Sustaining effective business value chain: future challenges

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe key factors in sustaining effective business value chains for companies operating in the electronic industry and identify their potential future challenges. Design/methodology/approach - The research methodology includes the survey development, the hypothesis development, and the statistical analyses, especially the Pearson correlation. Altogether, a total of 129 firms participated in this study - 97 companies from Hong Kong/China and 32 firms from Thailand. Included in this methodology are a pre-test of a survey, a development of the research hypotheses, and follow-up discussions with participating executives on possible future challenges for their business value chains. Findings - An effective business value chain essentially depends on a good internal operational system and constructive relationships with suppliers and customers. In other words, the collective efficacy depends on a manufacturer's internal operations (IO) and its supplier and customer partnership. Owing to the extensive information and communication technology (ICT) applications, the concern relating to schedule nervousness has been greatly reduced. Practical implications - The key future challenges for an electronic manufacturer's business value chains are ICT standardization (i.e. data harmonization) for better sharing and transfer with both customers and suppliers and within a manufacturer's IO, and risk management. Originality/value - The findings underline the importance of data harmonization and an adaptation of ICT standards such as control objectives for information and related technology and projects in controlled environment for managing design and deployment of ICT projects and their related risks. © 2010 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.