Business and Supply Chain Management

Our BSc Business & Supply Chain Management course is offered as either a three or four year course with integrated placement year. This course has been designed to give you the skills and experience you need to excel in your career as a supply chain professional.

You will develop a thorough understanding of supply chain management and everything that happens to ensure that companies can satisfy their customers’ needs and wants. You will explore the role of purchasing, manufacturing and logistics as well as the planning, organisation and resource management that is needed to manage a global supply chain. Effective supply chain management underpins the performance of retailers and manufacturers – it is essentially what they do, but they depend on talented professionals to achieve success and there is a well documented skills shortage in this area.

People with knowledge and skills in the supply chain are in high demand as retail and manufacturing companies continue to develop and grow. At the end of your time at Aston, you’ll have the skills and knowledge to work in areas including supply chain management, purchasing and procurement, logistics analysis and distribution management.

Key course benefits:

• The course combines study of essential business management theory and practice in Aston Business School with specialist supply chain and industry expertise from our Engineering Systems and Management group, along with regular interaction with business.

• This course is linked to the NOVUS scheme, which supports students through professional mentoring, industry seminars, site visits, and access to placement opportunities with their sponsor companies.

• Aston Univeristy is inside the UK top 30 for 'Graduate Prospects', which measures student success 15 months after completion, in both the 2022 Sunday Times Good University Guide and the 2022 Complete University Guide.

Year 1:
• Study and Research Skills
• Building Professional Relationships
• Introduction to Supply Chain Management
• Introductory Accounting for Business
• Introduction to Organisational Behaviour
• Law for Business
• Introduction to Marketing Management
• An Introduction to Business Economics

Year 2:
Modules Core:
• Quantitative Tools for Supply Chain Planning
• Purchasing Principles for International Supply Chains
• Operations and Process Management
• Facilities and Systems
• Land Transport
• Employee Resourcing

Choose one of the following:

• Managing Engineering Projects
• Air and Maritime Transport
• Business Operations Excellence
• Enterprise Systems

Year 3: Placement year

Final year:
Modules Core:
• Supply Chain and Procurement Strategy
• Strategic Financial Management and Finance
• Supply Chain Planning
• Final Year Project
• Theories and Practice of Leadership
• Contemporary Issues in Supply Chains

Choose one of the following:
• International Trade Law
• Performance and Efficiency Analytics
• Technology and Practice of eCommerce
• International Marketing
• Innovation and New Product and Service Development

Please Note: All modules are based on the current academic year. Course information is correct at the time of publication and is subject to review.

We use a wide variety of teaching and learning styles on our degrees, and place particular emphasis on project-based learning and hands-on experience. Visiting lecturers from the logistics profession bring real-life experience to your learning.

Assessment is through a combination of project work, case studies, practical reports and coursework (approximately 50%), and exams (approximately 50%). Your final degree classification is based on your final year studies, but also on your second, and if relevant, your placement year.