LOGI0016-1 : Quality, Ethics and Sustainability in Supply Chain Management

Study Programmes 2016-2017

LOGI0016-1

Quality, Ethics and Sustainability in Supply Chain Management

Duration :

30h Th

Number of credits :

Master in business engineering (120 ECTS)		5

Lecturer :

Maud Bay, Yves Crama, Virginie Xhauflair

Coordinator :

Yves Crama

Language(s) of instruction :

English language

Organisation and examination :

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Learning unit contents :

There is a strong interrelation between the economic performance of an organization and its value to the society at large, including its immediate stakeholders (customers, employees, shareholders, suppliers, etc.), but also its physical and human environment.
This course examines ways in which an organization can manage its supply chain processes so as to simultaneously take these different dimensions into account. This involves, in particular,

putting in place specific quality management systems which ensure that all processes deliver results in line with the objectives of the organization and with the requirements or expectations of the customers and other interested parties;
understanding and evaluating the ethical and environmental implications of the decisions made by the organization in terms of product design, production process, transportation, facility design and location, recycling and reprocessing, etc.
identifying organizational and managerial tools which allow organizations to set up a virtuous circle where quality, ethics and sustainability reinforce each other.

Learning outcomes of the learning unit :

Upon completion of this course, the students will understand and will be able to formulate critical opinions about quality, ethics and sustainability issues in the management of organizations. They will be familiarized with fundamental concepts like - total quality management, quality assurance, certification, statistical process control, lean management; - business ethics and corporate social responsibility issues in supply chain management, conflicts of interest; - life cycle of a product, environmental footprint of products and processes, energy and resource scarcity, closed-loop supply chain and sustainability reporting.
Key Learning Outcomes addressed by the course:
1. Establish a strategy in order to optimize the value chain of a company, an organization or a project: - taking into account its scientific and technological context; - demonstrating a critical mind and scientific precision.
2. Take charge of the everyday management of a company, an organization or a project - analyzing his/her managerial practice with a critical and ethical mind.
3. Plan and implement the performance and quality control in a company, an organization or a project - using the appropriate analytical tools; - in order to propose realistic and coherent ways of improvement; - in a perspective of a continuous process.
4. Communicate efficiently, internally and externally, about a company, organization or project.
5. Adapt his/her managerial practice to the needs of a fast-evolving world - being conscious of its societal, economic, political and environmental issues; - developing his / her expertise in a lifelong learning perspective.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills :

Fundamentals of supply chain management: production systems, logistics, inventories, and their relation with the strategic objectives of the firm.
Inferential statistics: confidence intervals.
Fundamentals of business ethics

Planned learning activities and teaching methods :

Presentations by the lecturers and by guest speakers.
Readings (professional and academic literature).
Case studies and projects.
Presentations by the students.

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :

Face-to-face