The Unisa Graduate School of Business Leadership’s (SBL) Prof 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.
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 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, Prof 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.
During his address Prof 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 dumping ground for fake, counterfeit products. If we do not change our mindset through supply chain thinking, how are we going to be able to create much-needed jobs for the youth of today and tomorrow. 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 spent two years coming up with the second edition, Prof. 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 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, at my own cost. But for me I did it for a reason, if the world understands supply chain management it will be a better place for the African child”.
n 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 industrialization.” 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.
Another highlight of the evening was when Hewlett Packard (HP) awarded Prof Boateng with the first-ever HP lifetime Supply Chain Management leadership achievement award.
The evening was appropriately concluded with a book review by SBL’s Prof Mpofu. He said that the SBL is pleased to confirm that the feedback that received to date clearly affirms that the current contents of compendium the comprehensively cover the knowledge required by function-specific professionals practising in either the public or private sectors.
Prof Mpofu in his closing remarks confirmed the SBL’s commitment to continuing collaboration with Prof Boateng to improve procurement understanding and skills in Africa in line with professionalising supply chain behaviour, conduct and practice, and stem the negative attitudes towards the profession as it has been seen as synonymous with corrupt behaviour.
