Knowledge assets in the supply chain

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In the global economy we are witness to the outcomes of supply chains in all of our diversedemand-driven purchasing decisions, be it fast moving consumer goods, electronic equipment oreven automobiles. A great deal of exposure relating to the topic of supply chain is based on talkabout supply chains and how they are delivering enormous value to companies such as GeneralElectric, Dell and Wal-Mart. But what does all of this really mean? How can an even furtherexploitation of supply chains be used to gain competitive advantage over ever advancingcompetitors? Average is no longer sufficient to stay ahead of the pack in the demand vs. supplyrat-race. Companies have to find and exploit unique characteristics in order to achieve truedifferentiation over companies competing in similar environments and sharing a commoncustomer base.The exploitation of the capabilities of Supply Chain Management requires a theoretical andconceptual understanding of their underlying business processes as well as capabilities. Itrequires the fostering of an understanding of Business Process Reengineering via segmentationand analysis of the overall supply chain into the various basic components. The identificationand evaluation of the associated measures and metrics within in the supply chain provides insightof how embedded knowledge is created and utilised in day-to-day operations, in order toultimately deliver not only business value but a unique value proposition for the distinct marketsectors. The scrutiny of the lubricants supply chain is used to gain an understanding of anapplication of supply chain principles in the oil and gas industry in South Africa, detailing theintrinsic business processes as well as their inherent measures and metrics. Particular attention ispaid to the underlying measures and metrics developed and how they are utilised to enhanceinherent decision making capability.Subsequent to the analysis of the lubricants supply chain, an exploration of core competencies isused to illustrate how the lubricants supply chain can be differentiated from competitors. Thesecore competencies ultimately allows for greater competitive advantage, leapfrog of competitorsand staying ahead of the pack. The final outcome of the thesis is to develop a framework usingBoisot's information space pertaining to codification and abstraction in order to map theprocesses required to plan, implement and review a generic lubricants supply chain.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University