International Journal of Advancements in Technology
Open Access

Abstract

Alie Wube Damtew* and Eshite Brihane

This study was designed to investigate the impacts of technological revolutions on supply chain evolution and revolution on industry performance and comparative advantage, in order to develop global collaboration and integration strategies. Using explanatory techniques, the evolution and revolution of a case study on the steel and basic metal industry supply chain within East Africa over the past decade, drawing on previous research work. Moreover, commoditization, globalization, the digital revolution, the turbulent world, and social media throughout society have been identified as drivers of supply chain evolution and revolutions. Due to these diving forces globally, the supply chain has evolved from traditional (uncoordinated, disparate, sub-optimal) to an integrated supply chain structurally. As a result of such evolution, the manufacturing industries' performances are highly impacted. While technologically, the supply chain changes from a manual supply chain (paper-based processes and documentation) to a digital (IT-supported and cloud-based) supply chain process. Moreover, globally, current digital supply networks integrate information from many different sources to drive production and distribution, potentially altering manufacturing’s competitive landscape within the firm. Even if, in the case of Ethiopian basic metal industry supply chain systems, they have been traditional, fragmental, non-integrated, and paper-based processes. Due to these, the regional basic metal industry performance in information and product delivery time, flexibility, product quality, resource utilization and competitiveness performance of the sectors have been weak and poor. As a result, the national and regional contribution of the sector has been newborn and underprivileged. Therefore, the strategies in this study reveal how to fill the gap found in the studies. The study was conducted primarily qualitatively, with descriptive analyses, and quantitatively, with data analyzed using fuzzy TOPSIS and SPSS. Finally, the conclusion and recommendation of the study were done.

Published Date: 2021-12-22; Received Date: 2021-10-07