B01.2114 Competitive Advantage from Operations (1.5 credits)
    This first-year core course examines the operations functions of firms including how they produce their products and supply their services. The course explores strategies with which the firms can gain advantages over their competitors by initiating efficiencies and cost reductions. This is a seven-week course in which goal-oriented strategies are developed through a problem-solving approach using case studies.

B01.2314 Competitive Advantage from Operations (3 credits)
    This course serves as an introduction to both Operations Management and Information Systems.  We approach these disciplines from the perspective of the general manager rather than the functional specialist. The coverage is intense and very selective, concentrating on a small list of powerful themes that have emerged as the central building blocks of world-class organizations.  The course also provides tools and concepts from both disciplines that have proven extremely useful over the years. The topics discussed are equally relevant in the manufacturing and service sectors.

B60.2306 Supply Chain Management (Business Logistics) (3 credits)

The function of supply chain management is to design and manage the processes, assets, and flows of material and information required to satisfy customers' demands. Globalization of economy and electronic commerce has heightened the strategic importance of supply chain management and created new opportunities for using supply chain design, strategy and planning as a competitive tool. Electronic commerce has not only created new distribution channels for consumers but also revolutionized the industrial marketplace by facilitating inter-firm communication and by creating efficient markets through trading communities. As a result an explosive growth has occurred in business-to-business services, whose value proposition is based on supply chain coordination and optimization. Moreover, combination of enterprise information infrastructure and Internet has paved the way for a variety of supply chain optimization technologies. Therefore, the objectives of this course are to:

• Impart analytical and problem-solving skills necessary to develop solutions for a variety of supply chain management and design problems and develop an understanding for use of information technology in supply chain optimization.
• Develop the ability to incorporate B2B and B2C electronic commerce in supply chain design and optimization.
• Understand the complexity of inter-firm and intra-firm coordination in implementing programs such as e-collaboration, quick response, jointly managed inventories and strategic alliances.
• Develop the ability to design supply chains and formulate integrated supply chain strategy, so that all components are not only internally synchronized but also tuned to fit corporate strategy, competitive realitie

B60.2127 Operations Consulting: Resource Management (3 credits)
    Operations Consulting - II has been designed to build and extend the concepts covered in Operations Consulting I. The main objectives are: (1) improve student skills in advanced scheduling problems and (2) understanding the diffe rent scheduling approaches and techniques that have been implemented in practice. The first part of the course describes a number of standard techniques for modeling typical scheduling problems that occur in practice. The problems considered are project scheduling, resource scheduling, workforce scheduling, and reservation systems used in services. A special computer-based modeling package will be utilized. The second part of the course describes a number of standard and generic solution techniques fo r dealing with all these problems. The last part of the course describes how to implement the solution technique in an information system framework. Several firms that have implemented these techniques will make in-class presentations of their triumphs and tragedies along the road to successful implementation. These studies will be particularly useful for students who look forward to careers where the actual implementation of models in an important job component.

B60.2307 Operations Consulting: Design of Operations (3 credits)

Enhancing the effectiveness and productivity of operations is a major goal of most organizations. Designing the operations of a firm will be critical to achieving this goal. This course aims to develop an understanding of the components that make up an integrated operating system and to impart modeling skills for understanding the design tradeoffs. The objectives of the course are to:

• Develop skills for designing and improving operations.
• Demonstrate the wide applicability of modeling methodology to different functional areas, with emphasis on manufacturing and service operations.
• Provide insights into actual business practices and outline the scope for applying the modeling and design ideas developed in this course.
• Develop optimization and simulation modeling skills.

B60.2310 Managing for Quality (3 credits)

This course introduces the basic principles and techniques of managing for quality. You will learn the most important principles and tools by which organizations create value for their customers, including quality measurement and assessment, quality planning, quality control, quality improvement, and quality strategy.  Students will learn to:

• Understand the historical development of modern quality methods, including the unrivalled contributions of New York University to this field.
• Analyze systems with respect to quality, using such tools as Six Sigma, Pareto analysis, statistical process control, quality function deployment, reliability analysis, and design of experiments.
• Apply different philosophies and approaches to quality intelligently, including those of Deming, Hackman and Oldham, Ishikawa, Juran, Shewhart, and Taguchi.
• Make use of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award criteria, as well as those of other quality examination, certification, and evaluation tools.

B60.2315.20 Operations in Financial Services (3 credits)

This course gives an overview of operations management applications in financial services.  It is designed to prepare the student for operational roles in the finance industry.  The topics covered include:

• The strategic issues financial institutions face and the operational processes involved.
• An overview of the distribution channels (front offices) and the operational issues involved.
• An analysis of internal business processes, i.e., back offices.
• Productivity measurements and applications of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in retail banking.
• Quality control measurements and total quality management  (TQM).
• Issues operational risk and the management of operational risk.
• Examples of the design and implementations of decision support systems in the finance world.

The course concludes with a comparison of operations management in financial services with operations management in other service industries.

