Undergraduate Operations and Supply Chain Management Curriculum

MGT 2255 - Quantitative Analysis for Business  
This Excel-based course focuses on business decision-making processes using quantitative concepts and techniques. Pre-req: MGT 2250.

MGT 3501 - Operations Management
Operations Management (OM) is defined as the design, operation, and improvement of the systems that create and deliver the firm's primary products and services. Understanding the role of the operations function and its impact on the competitiveness of the firm is an important part of any manager's training. Operational issues include designing, acquiring, operating, and maintaining facilities and processes; purchasing raw materials; controlling and maintaining inventories; and providing the proper labor needed to produce a good or service so that the customer expectations are met. This course in operations management is intended to be a survey of operating practices and models in both manufacturing and service-oriented firms. It is intended to provide managers in all functional areas with sufficient knowledge to make informed "total business decisions" and to introduce standard terms and concepts for communications with operating personnel. Pre-req: MGT 2251.

Not all electives are offered every semester. This list may shrink or grow as time progresses. For specific information about classes, pre-requisites, professors, days/times and classroom locations go to Oscar. Browse MGT elective course descriptions by concentration or certificate area:

MGT 3510 - Management of Technology
This course focuses on the analysis of the challenges associated with managing a firm's resources (technology, workforce, materials, information, knowledge) for long-term competitive advantage. Particular emphasis is placed on planning under conditions including rapid technological innovation (in products and processes), international competition, and changing markets. Specific topics include positioning strategies, innovation and diffusion, technology strategy, technology transfer, performance measurement, technology justification, and implementation of new technology.

MGT 3744 - Managing Products, Service, and Technology Development
Research and development (R&D) of products and services have emerged as one of the key themes of competitiveness after the 1990s. And yet, it is still treated in many firms as a “black hole” into which management pours lots of money, hoping that enough useful things come out to sustain the company for a few more years “on the run”. Have you worked or done internships in marketing, finance, or sales? Then you will likely be familiar with that view. This course offers a systematic overview of the management issues that arise during the process of new product development (NPD). The development process requires integration across the traditional management functions. The course introduces tools and concepts for both linking development to strategy, and for managing the development process for speed, efficiency, and market impact. Through a combination of cases and reading articles, the course covers a wide range of topics.

MGT 3770 - Business Decisions for Sustainability & Shared Value (Previously taught as MGT 4803 - Business Decisions for Sustainability & Shared Value. No credit allowed for both).

At the heart of the concept of “business sustainability and shared value” are interconnections among the economic, environmental, and societal dimensions of business performance. This course uses the 2017 World Economic Forum Global Risks Report and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as frameworks to establish the role of fundamental human needs (food, water, energy, shelter, fair wages, and community) in shaping long-term business value and overall economic progress. The course is multidisciplinary, discussion-oriented, and experiential, and uses a variety of pedagogical approaches such as lectures on key concepts, cases, videos, talks by invited speakers, and site visits.

MGT 4341 - Management of Healthcare Operations
The healthcare industry is facing a set of significant challenges on several fronts including ensuring availability of (or access to) care, enhancing the quality of care, and containing costs – challenges similar to those faced by other industries. Moreover, according to a study conducted by the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, “the U.S. healthcare delivery system does not provide consistent, high-quality medical care to all people.” Thus, healthcare is on everyone’s mind – from citizens whose premiums are increasing (assuming they have insurance) to the incoming Administration that has its own cures for the ailing industry. Chief executives rank healthcare as one of their top issues that affect the profitability of their corporations. Still, our system is regarded by many as the best in the world.

The healthcare industry’s challenge is to deliver its five Rs – the right treatment to the right individual at the right time in the right location and at the right price. Companies such as Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble focus on delighting the consumer by delivering the right product of the right quality at the right time in the right quantity and at the right price. These companies are able to realize their objectives through the effective implementation of technologies (e.g., information technology) and management practices (e.g., supply chain management, total quality management). When other industries have been successful in realizing the five Rs, why should the healthcare industry lag behind? This course has been designed to explore the roles of management practices and technology in addressing the critical challenges and harnessing opportunities in a timely manner for transforming the healthcare enterprise.

