Supply chain resilience – new half-day programme from RSM Executive Education - Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University

Many businesses equate supply chain resilience to increasing inventories and enhancing flexibility, but miss out on many other promising strategies. A short new programme aims to help logistics managers and executives to regain competitive advantage in disrupted supply chains by re-examining what they already know. Resilient Supply Chains, a half-day programme running on 7 July at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM), will help those working in the sector toshift focus towards significant source of longer-term competitive advantage and apply this approach to their own business and logistics challenges.

The programme is one of the newest in the portfolio of courses from RSM Executive Education, designed to help managers to update and enhance their skills with the latest knowledge from practice and research. Participants in this programme will reconsider the existing tools, techniques and philosophies used in supply chain management, and aim for a new understanding of recent and future trends. According to Rob Zuidwijk, Professor of Global Supply Chains and Ports at RSM and Harwin de Vries, Assistant Professor at the Technology and Operations Management department at RSM: “There are multiple crises that are hammering supply chains. Decades of efficiency-focused management, globalisation, and outsourcing have made supply chains extremely vulnerable to disruptions – let alone the perfect storm we face right now.

“The impact of those disruptions on companies is paramount. Despite considering risk management in the past few decades, many businesses were still ill-prepared for the extent of disruptions we face today. The ongoing supply chain crisis offers an opportunity to shift focus towards a less immediate but significant source of competitive advantage – and that’s supply chain resilience.”

What’s to blame for supply chain crises?

Participants will proceed along key steps and decisions that many businesses face in the journey towards supply chain resilience. They start with a sound understanding of recent and future trends and how they affect supply chain risk. For example, participants will evaluate efficiency-focused management practices and philosophies such as just-in-time (JIT) and lean management. Are these really to blame for the current supply chain crisis?

Concrete strategies for mitigating risk

The next step is to map supply chains and assess risks. The discussion will examine the ongoing crisis which has brought the limitations of traditional risk assessment methods to the surface, and introduce alternatives. Participants will explore how to turn their assessment into concrete strategies for mitigating risk, considering them alongside recent academic insights and examples from RSM’s expert faculty.

The course is led by Prof. Rob Zuidwijk, along with Prof. Albert Veenstra, Prof. Harwin de Vries and Prof. Morteza Pourakbar.

The programme concludes by exploring how disruptions and changing regulations and consumer preferences enhance the need for one specific strategy – enhancing supply chain visibility.

More information

Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) is one of Europe’s top-ranked business schools. RSM provides ground-breaking research and education furthering excellence in all aspects of management and is based in the international port city of Rotterdam – a vital nexus of business, logistics and trade. RSM’s primary focus is on developing business leaders with international careers who can become a force for positive change by carrying their innovative mindset into a sustainable future. Our first-class range of bachelor, master, MBA, PhD and executive programmes encourage them to become critical, creative, caring and collaborative thinkers and doers.