Business Management and Supply Chain BSc (Hons)

Potential career paths include:

• Supply chain manager – overseeing the flow of goods from suppliers through to customers, balancing cost, quality and delivery.
• Procurement manager – sourcing goods and services, managing supplier relationships and negotiating commercial agreements.
• Logistics manager – coordinating transportation, warehousing and distribution to make sure goods reach the right place at the right time.
• Operations manager – improving the processes organisations use to produce and deliver goods and services.
• Supply chain analyst – using data to understand performance, identify risks and support better supply-chain decisions.
• Warehouse manager – overseeing inventory, people and day-to-day warehouse operations.
• Demand planning manager – helping organisations anticipate demand and manage inventory effectively.
• Sustainability manager – helping organisations improve responsible sourcing, reduce environmental impact and develop more sustainable operations.

You could pursue these careers across sectors including retail, e-commerce, manufacturing, healthcare, transport and logistics, as well as wider public and private-sector organisations. 

Your Business Management foundation also gives you skills that can support careers beyond specialist supply-chain roles.

Kingston Business Management graduates have progressed into areas including management consultancy, retail operations and analysis, data analysis, sales, sustainability, marketing, technology and finance. Others have started their own businesses, joined graduate schemes or continued to postgraduate study.

Business Management graduates have gone on to work for organisations including Deloitte, PwC, Sky, Tesco, Coca-Cola, Bloomberg, Monzo Bank, CrowdStrike, Connect Earth and B&H Worldwide, as well as SMEs, independent agencies and challenger brands.

This wider business background means you’ll have the flexibility to explore both specialist supply-chain careers and broader business opportunities as your interests develop. 

You’ll also have opportunities to prepare for the graduate recruitment process through Kingston’s Assessment Centre Experience.

You’ll:

• Develop your understanding of the graduate jobs market, including current trends and opportunities.
• Explore different recruitment processes and learn how to identify suitable roles.
• Receive personalised feedback to help you improve and progress.
• Access additional guidance covering employer expectations, best practice and practical tips for succeeding in recruitment. 

You can choose to undertake a professional placement year between your second and final year, giving you the opportunity to apply your business and supply-chain knowledge in a professional setting.

• A placement can help you:
• Explore different career options.
• Build relevant workplace experience.
• Develop your professional skills.
• Strengthen your CV and stand out when applying for graduate roles.
• Build confidence and professional connections before you graduate.

Find out more about professional placements and studying abroad.

Outside the scheduled learning and teaching hours, you will learn independently through self-study which will involve reading articles and books, working on projects, undertaking research, preparing for and completing your work for assessments. Some independent study work may need to be completed on-campus, as you may need to access campus-based facilities such as studios and labs.

Our academic support team here at Kingston University provides help in a range of areas.

When you arrive, we'll introduce you to your personal tutor. This is the member of academic staff who will provide academic guidance, support you throughout your time at Kingston and show you how to make the best use of all the help and resources that we offer at Kingston University. 

Your workload is based on the number of credits for your course.

A typical undergraduate degree is worth 360 credits. One credit represents around 10 hours of learning and study, so you'll complete approximately 3,600 hours of academic activity across the duration of your course. This calculation is based on a standard three-year undergraduate degree and does not include any foundation year or placement year that may form part of your course.

For this course, the study time is typically split across:

• 25% scheduled learning and teaching activities
• 75% guided independent study

The exact balance may vary depending on the modules you take.

Scheduled learning and teaching activities are mostly delivered in person on campus. Up to 20% of these hours may be delivered online. The exact proportion varies by course and year of study and will be shown in your timetable.

To complete your degree, you must pass a given number of credits. The number of credits you need for this course is detailed in the course specification.

You will be assessed through a range of methods across your modules, as detailed in the relevant module descriptors.

For this course, the assessment is typically made up of:

• 100% coursework
• 0% examinations

Coursework may include essays, presentations, reports, portfolios, practical projects, in-class tests, oral vivas, laboratory logs and other assignments.

Examinations are completed at a specified time under supervised conditions.

The exact balance between coursework and examinations may vary depending on the modules you take, and will be detailed in module documentations.

We aim to provide feedback to you on your assessments within 20 working days.

Your individualised timetable is normally available to students within 48 hours of enrolment. Whilst we make every effort to ensure timetables are as student friendly as possible, scheduled learning and teaching can take place on any day of the week between 9am and 6pm. For undergraduate students, Wednesday afternoons are normally reserved for sports and cultural activities, but there may be occasions when this is not possible. Timetables for part-time students will depend on the modules selected.

Our libraries have an extensive collection of books and journals, as well as open-access computers and laptops available to rent. However, you may want to buy your own computer or personal copies of key textbooks. Textbooks may range from £50 to £250 per year. And a personal computer can range from £100 to £3,000 depending on your course requirements.

