SCM100

Foundations of Supply Chain Management

Follow materials, orders, and payments through a supply chain. Four chapters introduce mapping, demand variability, and the trade-offs between cost, service, and inventory.

  • 4 chapters
  • ~19 min of reading
  • 12 learning objectives
  • 12 practice questions

Course overview

The course runs to 4 chapters and about 19 minutes of reading. Every chapter is self-contained: read it in one sitting, work the example on paper, then check yourself against the practice solutions before moving on.

The learning path below shows how the chapters build on one another, and each chapter card lists what you should be able to do once you have finished it.

How each chapter works

  1. Objectives — what you should be able to do afterwards.
  2. Reading — short sections that build the idea in plain language.
  3. Worked example — a full problem solved step by step.
  4. Practice — questions with solutions you can expand once you have tried them.
  5. Takeaway — the one sentence worth remembering.

Learning path

Chapters build on each other. This is the arc from first principles to the end of the course.

  1. What a Supply Chain Is and Why It Matters

    A supply chain is defined by three connected flows across a network of partners, and decisions in this function move a majority of the firm's cost and most of its working capital.

  2. Mapping the End-to-End Chain

    Drawing the chain stage by stage and measuring wait, movement, and processing time makes waste visible and points to where redesign will pay back fastest.

  3. Demand, Supply, and the Bullwhip Effect

    Bullwhip is a measurable, financially significant distortion driven by four common behaviors, and it can be reduced substantially by changing information sharing and ordering rules rather than by changing prices.

  4. Strategy, Trade-offs, and Operating Models

    A supply chain strategy is a deliberate fit between product type and a chosen mix of cost, service, agility, and resilience, expressed as a small set of operating targets that the firm adjusts on purpose rather than by accident.

Chapters (4)

Open any chapter to see its objectives, reading, worked example, and practice questions.

  1. Chapter 1: What a Supply Chain Is and Why It Matters

    • Define a supply chain in operational and financial terms
    • Identify the primary flows (material, information, finance) that connect a firm to its partners
    • Explain how supply chain choices show up in cost, service, and working capital

    3 sections · ~4 min read · 3 practice questions

  2. Chapter 2: Mapping the End-to-End Chain

    • Decompose a supply chain into stages, nodes, and links
    • Distinguish push from pull and where the decoupling point sits
    • Read a simple value stream map and identify waiting, transport, and processing time

    3 sections · ~4 min read · 3 practice questions

  3. Chapter 3: Demand, Supply, and the Bullwhip Effect

    • Explain how small changes in end-customer demand create larger swings upstream
    • Identify the four classical drivers of bullwhip
    • List practical levers that dampen bullwhip without giving up the firm's pricing freedom

    3 sections · ~5 min read · 3 practice questions

  4. Chapter 4: Strategy, Trade-offs, and Operating Models

    • Position a supply chain strategy relative to product type and demand pattern
    • Choose between cost, service, agility, and resilience and explain the trade-offs among them
    • Translate strategic intent into a small set of measurable operating targets

    3 sections · ~6 min read · 3 practice questions