MGT 4352 - Operations Resource Plan
Operations resource plan is about satisfying the customer demands with the best products and services a company can provide. It involves planning, executing, monitoring, and controlling materials, production, and delivery of products and services. To understand these activities, we will include two main subjects in this course. First, we will focus on the concepts, issues, and techniques of manufacturing planning and control (MPC). The second part of this course includes the concepts, issues, and techniques of monitoring, evaluating, and controlling the production processes. We will introduce the useful statistical techniques for quality control and organizational implementation such as Six Sigma for quality assurance.

MGT 4353 - Operations Strategy
In recent years, the global competitive environment has changed rapidly. In many product markets, competition has intensified to the point where costs often become the key competitive issue. Today, firms are faced with a wide spectrum of different equipment and system choices, involving substantial levels of investments and risks, with strategic implications for the firm as a whole. The course on Operations Strategy deals with operating decisions that have a long-term and irreversible impact on a firm's profitability and enhance the ability of the firm to compete effectively in a rapidly changing environment. The course provides introductory exposure to the major concepts of operations strategy. While the course will focus on different aspects of operations strategy, three basic themes will be stressed throughout the course. First, developing an operations strategy involves considering factors beyond the traditional boundaries of the operations function. Such factors include the overall competitive position of the firm, the nature of market demand, competitor's actions, government regulations, and so on. Second, there is a strong linkage between a firm's competitive strategy and its operations strategy. If this linkage is maintained, operations can become a formidable competitive weapon. If this linkage is neglected, even the best-designed strategies can fail. Finally, the course will consider operations strategy issues in an integrative manner by developing the interrelationship between operations, finance, accounting, and marketing.

MGT 4360  - Global Operations
The creation of free trade agreements such as NAFTA and GATT, and the easing of trade laws and tariff structures have helped to create a global marketplace. Today, it is not uncommon to see a company develop a product in one country, manufacture or outsource it in a different country, and sell it to a third country. In addition, new products could be introduced in several countries almost simultaneously, and suppliers with special expertise and technology could collaborate with manufacturers in different countries to create global products. As the world moves toward an international economy, the battle cry for corporations is increasingly becoming one of “global operations”. While globalization promises enormous strategic benefits by coordinating operations located in different countries, it is imperative for managers to develop a global perspective and be able to understand the intricacies of the global marketplace. Managing manufacturing and supply chain operations across cultural, economic, and political boundaries is a formidable challenge, because of which many globalization efforts are falling far short of their promise.

MGT 4366 - Service Operations
This case course explores the dimensions of successful service firms. It prepares students for enlightened management and suggests creative entrepreneurial opportunities. Beginning with the service encounter, service managers must blend marketing, technology, people, and information to achieve a distinctive competitive advantage. This course will study service management from an integrated viewpoint with a focus on customer satisfaction where the material will integrate operations, marketing, strategy, information technology, and organizational issues. Finally, because the service sector is the fastest-growing sector of the economy, this course is intended to help students discover entrepreneurial opportunities.

MGT 4367 - Revenue Analytics
Revenue management is a powerful new discipline that enables companies to understand the complexities of today’s diverse marketplace and allows managers to make rapid and confident decisions with the aim of maximizing profitability. It is the science of selling the right product or service to the right customer at the right time for the right price. In “Revenue Analytics”, we will explore both model and data-driven price decisions for maximizing a firm’s profit. In this course, spreadsheet-based modeling methods and advanced analytics will play a distinct role in getting students familiar with handling massive amounts of customer data and learning how to analyze this data to come up with the best pricing decision. The course will be a nice fit for someone who is planning to pursue a career in a recently growing area, business analytics, with a variety of data-driven statistical decision tools introduced throughout the semester.

