• Logistics importance/relevance, definition, logistics trends, logistics strategies – cost and service aspects, logistics considerations based on nature of product and product characteristics, logistics integration with other functions, key logistics stakeholders (shippers, carriers, freight forwarders, government) and their roles, different kinds of logistics networks, logistics risk and their management, logistics performance measures and information/information technology perspectives in logistics
• Road, air, sea and intermodal freight: each’s applicability, advantages, disadvantages, operating characteristics, key stakeholders, factors affecting cost and pricing, shipper and carrier perspectives, details of the infrastructure involved and operations (ports, rail interchanges, airports), outsourcing of transportation (3PL and 4PL), role of Transportation management system
• Incoterms and contractual obligations with international shipping; customs tariffs, processes, procedures and insurance, import, export bonding procedures, freight forwarding contracts of carriage, documentation, and certification; International trade facilitation, treaties, finance and settlement
• Different warehouse types based on usage, centre of gravity and qualitative considerations in warehouse location, warehouse capacity – economy of scale issues, seasonality issues, sharing/outsourcing, L, I and U shape warehouse designs and their appropriateness, different storage rack choices and their advantages and disadvantages and when to use, different kinds of material handling equipment (manual and automated) and when to use each
• Operational processes (information and product related) associated with each of receiving, storage, order picking and assembly and despatch stages, techniques to decide optimum location of items (static/dynamic storage), importance of order picking and order picking approaches/rules, technology enabled order picking solutions (voice picking and pick to light solutions), warehouse performance measures, use/relevance of warehouse management systems, robotization of warehouses and warehouse improvement approaches
• Importance of packaging for logistics, primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging and their relevance, packaging optimisation with regards to storage, transportation, material handling, packaging cost and damages, packaging options (pallets, containers), sustainable packaging

• Importance of planning to supply chain management, key planning areas and overview of different qualitative and quantitative approaches to planning
• Moving average, exponential smoothing, and regression based forecasting techniques, seasonality calculations, forecasting error
• Different kinds of centralized/decentralized supply networks for different cost-service requirements, dynamics across the supply chain (Bullwhip effect) and its control
• Factor rating and centre of gravity models for location assessment
• Different kinds of inventory, importance of inventory control, inventory management related performance measures, perpetual inventory (Reorder point, safety stock and EOQ) and periodic inventory control (review period and target inventory) techniques, customer service levels (fill rate, cycle service levels), newsvendor problem, ABC and VED techniques for inventory control, inventory counting, role of information in inventory management, centralised and decentralised inventory (square root law)
• Role and mechanism of aggregate and sales and operations planning, chase, level and hybrid planning options, Master production schedule, material requirements planning (incl. lot sizing rules), manufacturing resources planning, distribution resources planning, enterprise resource planning, yield/revenue management principles
• Role/relevance of simulation and major simulation techniques and applications, Discrete event simulation, system dynamics, use/relevance of data analytical tools in different aspects of SCM, clustering, classification and association pattern recognition techniques

• Importance of procurement to organisations, changing role of procurement, procurement integration, purchasing decisions and business strategy, procurement strategy, centralised and decentralised purchasing, key sourcing process elements, purchasing organisation, overview of purchasing-related differences across contexts
• Spend analysis, supply industry analysis, supply
data sources, market and cost based pricing models, value analysis, portfolio analysis (Kraljic matrix), request for information (RFI) documents, request for quotation documents, key supplier selection criteria, total cost of ownership, multi-criteria supplier selection models, reverse auction approaches, e- procurement operative mechanics, contexts where relevant, benefits and challenges in implementation
• Legal aspects of purchasing, nature of purchasing contracts, offers and counter offers, options contracts, contract law, terms of a contract, contract management, contract disputes, importance of negotiation, pre and post negotiation phases, negotiation strategies, BATNA, competition and cooperation in negotiation, game theory, persuasion/coercive approaches
• Nature of supplier relationships: arm’s length, partnership, strategic alliance, joint venture, vertical integration and where each is appropriate, supply base rationalisation, tiering of suppliers, choice of single/multiple suppliers, supplier associations, supplier performance measurement and supplier development

• Key decisions in supply chain and operations management, operations performance objectives, Operations strategy matrix, order winners and
order qualifiers, Trade-offs and the efficient frontier,
the 4V’s (volume, variety, variation in demand and visibility) framework for operations processes, Sandcone model of improvement, Hayes and Wheelwright’s four stages of operations contribution, process design and process technology strategies, quality strategy and elements incl. six sigma, key drivers of supply chain management, Supply chain
• integration, role of information and information technology in SCM, incentive alignment across supply chain partners incl. buyback, revenue sharing and quantity flexibility contracting arrangements, supply chain risk management, resilience, outsourcing: when, what and how, lean, agile and leagile strategies, Push vs pull system and decoupling point, quick response, efficient consumer response, Vendor managed inventory (VMI), Collaborative forecasting, planning and replenishment (CPFR), Bullwhip effect
• Operations performance measures (cost, quality, speed, reliability and flexibility), supply chain performance measures, financial, non-financial, single and multi-factor measures; Balanced Scorecard, SCOR framework and supply chain benchmarking

• Sustainability definition, relevance in respect of environmental, economic and social dimensions and application in different contexts, different drivers and barriers to sustainability, supply chain sustainability performance measures and performance impact, details of environmental sustainability practices: eco-design of products, responsible purchasing, green technologies, green manufacturing, green transportation, green warehousing and packaging, reverse logistics, recycling, waste management and remanufacturing, closed-loop supply chains,
humanitarian logistics, ethical and social aspects of sustainability, collaboration for sustainability, lean and green supply chains, corporate reporting of sustainability: templates and outlets
• Sustainability measures vis-à-vis environmental sustainability (waste reduction, greenhouse gas emissions, resource conservation, energy conservation, water conservation) as well as for social sustainability (individual measures), different corporate reporting mechanisms for sustainability e.g. carbon disclosure project, Global Reporting Initiatives (cover all key ones); environment and social sustainability related certifications: fairtrade foundation, Global compact (cover all key ones); life cycle analysis, drivers, barriers and performance impact of sustainability practices, Environmental Management system: design and operations; ISO14001

• Understanding the research context; research problem identification for investigation; research topic identification; the conceptualisation of a
research problem; developing insights; and feasibility and possibilities.
• Definition, features and ways to do literature review; the generic selection of literature; spotting the sources of literature; justification of an appropriate selection of literature; : the selection of appropriate theories for the research; conceptualisation of the research phenomenon; including relevant theories and the justification of choices; the strength and credentials of relevant theoretical framework; the understanding and interpretation; and developing the theoretical framework.
• Designing a research using the most appropriate method; research question or hypothesis test; reliability and validity test; ethical issues consideration; quantitative methodology; questionnaire design and distribution; conducting interviews; surveys; qualitative methodology; interviews; observation; and case studies.
• Writing a research report for professional audiences; following a criteria sequence as rationale of the research, formatting, editing, critical analysis, discussions of evidences and findings.