10 Free Courses in Procurement and Supply Chain Management

Genevieve Mills Feb 08, 2023

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Close to 90% of American CEOs do not expect the global supply chain disruptions that began amid COVID-19 to diminish soon, according to the Xometry poll “Building American Manufacturing Resilience,” in collaboration with John Zogby Strategies and Forbes, released in January 2023. However, two-thirds of CEOs believe that there’s enough manufacturing capacity in America to address global supply chain concerns.

Needless to say, supply chain management and procurement have become increasingly important. Managing a supply chain requires understanding probability management, procurement processes, product development, and analyzing data. Successful supply chain management considers every step of the process, from acquiring goods to selling a final product. One significant aspect of supply chain management is procurement, which involves buying outside goods and services.

To help businesses improve their supply chain management and procurement processes, we’ve outlined 10 free online courses below. These courses, made for both supply chain management beginners and veterans, are powered by accredited universities and institutions.

Defining Supply Chain Management and Procurement

What Is Supply Chain Management?

Supply chain management ensures that goods and services are managed from origin to the customer’s hands. It also includes taking raw materials and creating a final product.

In addition, it comprises actively streamlining a business’s supply chain activities to make the most of customer value and gain an advantage in the marketplace. Depending on the company's size, supply chain management can cover multiple supply chain networks.

Businesses interested in improving their supply chain management might optimize inventory forecasting to improve efficiency, reduce cost, and better understand the flow of goods.

What Is Procurement?

Procurement is the process of obtaining or purchasing goods and services from an external source, typically to fulfill business processes. It guarantees that the buyer receives its goods and services at the best possible price.

Corporations and public institutions often define methods to endorse fair and open competition for their business while curtailing potential hazards such as fraud. Most purchasing decisions consider marginal benefits, delivery and handling, and price fluctuation.

10 Supply Chain Management, Procurement Courses

Now that procurement and supply chain management have been defined, below are 10 online courses to improve business processes.

1. Supply Chain Logistics Course

This free online course is one of the supply chain courses offered by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The course covers transportation, warehousing, and inventory in logistics. It also uncovers the advantages and disadvantages of different modes of supply chain transportation and what goes into establishing a warehousing facility and inventory management.

This is an introductory course designed for beginners with no logistics background, but a basic understanding of business concepts is helpful. It takes around eight hours to complete.

2. Supply Chain Planning Course

The University of California, Irvine, offers another specialized supply chain course on planning. This online course explores how to use data science to conduct supply and demand planning and predict and measure the results.

If you’re new to Excel, the course also teaches how business leaders can use the program to get a deeper look at their supply chain.

This course is the first of three in the series Leverage Data Science for a More Agile Supply Chain Specialization. It’s an intermediate-level course and takes around six hours to complete.

After you’ve completed this course, there’s a specialized course on inventory management, but if you’re looking for a course on supply chain planning, you may skip to the third course below.

3. Supply Chain Optimization Course

This free course is ideal for supply chain managers and is offered by the University of California, Irvine. It's the third part of the three-part course Leverage Data Science for a More Agile Supply Chain Specialization, and it covers optimization components and how to create optimization tests in Excel. This course builds on the first two courses, but you can select to start with this one.

It also covers resource and capacity optimization and includes examples of these practices in the supply chain. This course helps business leaders understand which risks to take in uncertain supply chain conditions.

This is an intermediate course and takes eight hours to complete.

4. Supply Chain Principles Course

Georgia Tech offers a supply chain principles course. The course explores the extended supply chain, incorporating people, processes, technology, and emerging trends.

This is considered a beginner course that takes approximately 12 hours to complete.

5. Supply Chain Management Course

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) offers this online course to help students learn supply chain management. The course explores fundamental supply chain principles, answers questions on how a product or service is made, and examines how value-creating functions are coordinated.

The course, which has flexible deadlines, is offered through Coursera and is taught in English, with Arabic, French, Portuguese (European), Italian, Vietnamese, German, Russian, Spanish, and English subtitles. This is a beginner course on supply chain management that takes 18 hours to complete.

6. Global Procurement and Sourcing Specialization Course

Covering the basics of global procurement, Rutgers University’s sourcing specialization course teaches students how to select and evaluate suppliers as well as analyze supply markets. It’s also designed to improve students’ negotiation skills.

This beginner course takes approximately seven months to complete at a suggested pace of two hours a week.

7. Procurement Basics Course

This course on procurement basics, offered by Rutgers University, is part two of seven in the series Global Procurement and Sourcing Specialization. The course offerings in this seven-part course can be taken as a standalone or in tandem. Part two covers the basic definitions of supply chains and the importance of procurement to companies.

In addition, it gives students the basic flow of procurement processes and teaches the difference between direct and indirect procurement. The course also explores improving stakeholder management.

This beginner course takes approximately six hours to complete and offers a shareable certificate.

8. Procurement Negotiation Course

Rutgers also offers a procurement negotiation course that covers the overall procurement negotiation process. It establishes how to set goals and terms for the Least Acceptable Alternative (LAA), Most Desirable Option (MDO), and Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA). Videos and readings support this course.

This is considered an introductory course that takes approximately eight hours to complete.

9. Procurement and Sourcing Introduction Course

Offered by Rutgers University, this online class introduces the global procurement and sourcing specialization and covers the challenges that procurement and sourcing professionals face today.

The course includes ten articles that look at supplier collaboration and what procurement is. This knowledge helps students with later courses in the series, such as Global Procurement and Sourcing Specialization.

This is one in a series of beginner courses that takes four hours to complete.

10. Global Public Procurement Course

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) offers a free online course that covers the key rules of public procurement with national and international organizations. The course gives practical examples and models for understanding the processes and procedures of public procurement. It also teaches students additional knowledge, such as how to register as vendors.

This is an intermediate course that takes ten hours to complete over six weeks.

Learning Made Fun

Learning more about procurement and supply chain management doesn’t mean breaking the bank. These 10 courses are free and offered by reputable institutions, allowing beginners to start learning about logistics and supply chain basics and veterans to test their knowledge.