Abstract:
Manufacturing competitiveness is imperative for many economies because of the
importance of the sector in job creation and economic growth. Manufacturing
Competitiveness Index (MCI) has been used to measure this construct, but there
is a need to include the relevant variables in such index. In addition, there is the
need to interpret such measure in a relevant context so that actionable
programme for strategic transition would be planned.
The relevant MCI was expanded to accommodate proxy variables that capture
the levels of both the development and the adoption of cutting edge
manufacturing technology within an economy appropriately. This is further
supplemented by the use of the Ward’s clustering algorithm to provide a relevant
context of competitiveness grouping of countries so that a reference nation can
develop an actionable plan to move from a level of global competitiveness to
another.
Gap analysis, Pareto analysis and value analysis were used as integrated
mechanisms with the national strategy plan in order to determine the best path
of shift that the nation can adopt in order to transition across levels of
competitiveness. The integrated methodology was illustrated using a case of
South Africa and was found relevant.
