Future value chains in the computer hardware industry

Abstract

Companies in the computer hardware industry can benefit by incorporating future business scenarios in their present decision-making processes. Any decision regarding strategic supply chain design is one such area where long-range planning can especially help. This is primarily because investments in new supply chains have a long return period, which also influence the chances of future success of a company. However, developing such long-range views of the whole industry is a challenging task, because of inherent uncertainties of the future and rapid changes in the computer industry itself. This paper takes a step towards achieving this goal by introducing several frameworks for the development of future scenarios and their analysis.