Supply chain compendium launched in Ghana

3 Oct 2018

The Unisa Graduate School of Business Leadership's (SBL) Professor Douglas Boateng, Africa's first ever appointed Professor Extraordinaire for supply and value chain management has launched the second edition of the world's first compendium on Supply Chain Management (SCM) in Accra, Ghana.

Douglas Boateng

The second edition of the book titled Executive Insights Series: Compendium of Supply Chain Management Terms is supported and endorsed by the SBL and contains thousands of detailed definitions and information to help the public and private sector officials understand and apply aspects of supply chain management thinking to their respective values chains, support industrialisation and competitiveness, and improve service delivery quality.

Speaking at the launch of the over 900-page book, Professor Raphael Mpofu, acting executive dean of the SBL, said that the SBL places a high priority on the development and teaching of programmes that prepare the supply chain management professional to broaden their business worldview to the broader business leadership context to enable them to function effectively at the C-suite level.

Transformation of economies

During his address, Boateng said he has witnessed spectacular transformations of economies like South Korea, China, Singapore, South Africa and Rwanda and believes Ghana as a country can improve if we understand the interconnectivity between the various aspects of value chain.

“In Africa what we’ve been doing is just buying; not procuring and not strategically sourcing hence our dear old continent has become a dampen ground for fake, for counterfeit products. If we do not change our mindset through supply chain thinking how we are going to be able to create the much-needed jobs for the youth of today and tomorrow; it’s because of the lack of supply chain thinking. Now it’s not just a Ghana problem or African problem; there is a general lack of understanding of supply chain management,” he added.

Having used two years to come up with the second edition, Boateng said, “now I’ve travelled the world and realised that something has to be done about it and so I took it upon myself to come up with a dictionary. We’re all aware that doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers they all have their bible; in supply chain management we don’t have one. So, I decided to develop one at my own cost. It took me 1,885 days to develop the first compendium. The second one took me 912 days to come up with the second edition at my own cost. But for me I did it for a reason, if the world understands supply chain management it will a better place for the African child”.

In a speech read on behalf of the president of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, by the Minister of State at the Presidency, Rockson Bukari said “To reap the potential rewards from our resources, we need to innovatively apply Supply Chain Management principles to further improve the quality of government service delivery as well as foster real local value chain mechanization is support of industrialisation.”

He added that the terms, definitions and concepts of the book are not only important for understanding the role of supply chain management for Ghana’s development, but also to provide insights into how to potentially improve value chain efficiencies, achieve manufacturing and industrial competitiveness and accelerate growth and development in various sectors of the economy.