The first component of the course is designed to provide different forecast techniques to predict customer preferences based on past sales data. The next component involves the introduction of pricing in a general sense with also specific marketing implications such as market segmentation, product versioning, and customized pricing. Finally, the primary component involves the aforementioned rapidly growing discipline, capacity-based Revenue Management. In this part of the course, students learn to characterize different revenue problems and identify the best statistical and/or mathematical optimization technique to set and update prices in order to maximize profit. The examples may include, but are not limited to, deciding on the booking limits for seats sold at different prices, or deciding on the timing of the next discount for the item in the store, or how many reservations to overbook for a particular type of room in a hotel. We will make extensive modeling using MS Excel and explore different price strategies.

MGT 4369 - Sustainable Business Consulting Practicum
The purpose of this course is to help you gain a working knowledge of the various and evolving ways firms approach sustainability (environmental and social) and then apply this learning by solving a real problem for a company in a consulting team environment.  In addition to readings and class activities, during the course, you will bid on and be assigned to a real-life sustainability consulting project for a company and work on a team with classmates for 8 – 10 weeks. Your performance on this project, both individually and as a team, will be a major component of the final grade. For those of you interested in working directly in areas related to sustainability during your careers, this class will help you gain critical knowledge and skills towards that goal. For others, it will offer a valuable point of view on a subject of increasing importance to managers and leaders across all functions and industries.

The class will focus on three main areas: sustainability topics and frameworks, basic consulting skills and tools, and specific needs or challenges on your consulting projects.  We will use a variety of methods including readings, research, written assignments, group exercises, lecture, and discussions. 

MGT 4401 - Supply Chain Modeling (Previously taught as MGT 4803 - Supply Chain Modeling. No credit allowed for both).
The primary challenge for any firm, from an operations perspective, is to match supply and demand in the most cost effective way. Over the past decades, matching supply and demand has become increasingly challenging because today’s competitive marketplace may require firms to rely on other firms for inputs in the final products, therefore limiting the firm’s ability to streamline its operations. The main focus of Supply Chain Management is to overcome these limitations. In other words, Supply Chain Management is concerned with the design and management of value added processes that take place across organizational boundaries with the goal of matching supply and demand in the most cost-effective way. The objective of the course is to provide students with tools/means for matching supply and demand in the most cost effective way. A mixture of lectures, case discussions, and games will be used to provide a better understanding of supply chain issues.

The undergraduate student who completes the Operations and Supply Chain Management concentration is considered to have a comprehensive knowledge of planning and managing an organization's resources and processes that create products or services. The resources include the workforce, technology, supply chain, production and service creation processes, materials, and information, all of which typically represent a significant portion of an organization's total costs and controllable assets. The student is considered to have a depth of knowledge across a broad set of Operations Management issues that permeate all levels of decision making from the long-term strategy to the tactical and day-to-day activities. As a result, the student is capable of contributing to an organization's success by developing resource-based distinctive competencies.

The Operations and Supply Chain Management concentration is open to business administration students at Georgia Tech. After completing MGT 3501, students will complete six advanced Operations courses. To earn the concentration, students must earn a grade of "C" or higher in all required courses (18 hours).

The undergraduate student who completes the OSCM Certificate is considered to have a comprehensive knowledge of planning and managing an organization's resources and processes that create products or services. The resources include the workforce, technology, supply chain, production and service creation processes, materials, and information, all of which typically represent a significant portion of an organization's total costs and controllable assets. The student is considered to have a depth of knowledge across a broad set of Operations Management issues that permeate all levels of decision making from the long-term strategy to the tactical and day-to-day activities. As a result, the student is capable of contributing to an organization's success by developing resource-based distinctive competencies.

Business Administration Majors
To earn the OSCM Undergraduate Certificate, students must complete the following requirements. All courses must be completed with a grade of "C" or higher.