About the Course

Urbanization and rising amount of e-commerce operations in the global world leads to increased problems in terms of logistics support of companies, institutions and residents. This means that every day incredible amount of different kinds of goods needs to be delivered to many customers dispersed around the city. And this phenomenon directly leads to rising traffic, high congestion, lower pedestrian safe and deterioration of the human life environment. Those problems are related to the concept of "the future supply chain„ which assumes the need of reconfiguration and development of supply chains. That means that the companies related in one supply chain should verify their role in business and the place of their location. The aim of the course is to acquaint the student with the importance of the location the companies - individual components of the supply chain both in achieving the objectives of economic operators and the purpose of implementing sustainable development policies of local governments and local authorities. Location of suppliers, producers and distributors have a direct impact on the quality of the logistics process and effectiveness of the business as well as on the quality of residents life within the cities.

Course Syllabus

• Unit 1 The importance of the supply chain configuration

• Unit 2 Space as an economic factor and the concept of location

• Unit 3 Classic and contemporary factors of location

• Unit 4 The importance of logistics in the location of supply chain components

• Unit 5 Methods for determining the location of supply chain components

Recommended background

All are welcome, but economic knowledge will be helpful.

Suggested readings

All needed materials will provided during the course. Although if you would like to extend your knowledge I recommended:

Karwacka G., 2009, The Influence of Logistics System Life Cycle on the Sustainable Development, [w:] Book of Proceeding from the 5th International Conference: Environmental Accounting – Sustainable Development Indicators 2009, Usti and Labem: J. E. Purkyne University in Usti and Labem.

Kimelberg Sh. M., Williams E., 2013, Evaluating the Importance of Business Location Factors: The Influence of Facility Type, in. Growth and Change, Vol. 44 no. 1, March , pp. 92-117.

Lindholm M., 2010, A sustainability perspective on urban freight transport: Factors and incentives affecting local authorities in the planning procedure. Procedia Social and Behavioral Science, 2, p. 6205-6216.

Mejia-Dorantes M., Paez A., Vassallo J.M., 2012, Transportation infrastructure impacts on firm location: the effect of a new metro line in the suburbs of Madrid, in. Journal of Transport Geography 22, pp. 236-250.

2016 Future Supply Chain. Serving Consumers in a Sustainable Way. CapGemini & GCI Raport

Course format

The course is divided into five weekly units ending with the quiz. Every unit composed of short up to 10 min video lecture and some other materials to read.

Participants can gain up to 40 points.

• 40-36 points it is excellent result
• 35-32 points it is very good result
• 31-28 points it is good result
• 27-24 points it is acceptable result
• 23-20 points it is poor result
• Under 20 points is unacceptable result

Students may work ahead on the course materials and submit quiz early. Students can monitor their individual progress and cumulative grade on the course website.