Supply chain strategy a key focus as economic crisis bites

South Africa’s business leaders
are taking a mature and
sober approach to the global
economic crisis, focusing on
longer-term strategic shifts to
make their businesses more
sustainable.
This was one of the
findings of the 2009
supplychainforesight research
study.
According to Johan Dekker,
divisional director: consulting
and software for Barloworld
Logistics, local CEOs and
supply chain executives are
committed to cost reduction
and managing the risk of
holding too much inventory.
“Quite surprisingly it would
seem that putting supply chain
strategy on the boardroom
agenda is a key area of focus,”
said Dekker. “Aligning the
supply chain with the business
strategy is a move on which
supplychainforesight focused
strongly last year. We suggested
then that those businesses that
had mastered the strategic
deployment of their supply
chains to earn competitive
advantage in a complex global
trading environment were more
likely to have supply chain
strategy on the boardroom
agenda. In the research report
of 2007, a focus on the positive
trajectory of global expansion
and growth meant that the
alignment of strategy was
relatively low on the objectives
priority list. Now that an urgent
economic imperative exists, it
seems that alignment between
the business and supply chain
strategies has at last become
seriously significant – better
late than never!”
A major objective for the
year, identified by the research,
is leaner and more efficient
supply chains.
“If we compare this to
previous years’ research it is
clear that the economic crisis
has had an impact and changed
the focus of businesses.”
Dekker said in 2008 a key
objective was service delivery,
while in 2009 it did not even
make the top five list, while
cost cutting and inventory
management were the
buzzwords in the 2009 survey.
“We are seeing that
companies have realised the
importance of aligning their
supply chain strategy with
business strategy.”
Other findings of the
research were that many
companies were no
longer looking at global
supply sources, but rather
investigating the flexibility and
responsiveness of their supply
chains at home.