10 research outputs found
Computer-based concept mapping tools in business
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Online product and/or service brand offerings in South Africa
Ekonomiese En BestuurswetenskappeNagraadse BestuurskoolPlease help us populate SUNScholar with the post print version of this article. It can be e-mailed to: [email protected]
Online product and/or service brand offerings in South Africa
The Internet has forced most companies to consider online brand building strategies. This strategic consideration depends on the determination of the status quo of the brand at present. The former is crucial as identified success drivers of online brand initiatives are neither uniformly nor generically applicable to all online brand offerings. It is thus suggested that the applicability of success factors to online brand offerings depends on the appropriateness of the brand’s context, which in turn is determined by benchmarking the brand against categorised characteristics of existing online brands. This paper summarises and categorises South African online brand offerings over a three year period and applies the findings for elucidatory purposes to a three dimensional Brandscape Model. After managerial implications have been discussed, the study concludes with recommendations for future research
The impact of E-Business on the competitive environment and value chain of South African financial services companies
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The diffusion of Web-enabled business in South Africa
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Understanding the role of enterprise portals in knowledge management
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The South African e-commerce industry: customer centricity and dynamic pliancy characterising success
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Automated traceability in fruit export chains in South Africa
Abstract
Deregulation of the South African fruit export industry in 1997 caused
fragmentation in the supply chain. This led to significant inefficiencies
and difficulty in responding to increasingly stringent legal and traderelated
traceability requirements. Currently, the South African fruit
export industry does not provide a sufficient level of traceability at
supply chain level.
The consumer packaged goods industry has developed e-commerce
building blocks based on global standards. These building blocks offer
automated traceability of fruit exports, as well as significant benefits
impacting the bottom line, to companies of all sizes. The e-commerce
building blocks also provide solutions to the two main challenges faced
by the fresh produce supply chains, namely traceability requirements
and the need for additional efficiencies.
The e-commerce building blocks are available to the South African
fruit export industry to enable traceability, as well as to provide
significant efficiency benefits. It has been found that early adoption of
the e-commerce building blocks will result in a strategic advantage over
the southern hemisphere competitors and that automated traceability is
feasible for the South African fruit export industry. This article describes
the cohesiveness, willingness to participate and supportive thinking of
representatives from the important fruit export industry in South Africa,
which are necessary to create the critical mass for the implementation of
such an automated traceability system
Effective information access and automated traceability in fruit export chains in South Africa
The South African (SA) export fruit industry is vital to the SA economy, contributing about
20% (or 4 million tons) to agricultural production. As a one billion US dollar export industry
in 2002, the country exports about 42% of its fresh fruit production (Shepherd 2003:2),
contributing 75% of all farm income for fruit (Kriel 2002:4). The industry is well positioned
with regard to its southern hemisphere competitors (Argentina, Australia, Chile and New
Zealand) in terms of average growth in export volumes. However, the market requirements
are constantly changing and competition is fierce due to the general oversupply of fruit in
major markets.
The limitations of the regulated environment eventually led to deregulation in August 1997
and to the phasing out of the statutory bodies. The new deregulated market structure radically
changed the competitive profile of the industry by lifting the artificial barriers that existed for
fruit exports. However, there was still a major barrier to performance – having the
knowledge and ability to deal with export processes (S. Rigotti, personal communication, 13
June 2003 – Manager Information Systems, Capespan, P.O. Box 505, Bellville, South Africa,
7535). Exporters experienced a combination of problems. Few had proper systems, which
meant that access to critical information was severely hampered. It was, for instance, difficult
to record and verify the cost, quite often resulting in serious losses. Producer payments were
inaccurate and late most of the time; sometimes payments only occurred during the
harvesting of the next season. Data integrity on the supply chain was suspect, because of
fragmented information channels and duplicated capturing at various points in the chain.
The internal challenges were compounded by a difficult time in the markets. Strong
competition, globalization and the effects of world-wide overproduction, caused prices to
drop dramatically. Consequently many farmers and exporters incurred enormous debts and
went bankrupt (Van der Ham, Becker and Guis 2002a; 2002b). In 2000, the third year after
deregulation, the fruit export industry as a whole lost an estimated one billion rand in export
earnings and declared itself in crisis (Mather 2003). SA's international image slipped because
of all the negative consequences of deregulation (Symington 2003:5)