Operations and Supply Management

The goal of Operations and Supply Chain Management is to present operations and supply chain management for nonbusiness majors from a practitioner’s approach rather than the standard academic approach to a study of operations and supply chain management. Carl von Clausewitz wrote a book in the early 1800s on military strategy based on the observations of the Napoleonic Wars. In his book, On War , Clausewitz stated that all things change when you go from the abstract to the concrete. This is as true for the study of operations and supply chain management as it is for the study of military strategy. This text is designed to give the nonbusiness student at the undergraduate and graduate levels an understanding of the principles of the operations chain and supply chain management. The goal of the book is to show the students the concrete or real-world applications rather than just the academic or abstract view of operations.

This text is designed to provide a foundation in the principles of operations using real-world examples and then provide the student with a working knowledge of supply chain management to enable the student to grasp the concepts and apply them in the ultimate laboratory—the global business world. Operations and supply chain management are part of the biggest team sport in the world—commercial business. It is imperative that students of all majors understand business principles in order to succeed in whatever business that they end up in.