Pan-Pacific Conference XXXIV. Designing New Business Models in Developing Economies

TABLE 1: Ranking of sills requirements (2016/2012)
2016 2012
Rank Skills Item Mean Std. Dev Rank Skills Item Mean Std. Dev
1 Problem solving 3.67 .563 1 Ability to plan and prioritise 3.70 .518
2 Ability to see big picture 3.64 .558 2 Customer focus 3.68 .516
3 Team work 3.63 .550 3 Ability to see big picture 3.66 .500
4 Communication skills 3.62 .588 4 Business ethics 3.63 .530
5 Ability to plan and prioritise 3.61 .623 5 Team work 3.60 .558
6 Business ethics 3.60 .625 6 Problem solving 3.60 .588
7 Ability to think outside the box 3.57 .639 7 Ability to think outside the box 3.56 .521
8 Decision making 3.54 .610 8 Communication skills 3.55 .565
9 Customer focus 3.53 .653 9 Decision making 3.55 .575
10 Business process improvement 3.46 .632 10 Business process improvement 3.51 .607
11 Cross-functional coordination skills 3.45 .682 11 Cross-functional coordination skills 3.45 .613
12 Leadership 3.39 .675 12 Inventory management 3.42 .657
13 WHS/MH management 3.37 .651 13 WHS/MH management 3.40 .697
14 Supply chain cost knowledge 3.34 .732 14 Supply chain cost knowledge 3.39 .698
15 Inventory management 3.33 .711 15 Demand forecasting 3.36 .734
16 Motivation skills 3.33 .682 16 Change management 3.34 .614
17 Knowledge of the industry 3.32 .719 17 Leadership 3.32 .681
18 Negotiating skill 3.31 .770 18 Spreadsheet abilities 3.31 .700
19 Change management 3.30 .801 19 Quality management 3.30 .770
20 Demand forecasting 3.30 .767 20 Knowledge of the industry 3.27 .656
21 Quantitative and/or statistical skills 3.28 .752 21 Transport management 3.25 .750
22 Quality management 3.26 .727 22 Supply chain design 3.25 .730
23 Transport management 3.26 .737 23 Negotiating skill 3.24 .706
24 Supply chain design 3.24 .750 24 Motivation skills 3.23 .607
25 Procurement/Purchasing 3.20 .762 25 Procurement/Purchasing 3.22 .788
26 Reverse logistics 3.20 .744 26 Reverse logistics 3.18 .739
27 Spreadsheet abilities 3.20 .780 27 IT skills / software knowledge 3.15 .709
28 IT skills / software knowledge 3.14 .754 28 Laws & regulations 3.11 .767
29 Laws & regulations 3.09 .774 29 Quantitative and/or statistical skills 3.11 .698
30 Green logistics/ environmental issues 3.05 .756 30 Green logistics/ environmental issues 3.08 .734
Figure 1 represents the work experience (from both
years) respondents believe is required to fill positions
in the three main managerial levels. Although it is
indicated that work experience is important at all
levels, it also shows that a higher emphasis is placed
on work experience than before, particularly so at
tactical and strategic level. This appears to indicate
that existing role players do not have sufficient
experience to be able to fulfil requirements of their
existing positions and that more practical experience
is required to provide them with the skills they need
to perform their functions in the supply chain.
Fig 2 Perceptions of educational requirements
Both practitioners’ surveys indicated that businesses
are finding it particular difficult to fill positions at the
higher management levels, i.e. tactical and strategic
positions. The majority of the respondents in 2016
clearly indicated the relative ease of filling
operational level (73%) and tactical level (53%)
positions, however an average of 57% indicated that
it was difficult to fill strategical level positions. It
would seem that for all three managerial levels,
positions are becoming somewhat less challenging to
fill as previous trends indicate. Despite this apparent
trend, the results indicate that supply chain
organisations struggle to find appropriate leadership
for their organisations. Figure 3 indicated the
difficulty to fill managerial level positions over the
Fig 1 Perceptions of required work experience
two year period.
Figure 3 Difficulty in filling positions
Figure 2 represents the qualifications respondents
from both surveys believe are required to fill
positions in the three main managerial levels. The
results shows that some level of education is required
at all levels, with the requirements for tactical and
strategic level positions increasing, with tertiary
education becoming more vital. The 2016 results also
indicated more emphasis on post graduate
qualification requirements for strategic positions.
Similarly to work experience, the results indicate that
existing qualifications are insufficient to deliver the
skills that are required for job performance and
companies are mitigating this by requiring higher
qualifications.
Not only are practitioners finding it difficult to find
suitable candidates to fill tactical and strategic level
positions, respondents generally indicated that supply
chain education are not adequately preparing
students for jobs in industry.
Respondents were asked to indicate those areas of
competencies were students are well-prepared.
Generally speaking the respondents indicated that
candidates do not have sufficient levels of preparation
in most of the “hard” and “soft” skill areas, clearly
indicating a failure of current supply chain education
offerings to meet the requirements for changing
technical skills as well as the well-documented “soft”
skills. The results are indicated in Figure 4.
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