Sponsored by: (Technology Operations Information Management)
Faculty Contact: Michael Levy, Kriebel 215 ext: 5629
Additional Contact: Britt Hackmann (Project Manager), Kriebel 213 ext: 4381
*Faculty contacts serve as "advisors" to those students who have an interest in the given concentration.
You should feel free to contact these faculty with questions.
On this Page:
I. Brief Description of the Concentration
II. Why Take This Concentration
III. List of Required and Elective Courses
IV. Suggested Career Paths
I. Brief Description of the Concentration
The Retail Supply Chain Management Concentration prepares students for a variety of careers within the consumer supply chain: retailing, marketing, supply chain management, franchising, brand management, marketing research/data analysis, and/or family businesses in retailing or selling to retailers.
The Retail Supply Chain Management requires a minimum of 16 credits consisting of 2 required 4 credit courses and 2 elective 4 credit courses. There is a choice of 13 elective courses from which students can choose. Below are suggested choices for a specific career path within this concentration. If you would like to define your own career path, we can consult you to choose the most appropriate courses.
II. Why Take This Concentration
The retailers and their suppliers who will be successful in the coming decades will rely on Retail Supply Chain Management. When a retail sale is made, information is transferred to retail corporate offices and onto their suppliers. This information is used to forecast sales, plan purchases and deliveries—to be certain that merchandise is available for customers when they want it, where they want it, and in the quantities that are demanded. Purchase information is also used to design special programs for loyal customers and other promotions. It provides retailers and their suppliers with information about consumer trends and future demand. Students with skills to help retailers achieve their goal of satisfying demand and delighting their customers are highly sought after by recruiters.
The Retail Supply Chain Management concentration is designed to provide students with direction for various career paths: • The Corporate Retail Management: This track prepares students to go into executive training programs for major retailers. Managers then specialize in either store operations (management) or merchandising (buying.) Students that wish to work for firms selling merchandise to retailers in either sales or brand management capacities should take this track.
• Analytical Retail Intelligence. This track prepares students to go into the more analytical side of retailing—marketing research, analyzing sales trends, and using scanner and panel data. Students that wish to work for major retailers, firms that sell data to major retailers (e.g., IRI or Neilsen), retail software providers (e.g., Oracle, SAS), or the major retail consulting firms should take this track.
• Retailing for Entrepreneurs. This track prepares students to start their own business or go into an established family business involved in retailing or selling to retailers.
• Supply Chain Operations. Retail supply chain management is the management of the flow of goods/services, information and financials from raw materials to the consumer. This track prepares students to work for retailers, their suppliers, or consultants in the areas of buying, transportation, distribution, merchandise allocation, and storage.
III. List of Required and Elective Courses
A.) Required Courses:
1. MKT 3540: Retailing Management
AND
2. MOB 3573: Supply Chain Management
AND
B.) Elective Courses for the concentration include the following:
Choose a minimum of 2 courses from this list.
MKT 3510: Marketing Research
MKT 3550: Consumer Behavior
MKT 4510: Services Marketing
MKT 4515: Brand Management
MKT 3500: Marketing Communications
MOB 3515: Human Resource Management
MOB 3510: Service Strategy and Innovation
MOB 3580: Negotiations
MOB 3573: Supply Chain Management
QTM 3612: Applied Data Mining
EPS 3580: Marketing for Entrepreneurs
EPS 3545: Family As Entrepreneur
EPS 3501: Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation
MIS 3530: Electronic Business
Suggested Courses, but not for credit in the concentration:
EPS 3525: Social Enterprise Management
EPS 3515: Family Business Management
MKT 3560: Design and Marketing of new products
MKT 3574: Managing the sales process (experimental)
ANT3671: Material Culture
ECN3660: International Trade Theory and Policy
ECN3670: Role of Government in Market Economy
IV. Suggested Career Paths 1. Career Path: Corporate Retail Management
MKT 3510: Marketing Research, 4 credits
MKT 3550: Consumer Behavior, 4 credits
MKT 4510: Services Marketing, 4 credits
MKT 4515: Brand Management, 4 credits
MKT 3500: Marketing communications, 4 credits
MOB3515: Human Resource Management, 4 credits
MOB3510: Service Strategy and Innovation, 4 credits
MOB3580: Negotiations, 4 credits
2. Career Path: Analytical Retail Intelligence
MKT 3510: Marketing Research, 4 credits
QTM 3612: Applied Data Mining 4 credits
3. Career Path: Retailing for Entrepreneurs
EPS 3580: Marketing for Entrepreneurs, 4 credits
EPS 3545: Family As Entrepreneur, 4 credits
EPS 3501: Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation, 4 credits
MOB3515: Human Resource Management, 4 credits
MOB3510: Service Strategy and Innovation, 4 credits
MOB3580: Negotiations, 4 credits
4. Career Path: Supply Chain Operations
MOB3510: Service Strategy and Innovation, 4 credits
MIS3530: Electronic Business, 4 credits
MOB3580: Negotiations, 4 credits
