Supply Chain Management in Ethiopia

Article Review: Manufacturing Focused Supply Chain Integration
Introduction
The article by Georgise, Thoben and Seifert (2014) entitled “Supply Chain Integration in the Manufacturing Firms in Developing Country: An Ethiopian Case Study” was published in 2014 in the Journal of Industrial Engineering. It shows how supply chain integration can enhance value creation and what challenges manufacturing firms in developing countries face when attempting to implement supply chain integration. This paper will summarize the article, connect lessons in the article with lessons in class, provide my perspective on the article—i.e., what I learned that was new to me, what was interesting, and whether it changed any of my preconceived ideas.
Summary
Georgise et al. (2014) point that in developing countries, the supply chain of manufacturing firms is often fragmented and difficult to integrate. Both inter- and intra-organization is needed to fully integrate the supply chain. Specifically, the authors look at the challenges as they apply to manufacturing firms in Ethiopia. The authors used semistructured interviews to obtain data. Participants worked in both export and import markets. Interviews were spread across nine different manufacturing industries in Ethiopia. The industries included the alcohol industry, the garment industry, wood industry, textile, leather, food, and ceramics industries.
The biggest challenge facing these firms is simply the fact that technology has not advanced in the developing world to assist with supply chain integration. The firms interviewed across the nine different industries were all still using telephone, verbal instructions and letters to relay information. There was no use of digital technology to facilitate and enhance communication. Data collection was all paper based, which means that information processing is extremely slow compared to what is possible in the developed world.
Thus, the biggest challenge is not that supply chain integration is not possible but rather that the tools needed to facilitate it are lacking in the developing world. The developed world may take it for granted that communication technology and information systems have advanced to the point where it is no longer necessary for individuals to think twice about sending messages and obtaining data in seconds. That is because today’s managers in the developed world are all digital natives (Prensky, 2001).
Lessons
The lessons learned from this article that connect with the lessons learned in class are that technology plays a huge part in how well supply chain integration can be achieved in manufacturing today. The complicated nature of supply chain integration is such that it requires a complete picture and it is especially important because it will have a direct impact on the financial outcomes of a firm (Afshan, 2013). Understanding the ways in which the supply chain can be integrated based on what is available in one’s domestic market or beyond can be better accomplished by using technology and digital communications.
Customer analysis can be conducted using Big Data (Spiess et al., 2014). But unless a firm has the technology in place to conduct that analysis, it is going to lack an essential informational component that can facilitate the process of supply chain integration. The same goes for order fulfillment. A firm that is still using paper data instruments for recording and relaying purposes is going to have a much slower time with order fulfillment than a company that is more updated and modern thanks to digital and computer technology usage.
Supplier partnering will not add much to a firm’s value creation if one is still operating in the stone ages as far technology goes. Value creation in the 21st century is going to be dependent upon having a technological and informational infrastructure in place that will allow for a truly helpful supply chain integration to take place. Inventory management and control can be better accomplished with modern technology, as can materials management, assembly, and storage and transportation. Lead time management as well can be more tightly accomplished when using digital technology tools to oversee operations. Without these tools, as Georgise et al. (2014) show, there is not going to be a good way for manufacturing companies in the developing world to successfully accomplish an effective supply chain integration. They are too far out of the loop and not working at the level of modern tools required.
My Perspective
What I Learned
What I learned from this article was that there is still an enormous gap between the developed and the developing world in terms of manufacturing abilities. I had assumed that even in the developing world the basics of modern day tools were being used—such as email, wi-fi, Internet, and computing—but that is not the case, clearly. Many records are still pen and paper-based, and file cabinets are in place where in the developed world data is stored on hard drives or even on the cloud. It is a world of difference and makes a huge impact in terms of manufacturing firms’ ability to integrate the supply chain. It really puts into perspective how easy it can be to accomplish a lot in the developed world.
What I Found Interesting
What I found interesting was the fact that there were so many manufacturing industries in Ethiopia. Not knowing much about the country, I did not anticipate it having so many different manufacturing firms. What was really fascinating, however, was how traditional the firms were in terms of conducting business. Today’s modern firms would be completely lost if they did not have Big Data analytics.
How It Changed My Ideas
The article changed my ideas about supply chain integration in manufacturing by showing me that technology plays a very important role in the process, which was not something I really quite grasped fully before. I understood that digital communications and record keeping can facilitate supply chain management, but I did not ever stop to imagine what a manufacturing firm would be like without any of these tools—it would be like stepping back in time. Thus, this article really helped me to appreciate the tools that are available in the developed world and how they can be used to facilitate the supply chain integration process.
Conclusion
The article by Georgise et al. (2014) focused on the issue of supply chain integration in manufacturing firms in nine different industries in the developed world (specifically Ethiopia) and showed what the main challenges are in terms of integrating the supply chain. The article revealed that the main challenge is simply a lack of helpful technology such as digital communications systems and information systems that could help managers operate and coordinate more efficiently.
References
Afshan, N. (2013, December). The performance outcomes of dimensions of supply chain integration: A conceptual framework. Business: Theory and Practice, 14(4), 323.
Georgise, F. B., Thoben, K. D., & Seifert, M. (2014). Supply chain integration in the manufacturing firms in developing country: An Ethiopian case study. Journal of Industrial Engineering, 2014.
Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants part 1. On the horizon, 9(5), 1-6.
Spiess, J., T'Joens, Y., Dragnea, R., Spencer, P., & Philippart, L. (2014). Using big data to improve customer experience and business performance. Bell labs technical journal, 18(4), 3-17.