Business Operations Program Covers Wide Range of Topics

In order to understand specific areas of business, students must first have a base in general business concepts. At Centennial College's Business Operations program, not only do students obtain skills to succeed in an operations career in any business that provides goods or service but they also learn essential basic concepts. That’s thanks to the first three semesters of the Business Operations program being comprised of courses common among other programs in the School of Business. Among these basic business courses are: Strategies for Business Success, Fundamentals of Business, Microcomputer Applications Software, Mathematics of Finance, Financial Accounting and more.

Students of the Business Operations program then move onto learning the skills specific to this area of business. Among the topics covered are: business processes to improve productivity, developing and implementing quality management programs, applying team approach principles to analyze operations problems and developing solutions as well as enhancing the performance of the firm's supply chain. To ensure that students are grasping concepts, practices are taught through hands-on projects and assignments that simulate those undertaken in actual business settings.

Specific courses within the Business Operations program include: Standards and Measures (intended to explain to students what productivity is, how to improve it using methods improvement techniques and how to measure productivity to set standards); International Business Concepts (gives students a broad overview of international trade, the macro-environment within which international business takes place, and the major strategic decisions facing international business managers); Materials Management (emphasis is on how to increase system credibility by maintaining data integrity, solving commonly encountered problems and developing performance measurement criteria); and more.

In addition to their supply chain management courses, throughout their two years in the Business Operations program, students also develop a portfolio documenting their engagement with the College's signature global citizenship and equity competencies.

Once they graduate from the Business Operations program, students may enter careers as quality control technicians, inventory analysts, buyers, planning and scheduling coordinators and logistics coordinators. Should they wish to continue their education, qualified graduates may be eligible to participate in an articulated program with selected universities, institutes and professional associations. These partnerships allow graduates to apply academic credit towards further study. The Business Operation program’s partners are: Algoma University, Davenport University, Royal Roads University, University of New Brunswick.

The Business Operations program is affiliated with: the Canadian Association for Production and Inventory Control, SAP University Alliance and Canadian Supply Chain Sector Council.

Business Operations program applicants are required to possess at minimum an Ontario Secondary School Diploma or equivalent or be 19 years of age or older. They are also required to have Compulsory English 12C or U or skills assessment, or equivalent and Math 11C, M or U, or 12C or U, or skills assessment, or equivalent.