Next course: Autumn 2019

Start: Session 1 September 6 (10:00-12:00): Course introduction
End: Session 9 December 20 (09:00-12:00)
Individual Term Paper Assignment
Each student should write a term paper, linking its own research topic to the content of the course. This work needs to be finished by January 27, 2017.

Background, aim and learning objectives
The background to this course is a wish to provide students at the graduate school in Technology Management and Economics a profound understanding on issues related to research within operations and supply chain management. We have chosen to subtitle the course theories, perspectives, history, and current research topics to give guidance about what we aim to accomplish. Both operations management and supply chain management are emerging professions and research areas, which have strong theoretical and historical roots in a variety of disciplines; logistics, purchasing, distribution, transportation, manufacturing and production. The two research areas show both similarities and differences and they are also somewhat interlinked. This is the reason for why we have chosen to integrate these two research areas into one course.

The aim of this course is manifold. First, the course aims to explore the history of the research areas; how they have developed over time, both in terms of theoretical concepts and practical context, and how they are historically interlinked. Another aim is to identify and create an understanding of key theoretical principles and concepts within the wider area of operations and supply chain management. The focus will be in particular on the problem area and explanatory power of a selection of theories, to understand their origin, fundamental assumptions, and use in problem solving. These theories span over intra to inter-organisational perspectives. The course should be regarded as a process in which participants are given opportunity to learn about historical roots of their academic discipline, key concepts and their fundamental assumptions, and encouraged to position their research in the wider context of operations and supply chain management.