce with the knowledge and experience. This course also concentrates on the best practices that can be adopted in logistics to yield cost reduction and value addition. This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of the complexities of global trade, its impact on logistics, and key areas of concern for international logistics managers. Key topics are investigated such as: warehousing and materials handling, financial inflows involved in a supply chain, sustainability, risk management and supply chain security. The logistics and international trade program provides the knowledge needed by individuals to work within the global supply chain, helping to facilitate the movement of goods between countries. Students gain an understanding of the principles, practices and terminology of international trade logistics.

GSCM 584. Supply Chain Strategies, Planning, & Network Analysis

In this focused program, we will approach the course by incorporating management, strategy, marketing and decision sciences to design and manage the supply chain effectively. Strategies in Supply Chains focuses on the innovative ways in which organizations can leverage the supply chain to create and capture value. question, consider, and reconsider every facet of your supply chain right from product design and manufacturing to sourcing, distribution, sustainability, even product recycling. Using research-driven frameworks and best practices, we
will help students in developing a comprehensive, strategic, global approach to supply chain management, enabling them to expand into new markets faster, accelerate product development cycles, leverage partnerships, and develop new services. And most important, we will influence the strategic and organizational direction from a company’s point of view

Tuition & Fees

All fees are subject to change without notice. The University reserves the right to change, delete or add to this pricing schedule as deemed appropriate. Transcripts and diploma will not be released for any student who has an outstanding balance owed to Cal Lutheran.