New graduate program reinforces Lazaridis School’s status as a leader in supply chain management

Jan. 22, 2021

If the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 has shown us anything, it’s that supply chains are increasingly interconnected and often found to be more fragile than were generally understood, especially when viewed from a national or global scale.

The immediacy with which consumer goods -- anything from fresh produce to flat screen televisions -- are demanded by North Americans is now the standard toward which the supply chains must strive. This standard has been set by companies like Amazon, whose growth in 2020 has already exceeded their three previous years of growth combined.

It is in this rapidly accelerating and increasingly challenging world of supply chain management that the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Wilfrid Laurier University launches its latest graduate program – the Master of Supply Chain Management (MSCM) at the university’s Waterloo campus.

A future-focused program for future-ready professionals

“The Lazaridis School has long been a recognized centre within Ontario for the study and advancement of supply chain management,” says Professor Michael Haughton, the program’s inaugural director and CN fellow in Supply Chain Management. “We’ve been able to apply Laurier’s distinct brand of research and academic excellence through the supply chain management, operations and technology management fields of our MSc and PhD programs.”

“We felt that now is the perfect time to augment our offerings with a more professionally focused program that will equip our graduates with the analytical and strategic management tools needed to advance their careers in the supply chain management field.”

Incorporating a strong analytics component into the Lazaridis MSCM curriculum was key to keeping the program future-focused and its grads future-ready for a job market that is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of nearly 16 per cent through 2024.

Like many Laurier programs, the Lazaridis MSCM will incorporate a strong focus on experiential learning. The 12-month master’s degree will hold classes on Fridays and Saturdays to accommodate working professionals and will include a fieldwork project in which students will be expected to master the concepts of project management and apply them to a real-world problem at a client firm.

The program also features a larger group-based consulting assignment in which students will tackle more substantial supply chain management challenges and apply what they’ve learned toward helping firms to continuously improve their supply chains.

A promising future for graduates

Designed for working supply chain professionals, the Lazaridis MSCM program comes into a thriving ecosystem already established at the Lazaridis School. Foundational investments from corporate partners have made Laurier an unparalleled centre of thought leadership in supply chain management.

The investment from our partners will allow the Lazaridis School to continue to enhance its research, outreach and education, ensuring graduates can hit the ground running in this fast-paced field.

Employing the latest best practices in business analytics, computer modelling, and process design, the Lazaridis MSCM will help graduates stay ahead of the curve in this dynamic and unpredictable business environment. Above all, this program will highlight the creativity and innovative approaches required of tomorrow’s supply chain leaders.