Improving the South African manufacturing sector’s competitiveness through the adequate use of ICT
- Madonsela, Nelson Sizwe, Mbecke, Paulin, Mbohwa, Charles
- Authors: Madonsela, Nelson Sizwe , Mbecke, Paulin , Mbohwa, Charles
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Information and Communication Technology , Manufacturing - South Africa
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:4864 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/12540
- Description: Information and communication technology expansion creates new opportunities and challenges for developing economies’ manufacturing sectors. South Africa’s inadequate application of information and communication technology (ICT) creates great concern about the manufacturing sector’s inability to compete globally. This study explores how the South African manufacturing sector can improve its competitiveness through adequate use of ICT. For this purpose, an interpretive analysis of recent literature and document review were employed. This study found that the initial problem lies within the manufacturing sector’s inability to successfully identify and integrate the right technologies into business processes. The reason for this is among other factors, the technical skills shortage. The findings of this study can be generalized to those manufacturing sectors that have not adopted ICT. However, the findings can be extended to and applied in developing countries, especially those in Africa, in terms of using ICT in innovative ways to enhance manufacturing performance.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Madonsela, Nelson Sizwe , Mbecke, Paulin , Mbohwa, Charles
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Information and Communication Technology , Manufacturing - South Africa
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:4864 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/12540
- Description: Information and communication technology expansion creates new opportunities and challenges for developing economies’ manufacturing sectors. South Africa’s inadequate application of information and communication technology (ICT) creates great concern about the manufacturing sector’s inability to compete globally. This study explores how the South African manufacturing sector can improve its competitiveness through adequate use of ICT. For this purpose, an interpretive analysis of recent literature and document review were employed. This study found that the initial problem lies within the manufacturing sector’s inability to successfully identify and integrate the right technologies into business processes. The reason for this is among other factors, the technical skills shortage. The findings of this study can be generalized to those manufacturing sectors that have not adopted ICT. However, the findings can be extended to and applied in developing countries, especially those in Africa, in terms of using ICT in innovative ways to enhance manufacturing performance.
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Practices and problems : fixing loose ends in management shared services
- Maabe, Simon, Mbohwa, Charles, Mbecke, Paulin
- Authors: Maabe, Simon , Mbohwa, Charles , Mbecke, Paulin
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Shared services (Management)
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:6156 , ISBN 978-93-82242-26-0 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/13760
- Description: This paper is based on a study of nine business units in the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa focusing on their governance relationship with the Shared Services department(s). The focus of the paper is an extension on the unpublished Master degree research thesis conducted by Simon Maabe with the University of Johannesburg, on determining the extent to which collaboration through governance practices involving partnering with customers influences three separate aspects of Shared Services performance: structure, amplitude and delays. This paper proposes a conceptual model: Shared Services – Customer Integrated System (SSCIS) with hybrid top-down strategy. The SSCIS conceptual model intends to provide managerial insights to Shared Services departments to achieve their objectives as well as to improve customer relationship. Through an appropriate governance design, it is envisaged that the CSIR might be able to control critical factors, performance indices to maintain flexibility and robustness, and improve planning their governance based on the characteristic of the business units. This paper concurs with previous studies that Shared Services departments are most effective when they are serious about governance and incorporate critical elements such as service level agreements, customer service liaisons, and governance committees or boards. The paper concludes that getting governance right is an essential tool for Shared Services survival and growth.
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- Authors: Maabe, Simon , Mbohwa, Charles , Mbecke, Paulin
- Date: 2013
- Subjects: Shared services (Management)
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:6156 , ISBN 978-93-82242-26-0 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/13760
- Description: This paper is based on a study of nine business units in the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa focusing on their governance relationship with the Shared Services department(s). The focus of the paper is an extension on the unpublished Master degree research thesis conducted by Simon Maabe with the University of Johannesburg, on determining the extent to which collaboration through governance practices involving partnering with customers influences three separate aspects of Shared Services performance: structure, amplitude and delays. This paper proposes a conceptual model: Shared Services – Customer Integrated System (SSCIS) with hybrid top-down strategy. The SSCIS conceptual model intends to provide managerial insights to Shared Services departments to achieve their objectives as well as to improve customer relationship. Through an appropriate governance design, it is envisaged that the CSIR might be able to control critical factors, performance indices to maintain flexibility and robustness, and improve planning their governance based on the characteristic of the business units. This paper concurs with previous studies that Shared Services departments are most effective when they are serious about governance and incorporate critical elements such as service level agreements, customer service liaisons, and governance committees or boards. The paper concludes that getting governance right is an essential tool for Shared Services survival and growth.
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The dynamics of the global market : a knowledge acquisition and application approach
- Madonsela, Nelson Sizwe, Mbecke, Paulin, Mbohwa, Charles
- Authors: Madonsela, Nelson Sizwe , Mbecke, Paulin , Mbohwa, Charles
- Date: 2015-07-01
- Subjects: Global competitiveness , Globalization
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:5227 , ISBN 978-988-19253-4-3 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/14553
- Description: Globalization has created vast economic opportunities for nations and companies around the world to access the global market. Consequently, nations and companies specifically within the manufacturing sector and service industries are doing business around a borderless globe. Nations are focusing on the global market to strengthen their economic growth and investing their resources in different infrastructural aspects to facilitate rapid economic growth. There has been a constant change within the global market, making nations and companies struggle to keep up with the global market emerging trends. This paper provides insight into the dynamics of the global market and the key elements contributing to these constant changes. It seeks to alert nations and companies to the need to re-focus in order to sustain competitive advantage in the global economic market. It sensitizes nations and companies to the need to re-focus on key elements such as knowledge acquisition and application in order to sustain competitive advantage in the global economic market. The main argument of this paper is that companies and nations in the developing world strive to keep up with the uncertain environments of the global market, but they overlook the dynamics of the global market. This paper’s findings suggest that sustaining competitiveness at the business level requires knowledge acquisition and application, complementary to which is further education, technical skills, re-training and technological development. At the national level this knowledge acquisition and application balances the effective strategic leadership, attracting foreign investment and reaching global networks.
- Full Text:
- Authors: Madonsela, Nelson Sizwe , Mbecke, Paulin , Mbohwa, Charles
- Date: 2015-07-01
- Subjects: Global competitiveness , Globalization
- Type: Article
- Identifier: uj:5227 , ISBN 978-988-19253-4-3 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/14553
- Description: Globalization has created vast economic opportunities for nations and companies around the world to access the global market. Consequently, nations and companies specifically within the manufacturing sector and service industries are doing business around a borderless globe. Nations are focusing on the global market to strengthen their economic growth and investing their resources in different infrastructural aspects to facilitate rapid economic growth. There has been a constant change within the global market, making nations and companies struggle to keep up with the global market emerging trends. This paper provides insight into the dynamics of the global market and the key elements contributing to these constant changes. It seeks to alert nations and companies to the need to re-focus in order to sustain competitive advantage in the global economic market. It sensitizes nations and companies to the need to re-focus on key elements such as knowledge acquisition and application in order to sustain competitive advantage in the global economic market. The main argument of this paper is that companies and nations in the developing world strive to keep up with the uncertain environments of the global market, but they overlook the dynamics of the global market. This paper’s findings suggest that sustaining competitiveness at the business level requires knowledge acquisition and application, complementary to which is further education, technical skills, re-training and technological development. At the national level this knowledge acquisition and application balances the effective strategic leadership, attracting foreign investment and reaching global networks.
- Full Text:
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