SC efficiency could open US$30-trillion opportunity for technology sector

Emerging markets, including Africa, represent a US$30-trillion market growth opportunity for the technology sector but supply chains need to re-evaluate the way they operate to ensure they capitalise on this. “Africa has skipped a lot of technology steps and this rapidly changing market is now expecting technology companies to deliver the latest products. The time between technology product launches is also decreasing which means speed to market is key to companies staying competitive,” said Rob Williams, business unit director for automotive and technology for DHL Supply Chain. He was addressing media at the South African presentation of the whitepaper, ‘Path to Growth: Shaping Tech Sector Supply Chains in Emerging Markets’, commissioned by the supply chain company. A major trend-changer for the technology market is that by 2030, 1 billion people representing the middle class consumer will be in emerging markets, said Ewan Shannon, technology spokesperson for DHL Supply Chain, citing latest United Nations projections. “Emerging markets were once seen primarily as a place for sourcing products, based on low-cost labour. That paradigm has shifted and these markets are not simply producing the technology goods, but demanding them as consumers as well.” He said that Angola and Nigeria were showing strong market growth potential in Sub-Saharan Africa and that South Africa was still seen as a base of security for entering the region’s markets. Shannon said that three key market trends were driving supply chain change – the shift in demographics, the shortening lifecycle of technology products, and the regionalisation of supply chains. “Increasingly technology producers are finding that by producing closer to their markets, they can also get the products out to markets faster,” he noted. This is especially important when dealing with the emerging market challenges of varying levels of infrastructure development and unpredictable demand growth coupled with the pressures and expectations of the consumer – effective service, product innovation, personalisation and competitive pricing, said whitepaper author, Lisa Harrington, lecturer in supply chain management at the University of Maryland in the United States. Every market in Africa is unique in its application of the supply chain platform, and Williams believes that supply chain operators in South Africa and Africa have to have a fully integrated intermodal system to meet customer demand and overcome challenges. “Exporters and logistics operators should ensure they have a strong supply chain base but with f lexible aspects that can be adapted to suit different market realities,” said Williams. INSERT & CAPTION Emerging markets are not simply producing the technology goods, but demanding them as consumers as well. – Ewan Shannon