Transforming fragmented industry into sustainable businesses with SMAC technologies

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to show the extent to which a fragmented industry may be transformed into a sustainable one. The philosophy assumed is that businesses which follow good corporate governance principles and act in transparency by disclosing all relevant information to stakeholders are highly likely to be sustainable. A sustainable business purposively designs and /or develops its business strategy and operates its enterprise in the context of stakeholder-driven economic, political, social, and technological environmental influences to meet organizational objectives and needs (Strom, 2010). The furniture industry, in Mauritius, is fragmented and faces aggressive foreign competition. This article proposes a model to make the industry more productive, innovative and competitive. Sustainable businesses may be developed by the application of Social, Mobile, Analytics and Cloud technologies (SMAC). Trust is considered a key element in the model. With the application of SMAC technologies small and medium enterprises (SMEs) will be at par with large enterprises. Porter has developed an integrated framework that highlights the benefits of disclosing information with the objective of increasing productivity, innovativeness and competitiveness (Porter, 1990, Porter, 1998). Disclosure of information on corporate governance and sustainability reporting via the SMAC technologies will strengthen the relationship among stakeholders and build sustainable competitive advantages.