Academic and practitioner articles on supply chain issues have proliferated in the literature since the late 1980s. In many academic journals, the discourse on operations and supply chain management (OSCM) and logistics research has mainly focused on issues related to North America, Europe and certain developing countries in Asia. However, supply chain management and logistics issues have received little attention in Africa (Oyedijo et al., 2022). Therefore, it is likely that this uneven distribution of international research data representation has a negative impact on the current state of knowledge and understanding of various phenomena within logistics and supply chain management (Svensson et al., 2008). Africa is poised to become a major player in the global supply chain (World Economic Forum, 2023a), given its growing importance as a manufacturing hub for high-tech industries and a key link in global supply chains (UNCTAD, 2023). It is surprising that many studies have not focused on Africa, given that Africa has higher growth prospects and greater potential to influence global trade and the economy than other developed continents. With so many global supply chains starting and ending in Africa, it is therefore imperative to recognise the continent's critical role. The PDW builds on Africa's potential emergence as a global supply chain powerhouse, where many African economies can become major participants in the global value chain, and explores how SCM research could enable this. Through this PDW, we aim to continue the ongoing discussions by scholars (e.g., Ibrahim et al., 2021; Oyedijo et al., 2021; Oyedijo, 2022) and various stakeholders (e.g., UNCTAD, 2023; World Economic Forum, 2023; Maersk, 2023) on advancing SCM research in Africa. Participants will work with scholars from different disciplines in open roundtables to develop interdisciplinary and multi-methodological ways to address the many challenges associated with SCM in Africa. The PDW will conclude with a future research-oriented discussion with all participants, based on the results generated in the parallel roundtable discussions.
