Supply Chain Management (SCM) encompasses the integrated planning and execution of processes required to optimise the flow of materials, information and financial capital for the delivery, maintenance and disposal of products and services.  This relies on the efficient, effective and responsible management of these processes, within and between organisations. Successful SCM is crucial for any competitive business both in manufacturing and service sectors, but also for non-profit organisations.

Recent geopolitical events and natural disasters have once again illustrated the dependence of businesses and society as a whole on global supply chains and resilient operations. As Supply Chain Management section, we constantly strive to create, disseminate and help apply rigorous and relevant knowledge to enable future and current managers and policy makers to design and operate supply chains that deliver goods and services, economically and sustainably.

Prof. Finn Wynstra

Portrait of Finn Wynstra

The expertise of our SCM section – one of the largest groups in its kind worldwide – is broad yet concentrated on the processes of global logistics, sourcing, facility logistics and distribution, and addresses aspects such as sustainability, digitalisation, analytics and behavioural aspects. In education, we contribute to pre-experience and post-experience programs, including a specialised MSc program in Supply Chain Management and a specialised MSc program in Business Analytics & Management. Our research combines analytical and data-driven methods, and is often carried out in collaboration with (inter)national partners.

Education and research are intertwined with our engagement with practice, which is globally inspired and locally anchored. Rotterdam is home to the biggest sea port in Europe, and the Netherlands is an international gateway to the massive markets of Western Europe, resulting in an important and strong logistics sector. We also interact with policy makers and NGO's, for whom SCM is an increasingly relevant field.

 

About our research