Tag: competitive advantage

The ability to manufacture ‘just enough’ stock to cover orders and deliver ‘just enough’ product to every retailer is the optimal supply chain scenario in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industry. This is known as Just in Time (JIT) manufacturing and delivery. However, while there are many benefits to this type of hyper-optimised supply chain, achieving it has historically proven to be challenging.

As exponential, digital-driven technologies transform the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) from a buzzword into reality, the financial services sector - and insurance in particular - face massive disruption, it starts with a radical reimagining of the very model insurance has been built on since its origins in the 14th Century, and Africa is no exception.

Organisations started outsourcing specific business activities in the 1990s mainly as a cost-saving measure. Functions not related to the core business, such as accounting, human resources, data processing, security and maintenance were contracted out to specialised service providers rather than handled by internal staff and resources.

New research shows a firm’s competitive advantage can last more than three times as long as previously believed and that companies with 'higher-order' resources can greatly outlast their competitors.