Supply Chain Management (SCM) Practices in South Africa
Supply chain management in South Africa
Supply chain management can be viewed from several perspectives. This therefore means that though the principles underlying supply chain management are more or less the same, how supply management is perceived in one country in terms of processes may not be necessarily the same across other countries. Ayer (Ross 14) defines supply chain management as the “design, maintenance, and operation of supply chain process for satisfaction of end users.”
Supply chain on the other hand is a life cycle process that comprises physical, financial, information, as well as knowledge flows with a purpose of satisfying the end user requirements with services and products from multiple linked suppliers. Handfield and Nicholas (Ross 14) on the other hand defined supply chain management as integration as all services, which are associated with the flow and transformation of goods from their raw material stage through to the end user, through improved chain relationships so as to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. supply chain management practices differs in many countries, and therefore this study is going to discuss the supply chain management in South Africa.
Background of supply chain management in South Africa
In South Africa, most especially in the public sector, procurement is of great significance and it has been used as a policy tool due to the discriminatory as well as unfair practices that have characterized its past in this country. Procurement reforms in the public sector started in 1995 and they were directed at two focus areas. The first one was an introduction of a preference system for addressing certain social economic objectives, and the second one was a promotion of principles of good governance (Ambe & Badenhorst 441). Procurement is a central thing in the government service delivery system and it has been known to promote aims, which can be said to be secondary to the primary aims of procurement.
Work cited
Ross, F. David. Introduction to e-Supply Chain Management: Engaging Technology to Build Market-Winning Business Partnerships. CRC Press, 2002
Ambe, M. Intaher, Badenhorst,A. Johanna. A Review of Procurement Practices in the South African Public Sector (n.d)
