College of Business

The College of Business is preparing to launch a new Bachelor of Science in Agribusiness Supply Chain Management (ASCM) degree program. The program's curriculum will focus on addressing the unique challenges of perishable product logistics. While there are other supply chain management degree programs in the U.S., none offer a focus on perishable supply chain management.

Perishable logistics expertise is critical and is a gap that companies need to fill.

Students in CSUMB's Agribusiness Supply Chain Management program will gain the necessary skills to manage the many aspects and complex interconnections of the end-to-end supply chain for perishable foods and temperature-controlled products in the agribusiness industry and beyond.

“Our goal is to develop a talent pipeline that meets critical industry supply chain needs.

We are currently in the curriculum process and completing our fundraising this year [2022] for the ASCM endowment. We have plans for conducting the search for the ASCM Executive Director in 2023 and launching the program as early as Fall 2024.”

— Dr. Marylou Shockley, Ph.D., Interim Dean of the College of Business at CSU Monterey Bay

CURRICULUM FOCUS

CSU Monterey Bay’s B.S. in Agribusiness Supply Chain
Management will offer courses and training to students that
will help close the perishable supply chain skill and resource
gap. The curriculum will focus on:

• Technology and supply chain systems knowledge
• Price contract analysis and negotiation skills
• Market and price risk estimation skills
• Production & financial risk analysis & management skills
• Understanding of global import/export requirements
• Procurement and purchasing management skills
• Inventory management and warehousing skills
• Supplier management skills
• Cold chain research and management skills
• Enterprise resource planning and management skills
• Project management, estimation and budgeting skills

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

The Agribusiness Supply Chain Management program will provide
students with expertise in the following areas:

• Transportation and distribution logistics
• Purchasing, procurement and supplier management
• Integrating technology and robotcs
• End-to-end cold chain technology
• Demand assessment, forecasting and customer management
• Sustainability - carbon footprint
• Food safety and visibility
• Regulatory compliance
• Import/Export - managing global complexities
• Integrated supply chain and risk management
• IoT (Internet of Things) and big data analytics
• Enterprise resource planning and project management