Masters of Science Degree in Purchasing and Supply Chain Management

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
To qualify for normal entry into the Master of Science Degree in Supply Chain Management at Bindura University of Science Education, Prospective students, in addition to satisfying the minimum conditions prescribed under the General regulations must:
Have obtained at least a good first degree Purchasing and Supply, Marketing, Logistics or their equivalent.

AIMS
This program seeks to produce and nature supply chain specialists capable of contributing to human development through supply chain practices which ensure firm survival, better performance, and high standards of public service delivery.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
On completion of study students are expected to be able to:
• Advocate for and implement strategic supply chain management;
• Design advanced logistics systems and sustainable supply chains;
• Analyse and fine-tune international supply chain structure to better contribute to business objectives;
• Anticipate and react to new developments in supply chain management.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Our graduates will be supply chain specialists who can pursue careers in supply chain management in the following capacities: Supply chain manager; Distribution manager; Warehouse manager; Operations manager; Production planning and inventory manager, Procurement manager; and Logistics manager. Employment in these titles opens up in a vast number of private, public or non-profit organisations in any sector. More ambitious students who fancy a career in the academia will be able to pursue doctoral studies Supply chain or related fields.

This program seeks to produce and nature supply chain specialists capable of contributing to human development through supply chain practices which ensure firm survival, better performance, and high standards of public service delivery.

LEARNING OUTCOMES
On completion of study students are expected to be able to:
• Advocate for and implement strategic supply chain management;
• Design advanced logistics systems and sustainable supply chains;
• Analyse and fine-tune international supply chain structure to better contribute to business objectives;
• Anticipate and react to new developments in supply chain management.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Our graduates will be supply chain specialists who can pursue careers in supply chain management in the following capacities: Supply chain manager; Distribution manager; Warehouse manager; Operations manager; Production planning and inventory manager, Procurement manager; and Logistics manager. Employment in these titles opens up in a vast number of private, public or non-profit organisations in any sector. More ambitious students who fancy a career in the academia will be able to pursue doctoral studies Supply chain or related fields.

Year 1 Semester 1

Year 1 Semester 2

Year 2 Semester 1

Semester 1
SCM501 – Strategic Sourcing
Strategic procurement is yet to be embraced by a number of firms whilst nonexistent in medium to small scale enterprises. Those who have implemented it are on various positions on the implementation continuum. This course increases the depth of the work covered in undergraduate programs by evaluating current best practices in strategic sourcing, theory and research output. Current strategic issues that will be explored include global sourcing, relationship governance and supply chain risk management.

SCM502 – Advanced Sustainable Procurement
This course teaches the purchasing professional skills on meeting society expectations concerning environmental sustainability by way of responsible supply chain management. Literature has since established that sustainable procurement leads to cheaper sourcing, improves perception of the company image, and improves value to the customer. The course thus imparts skills on redesigning supply chains and markets so that both are compatible with green procurement and both realise the benefits of such.

SCM503 – Negotiation & Conflict Management
Skillful negotiation is a critical component of the toolbox of a successful supply chain manager. The purpose of this course is to improve students’ abilities to diagnose conflict situations, to analyze, plan, and conduct negotiations. The course addresses negotiation as an effective means for implementing decisions and strategies and resolving conflict in a variety of settings.

SCM504 – Procurement Law and Policy
The course explores key facets that govern procurement process in the private, public and international arena. It focuses on contracts entered into by the public authorities/governments (whether central, regional, or municipal), for the purposes of procurement of goods and works. It also includes key regulations that have a direct bearing in private transactions as well as regulations when procuring in the global village. Key facets include the legal framework, methods of Public Procurement, Contract Execution and Post-execution Phase of Public Procurement contracts, and international procurement law. It also covers the institutional, legal, financial and procedural issues involved in the procurement of goods and services and discusses reform programs to improve transparency, efficiency and accountability. International competitive bidding; internet bidding; policies and procedures of international financial institutions such as the World Bank, ADB, IDB are also explored.

SCM505 – Project and Contract Management
This course analyzes complex projects and discusses available tools for managing them. Some of the topics covered include life cycle models, project selection, project monitoring and control, planning with uncertainty, project risk management, the critical chain method, and managing multiple projects. Students learn project management skills that will be useful throughout their careers. As such, this course is essential for current or future managers.

Semester 2

SCM506 – Strategic Logistics Management
Warehouses are important in separating supply from demand, keeping supply chain costs down, increasing responsiveness, and adding value for customers. The course teaches process design, management, and the execution of operations in warehouses. It links a company’s distribution structure to internal logistics system; explores different storage systems should be used under which circumstances; evaluates handling systems and layouts are best; and explains operational storage and strategies for picking orders.

SCM507 – Research Methods and Dissertation writing skills
This course helps students develop research abilities; critical thinking; scholarly writing skills; communicating clearly with the reader; building arguments; using source materials; and critical analysis leading to development of their individual dissertation proposals. This allows them an extended period of data collection and analysis in the third semester when they write and submit their dissertation.

SCM508 – Corporate Governance and Ethics
Corporate governance deals with the complex set of relationships between the corporation and its board of directors, management, shareholders, and other stakeholders. The course equips the student with skills necessary to review and improve their organization’s corporate governance structure, while developing techniques to assess risk management activities. It also covers the role of internal auditors in assuring that corporate governance and ethical policies are followed. The course explores issues such as business ethics; transparency and disclosure; enterprise risk management; internal auditing as a catalyst for risk management; audit committee roles; tools for audit committee self-assessment; corporate governance as an auditable risk area; positioning internal auditing in the organization; and tracking and measuring governance.

SCM509 – Leading and Human Resource Management
This course is designed to acquaint students with best practices for leveraging the competitive value of human capital in organizations. Students will be exposed to current issues and practices associated with workforce management, including the legal and regulatory elements of managing employees, staffing, job analysis, performance management, discipline, compensation systems, benefits and termination. A strategic approach will be emphasized which encompasses methods of measuring the financial implications of human resource practices and exposure to a balanced scorecard approach to human resources management.

SCM510 – Operations Management and Control
This course examines approaches to problems of operations planning and control. Topics include demand forecasting (data analysis, forecasting techniques, and control of forecasting systems), end-item inventory control (lot sizing, safety stock, and evaluation of systems), and materials requirements planning (master scheduling, shop scheduling, aggregate capacity planning, and systems implementation).

SCM511 – Managing Global Business Process Outsourcing
The past decade has seen massive growth of global outsourcing of all types of business processes (from manufacturing, to R&D, engineering, call centers, clinical trial tests, IT, Accounting, human resources, etc.) with third party contracting organizations all over the world. This course equips the students with skills which enable them to manage implementation challenges involved; global sourcing risks; business relationships with the third party contracting organizations; and competently make global sourcing decisions them within the context of their firm’s strategy, but also effectively execute all aspects of the outsourcing process and manage the outsourcing relationship with their suppliers.

Semester 3
SCM600 – Contemporary Procurement Issues

This course examines the important strategic issues related to supply chain management. It will mainly concentrate on current events that are affecting supply chains at the national and global level. This course will also make use of seminars/presentations by industry practitioners and supply chain experts so that students also learn from current practitioners.

SCM601 – Dissertation
The student writes a dissertation based on an independent research project supervised by a qualified member in the department. Students defend their projects in a viva voce before results are published. Students will be advised of submission dates before the second year first semester.