While most coursework is submitted online, some modules may require printed copies. You may want to allocate up to £100 per year for hard-copies of your coursework. It’s worth noting that 3D printing is never compulsory. So if you choose to use our 3D printers, you’ll need to pay for the material. This ranges from 3p per gram to 40p per gram.

Kingston University will pay for all compulsory field trips. There may be the opportunity for a visit to an external assessment centre as well as optional day trips to companies in London. The cost would be approximately £100 per year.

Your tuition fees don’t cover travel costs. To save on travel costs, you can use our intersite bus service. This route links the campuses and halls of residence with local train stations - Surbiton, Kingston upon Thames and Norbiton.

If you choose to do a placement year, travel costs will vary depending on your location. There is an internship option in the second year. Travel for this will vary according to the location of the internship and whether travel costs are covered by the internship provider. However, for a London-based internship, the cost of a London Travelcard for zones 1-6 for three months could cost up to £600.

Supply chain management is the coordination of how goods, services and information move from suppliers through to customers. It covers areas such as sourcing, procurement, inventory, warehousing, transportation and distribution.

Effective supply chain management helps businesses get the right products to the right place at the right time, while managing costs, responding to disruption and meeting customer expectations. It is relevant across almost every sector, from retail and e-commerce to manufacturing, healthcare and international trade. 

Logistics focuses primarily on the movement, storage and delivery of goods, including transportation, warehousing and distribution.

Supply chain management takes a broader view. It considers the entire network involved in producing and delivering a product or service, including suppliers, procurement, inventory, logistics and customers. Logistics is therefore an important part of the wider supply chain.

A supply chain management degree teaches you how organisations plan, coordinate and improve the networks that connect suppliers, businesses and customers.

At Kingston, you'll study supply chain management as part of a broader Business Management degree. You'll build a strong understanding of how businesses operate while developing specialist knowledge in areas such as logistics, procurement, operations, global supply chains, sustainability and supply chain technology. This combination prepares you for both general business careers and more specialist supply chain roles.

Supply chain skills are needed across a wide range of industries, including retail, e-commerce, manufacturing, transportation, shipping and logistics. You could pursue careers such as:

• supply chain manager  
• supply chain analyst  
• procurement manager  
• logistics manager  
• operations manager  
• warehouse manager  
• demand planning manager  
• sustainability manager

You could work for a specialist logistics or transportation organisation, such as a freight forwarder or third-party logistics provider (3PL), or within the supply chain function of a wider business. 

Procurement is the process organisations use to source and purchase the goods and services they need. It can involve identifying suppliers, comparing options, negotiating contracts, managing supplier relationships and making sure purchases offer the right balance of cost, quality and reliability.

Procurement is an important part of supply chain management because decisions about what an organisation buys, where it comes from and who supplies it can affect cost, resilience, sustainability and overall business performance. 

Supply chain management can offer varied career opportunities because virtually every organisation relies on some form of supply chain. Businesses need people who can manage suppliers, procurement, inventory, transportation and operations and respond when circumstances change.  

It can also be an international career. Global businesses rely on networks of suppliers, customers and logistics partners across different countries, creating opportunities in areas such as international logistics, shipping, freight forwarding and global operations.

Supply chain managers use digital technology to track goods and inventory, coordinate operations and make better-informed decisions.

On this course, you'll gain experience with technologies used in modern supply chains, including warehouse management systems (WMS) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems such as SAP. ERP technology can give businesses visibility across areas such as factories, warehouses, inventory, transportation and other resources, helping them coordinate the movement of products more effectively. You'll also explore how technology can support activities such as transport routing, automation and more efficient logistics decision-making.

Yes. You can choose to take a professional placement year between Years 2 and 3, giving you the opportunity to gain valuable workplace experience before completing your degree.

A placement can help you put your business and supply chain knowledge into practice, develop your professional skills and gain experience to strengthen your CV before you graduate.

You do not need to have studied Business or another specific subject at A-level to apply for this course.

For the BSc (Hons) Business Management and Supply Chain, the current entry requirement is 112–128 UCAS tariff points from at least two A-levels or equivalent qualifications. 

Sustainable supply chain management is about managing the movement and sourcing of goods in ways that consider environmental and social impacts as well as cost and efficiency.

This can include reducing carbon emissions, making logistics more environmentally responsible, sourcing ethically, reducing waste and building more resilient supply chains.

At Kingston, you'll explore sustainability and responsible management as part of your wider business studies and apply these ideas specifically to logistics and supply chains, considering how organisations can respond to challenges such as climate change, disruption and changing expectations around responsible business.