B60.2320.70 Internet and ERP (3 credits)

1. ERP SYSTEMS vs. SUPPLY CHAIN PLANNING TOOLS

a) Modular Concept of R/3 as an example of an ERP system
b) The role of an ERP system in a Supply Chain Management Concept

2. STANDARD CONCEPT/SET-UP OF A SUPPLY CHAIN PLANNING TOOL

a) Long term planning and forecasting models - promotion planning - etc.
b) Midterm planning: Objectives (sourcing, rough production plans, etc.), aggregated and hierarchical planning, tools (linear programming, discrete programming, heuristics), models
c) Shortterm planning: Objectives, tools
d) Outbound planning & Transportation planning: Objectives (f.e. full trucks), Optimization (traveling salesman)
e) ATP (available-to-promise): This modul usually desribes how sales order from customers are confirmed from the company. What is the impact?
f) VMI (vendor managed inventory) and Collaboration Planning: How can the internet be used in a supply chain solution (procurement, forecasting, etc.).
g) Reporting and User Interactions (Business warehouse systems, Alert Monitor, etc.)

3. INTEGRATION BETWEEN THE DIFFERENT MODULES/PLANNING AREAS

Due to the close link among different planning areas, business decisions in some areas have an impact in other areas. Example: if a company wants to confirm its sales orders 5 days ahead in a week, then it could be that a confirmation on existing stock is not enough, but planned production has to be included in the sales order confirmation process as well. The consequence would be that the production should be fixed for 5 days than as well, otherwise the confirmation is not reliable. A less flexible production is the consequence.

4. OUTLOOK/LATEST DEVELOPMENTS OF NEW SUPPLY CHAIN PLANNING SYSTEMS: What are the trends? Some key words: SCM Event Manager, Adaptive Supply Chains

B60.2350 Decision Models (3 credits)

This course introduces the basic principles and techniques of applied mathematical modeling for managerial decision making.  Students will learn to use some of the more important analytic methods (e.g., spreadsheet modeling, optimization, Monte Carlo simulation) to recognize their assumptions and limitations, and to employ them in decision making.  Students will learn to:

• Develop mathematical models that can be used to improve decision making within an organization.
• Sharpen their ability to structure problems and to perform logical analyses.
• Translate descriptions of decision problems into formal models, and investigate those models in an organized fashion.
• Identify settings in which models can be used effectively and apply modeling concepts in practical situation.
• Strengthen their computer skills, focusing on how to use the computer to support decision making.

The emphasis will be on model formulation and interpretation of results, not on mathematical theory.  This course is aimed at MBA students with little prior exposure to modeling and quantitative analysis, but it is appropriate for all students who wish to strengthen their quantitative skills.  The emphasis is on models that are widely used in diverse industries and functional areas, including finance, operations, and marketing.

B60.3355.91 Operations Strategy   (3 credits)

There is an increasing awareness that operations should contribute to the global competitive stance of a business and not merely be a place to make the firm’s products or services.  This can be done by contributing distinctive competence or capability to the business, and continually improving the products and process of the business.

In the core course in Operations Management, we studied the basic aspects of how firms produce their products and services to gain a competitive advantage.  The course took a tactical or short-term look at operations.  This course, Operations Strategy, is a natural follow-up to the core course.  Here we will examine the strategic and long-term policies of the firm, and learn how the operations strategies and policies are developed to be consistent with the corporate and overall business strategies.

To do this effectively, we will examine through case studies how firms’ operations play an important role in building and shaping their competitive posture.

Operations Strategy will help the students to

• Recognize the strategic and policy implications that can be gained from managing operations.
• Develop a framework for allocating resources and managing the operations function in ways that distinguish firms from their competitors.
• Analyze, develop and formulate operations strategies to exploit competitive opportunities.
• Visualize how operations strategies can and must be linked to overall business strategies and the financial and marketing strategies as well.
• Highlight effective examples involving continuous improvement and implementation of operations strategies.

B60.3356 Technological Innovation and New Product Development     (3 credits)

Technological innovation and new product development are critically important to the creation of business opportunities and sustenance of wealth. This course offers perspectives and frameworks that seek to understand technological innovation and NPD at different levels of analysis, including the firm, industry, and national levels. The course addresses issues pertaining to the discovery, development, and diffusion of technological advances. For example, we attempt to understand the innovation process in both startup and established firms, and when established firms have an easier (or more difficult) time bringing a new product to market and appropriating profits from it. We also provide frameworks for assessing new technological and business opportunities. Students are expected to analyze and evaluate technological opportunities using the frameworks and techniques presented in the course.

The course is complementary to other course offerings at the Stern School and builds on the emerging interest in technology, innovation, and change within the Management Department, Operations Management Group, Stern School and the outside business world. Most students who take the course will have career interests in consulting (operations or management), general management, entrepreneurship, technology/new media, or marketing, but students from all disciplines are welcome.

B60.3357 Service Operations and Strategy (3 credits)
    

This course is designed to prepare students to manage service businesses and/or service operations in manufacturing firms. The objective of this course is to focus attention on some unique aspects of service businesses and relate these aspects to service operations and strategy. For example, some of the issues this course covers:

• What impact does intangibility have on corporate and business strategy and operations in service businesses?
• What is the impact of simultaneous production and consumption of services on how service delivery systems are designed and managed?
• What impact do customers have on service quality and productivity of service firms?
• What unique organizational designs are needed to manage a service business?

Consistent with the need to emphasize an integrative multidisciplinary perspective on service operations and strategy, students are asked to undertake a project assignment to design a complete service business starting from idea to incorporation.