OVERVIEW

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

Operations Management

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to provide its students with the knowledge and skills needed to understand the strategic role of Operations Management (OM) in value creation, highlighting the fundamental contribution to the acquisition of a durable competitive advantage on a global scale. The course will focus on the analysis and implementation of principles, methodologies and tools of operations management, applied to multiple business contexts, from high-tech industrial clusters to high-performance services, both in terms of radical and incremental innovation.

TEACHING METHODS

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Operations Management in the strategic decision-making process of firms, the supply chains and networks
The Operations Manager's strategic role in creating the value of 21st century economic systems
Operations and clusters management: global supply networks
Process management and innovation creation
Supply Chain Management
Purchasing Management and Supplier Management
Measurement of operations performance
Project Management: Principles and Operational Tools

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Main References

N. Slack et al., Operations management, Pearson education, last edition.

R.B. Chase et al., Operations Management, McGraw-Hill, last edition.

See also information published on aulaweb.

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

SILVIA BRUZZI (President)

CLARA BENEVOLO

GIORGIA PROFUMO

RICCARDO SPINELLI

LESSONS

LESSONS START

Sem: II

Class schedule

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Written examination and work in team, even with simulation techniques.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Written exam with open questions defined in order to assess the student's learning as well as his/her ability to independently make links between the different issues and to express a critical and up-to-date opinion. Autonomous elaboration and discussion with external experts (primarily managers) in team work, also with the support of relational simulation techniques, on specific issues related to operations management.

Exam schedule

FURTHER INFORMATION

Expected learning outcomes
Students will acquire adequate knowledge and effective understanding skills of
1) the principles, methodologies and tools of operations management and purchasing/supplier management;
2) the strategic role of the operations manager in value-creating processes at company and system level;
3) the challenges that innovation offers to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of industrial production and services;
4) the great transformations that innovation is producing at an industrial level, changing the leverage of competition globally;
5) case of excellence in the field of operations management, also for employment purposes;

Ability to apply knowledge and understanding

Students will be able to:
1) Applying operating principles, tools and models to specific representative realities of the 21st century industrial reality (eg high-tech clusters, high-relational B2B and B2C services, etc.);
2) argue and discuss with experts the main opportunities and criticalities of operations management, applying them to different business and operational contexts;
3) addressing corporate decision making according to a project management and problem solving logic.

Judging autonomy: Students will be able to use theoretical principles and apply the operational tools of the discipline in different firms and business contexts, developing their own critical skill needed to understand the main issues of the scientific and operational debate.
Communicative Skills: Students will be able to use the specialized technical language of the discipline so that they can develop a constructive dialogue with the operations managers and the specialists of other business functions.
Learning Skills: Students will be able to develop autonomous learning skills so that they can deepen the core of the discipline within their professional career.

Prerequisites

The course does not require pre-requisites.

To better address the course, however, familiarity with some issues learned in BA courses are highly recommanded, i.e.:
Supply chain and economic sectors
Economies of scale, scope, experience
Cost classifications
Sources of competitive advantages
Organizational structures
Managerial approaches production- and market-driven
Specificities of BtB and BtC markets
Market research
Corporate and competitive strategies
Financial aspects: cash flow and working capital
Media, variance and indicator