Apart from some pretty impressive rewards for the winners, the game itself is invaluable in building effective, dynamic supply-chain teams and increased organisational supply chain knowledge.
Teams assume various roles in a virtual fresh-juice company and have to align the needs of their individual roles to the ultimate strategy - increasing the company's return on investment (ROI) at the end of each round. To succeed, each "department" has to maintain cross-functional communication with the rest of the team and decide which trade-offs best enhance the overall strategy.
The team entered by business consultants EY Africa emerged as the overall national winner and represented SA at the global final in Istanbul in September, where they were placed sixth. In the Fashion/Retail division, the Makro team proved victorious - and the value they took away from the challenge has left them eager to improve on their performance in 2014.
To enter a team in the Fresh Connection Challenge 2014, register at www.thefreshconnection.biz/af-za before 1 March 2014.
