Course syllabus

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Course-PM

TEK610 Supply chain strategy RP4 spring 2026

Course is offered by the department of Technology Management and Economics

Contact details

Examiner Gunnar Stefansson, gunnar.stefansson@chalmers.se

Schedule

Please note, the schedule will be updated, its not complete now, since not all dates are verified by all involved teachers, some activities might still be changed.

The schedule used is found in the Canvas calendar; NOTE the calendar in Time edit will we not used, it only shows locations of lecture rooms and NOTE also, not all slots shown in Time edit are used, only the ones in the Canvas schedule, please always refer to the Canvas calendar - both for lectures taking place (regardless of Time edit schedule), content (literature), and Time of lectures!

Please note these are mandatory moments;

The Case competition on April 15-17, the two seminars on Purchase and  Outsourcing, the guest lecture (question can be on exam), the Case presentation.

Aim

The overall aim of the course is to give participants comprehensive knowledge on the strategic management of operations and supply chains in different types of industrial and technology-based firms. After passing the course successfully, the student shall be able to analyse industrial systems as well as design and manage supply chains.

Learning outcomes

  • Apply tools and theories of strategy analysis
  • Analyze and devise plans for how business units create and sustain competitive advantage (i.e., business strategy)
  • Understand and be able to devise plans for how a Supply Chain Strategy can be realized and connected to the Business strategy
  • Describe why and how operations and supply chain can be designed to enhance the competitiveness of modern industrial firms.
  • Describe what economic trade-offs and compromises required in operations systems and supply chains, and what tools and models that can be used for such analyses in the pursuit of value creation.
  • Describe what possibilities and barriers that may appear in industrial continuous improvement work, and state advantages and drawbacks of different change strategies.
  • Apply methods for analyzing operations and supply chains, aiming at identifying improvement areas from technical, economical and organizational perspectives.
  • Being able to setting up a Supply Chain Strategy incl.
    • Define Strategy streams
    • Project plan
    • Implementation plan
    • Mapping a As is State of a Supply Chain
    • Using the SCOR Model to map processes in a SC
    • Identify Key Stakeholders
    • from As-Is analysis create targets for improvements
    • Summary As Is State in a SWOT analysis and list opportunities
    • Create Value streams that identifies opportunities (Size, Root Cause, Enablers, Annual Impact) and how to form this into a strategy program and implementation
  • Present and defend written and orally presented analyses and recommendations based on cases.
  • Demonstrate awareness of ethical aspects of research and development
  • Explain the relationship between problem, purpose, study design, qualitative and quantitative methods and data analysis

Content

  • Strategy
  • Stargazing distribution networks
  • Five forces
  • Purchasing strategies
  • Outsourcing decisions
  • Supply Chain Analysis and related methods and models
  • Key Performance Indicators
  • SCOR
  • Case
  • Game

Literature

The mandatory readings for the exam is stated in each Module on Canvas. Many of the articles are found in the HBS Must Readsn on strategies, that is together with all other reading material found in the File folder.

Examination (and hence Mandatory events)

  • Case Competition – Active Participation, hand in solutions and presentation of solution. The finalists will receive 3 bonus points each*. 
  • Case work – Approved report, approved peer review and presentation. The report will be graded Pass/Not passed. A report that has received Pass will receive 2 bonus points, and a report that has been extraordinarily well worked out may receive an additional 3 bonus points (in total 5 bonus points). Report that has received a “No Pass”, must be corrected in order achieve a Pass level, no bonus point will be given to these reports.

* Bonus points cannot be used for a grade 3, only for grade 4 and 5.

In the end of the course there will be a final exam, Please DON’T forget to sign up for the exam.  please see:

https://www.student.chalmers.se/sp/academic_year_list

The course will be graded according to   

25 ≤     Grade 3  < 33

33 ≤     Grade 4  < 40

40 ≤     Grade 5

Lecturers

GS                 Gunnar Stefansson, gunnar.stefansson@chalmers.se

KH:               Kajsa Hulthén, kajsa.hulthen@chalmers.se

DA:               Dan Andersson, dan.andersson@chalmers.se

OH:              Ola Hultkranz, ola.hultkrantz@chalmers.se

RH:               Robin Hanson, robin.hanson@chalmers.se

Course summary:

Course Summary
Date Details Due