Purpose This paper aims to describe the impact of the labor market on the integration of Africa into the global supply chain (GSC). Design/methodology/approach The analysis of trends and comparison of data for 55 nations and territories in Africa using existing data from the World Bank and International Labor Organization, and government and nongovernment reports took place using qualitative content analysis methodology. Findings Africa’s labor market enhances the continent’s integration into the GSC despite challenges in other areas, with three pillars identifying the labor market’s strategic sourcing decisions. Research limitations/implications The analysis is limited to trends analysis, some of which may have changed during the study. Practical implications The findings will enable the global business industry and governments to envision the potential and design Africa’s labor market competitiveness across the African continent. The findings also establish the necessity and opportunity for enhanced infrastructure to attract additional foreign direct. Social implications The social implication of this paper is beyond the potential of Africa’s labor market. The paper illustrates how the African is setting to become the next sourcing hub for the global supply chain, allowing scholars to close any prevailing global sourcing gap in research. Originality/value This paper describes the potential of Africa’s supply of low-cost labor market and its integration in the GSC.
The supply chain industry is at the crossroads of the business revolution through the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), impacting business activities across industries. The transformative elements of 4IR offer individual consumers, corporations, and governments unprecedented opportunities to link, collaborate, process, and manage rising consumer and business data to boost decision-making, efficiency, and productivity. Evidence shows that have applied a mix of collaborative and innovative technologies to internal and external activities to manage supply chain disruptions. The groundbreaking technological advancements paved the way for the supply industry to shift supply business prototypes from traditional supply chain models to supply web models. The shift has helped firms resolve national and global supply chain disruptions. The present chapter introduces the Supply Web (SW) concept and its distinctive tenets by adding to the growing body of the evolving Industry 4.0 field, knowledge to help advance the field. The author calls on governments, the global supply industry, and academia to consider embracing the new SW paradigm evolving under 4IR to help resolve societal and consumer challenges emerging in the 21st Century.
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