I think a better analysis would be made on the average salaries in each country normalised on some global cost of living index (if exists?) and further weighted according to the importance of supply chain management in the business environment (and consequently the quality of work). For instance in a services heavy economy like India, the neccessity for good supply chain managers is far less than in a manufacturing giant of a economy in China!
I just want to add (or emphasize) that the salary gap between the same job description/title is huge in India. Sometime it can be upto factor 2 or more. So i seriously doubt whether the statistics presented in this report can be stretched too far. It all boils down to quality of knowledge, even in India.
I also had the same point in mind that the 'quality' of these supply chain managers may differ from country to country. A lot is dependent upon the job description and how challenging the roles and responsibilities are. One other factor is the nature of supply chain industry in the country. Importance of distribution and supply chain may be very high in China due to the high volume of exports, whereas in countries like Philippines the export volume is very low and the supply chain function may not be considered that important.
Thanks for the additional insight. It raises an interesting question to investigate further: whether the job description "Supply Chain Manager" is consistent from country to country. If the people with that title are doing far less in India than in Thailand -- if the Thai manager has to know something about electronics, and in India, as you say, that's less important -- than perhaps that does explain some of the difference. You're paying more to get more in other countries.
As per my own experience with the Electronics Industry in India goes, where I was part of the product design in a Electronics manufacturing company, the people handling the supply chain function were semi qualified professionals. They had very little knowledge of Electronic components , the qualification process. These people used to heavily rely on the quality control professionals and the developemnt personeel for final decision making . Such people could not demand higher salaries and so their salaries were at much lower level compared to the salaries of other departments - production, QA, service and development. The supply chain professionals mainly used to handle the logistics - sending purchase orders and doing follow ups to collect material. They could not participate in the technical discussions with suppliers. I do not know about how qualified the supply chain professionals are in countries like Thailand or Philipines. But there may lie the answer to your question why Indian supply chain professionals are paid less.
Thanks for the background. I'm still curious about Dave's point: why do those facts of life in India produce lower wages than similar dynamics in, for example, Thailand? The Rupee and the Baht, just to choose an example, are similarly weak against the Dollar or Euro, and living expenses are not far apart in the two countries (though that will vary with region, urban/rural, etc, as it does everywhere). So why is an IT supply chain manager in India earning so much less, on average, than one in Thailand, despite being in a larger IT business and such a competitive market? There's got to be something more to this than cost of living and wage advantages, I suspect. If not, we'd expect to see South and East Asian salaries in IT supply positions, for salaries with similar exchange rates, looking roughly similar. But curiously, we don't. The study shows earnings are all over the place, and most oddly, India, with its key position in all these chains, and an English-speaking and well trained workforce, is among the lowest, rather than the highest paid. So I still feel like I'm missing a key fact here about how India's IT industry differs from that of other parts of Asia.
That is true.The salaries of Indians if compared internationally are well below par. But compared to the cost of living , even with a high rate of inflation ,which currently is around 12%, Indian professionals can manage a decent lifestyle. IT professionals are the best paid professionals in India but other industries are also catching up , Automobile industry being one of them . But in India you may find a big gap in the salary a manager gets and the salary what a Engineer or the officer gets. Most of the companies pay well to the managers so that they can extruciate hard work from their subordinates with much lower pay.
I am an Indian, though i have never worked in India and currently work in The Netherlands. My theory for lower wages in India is the lower cost of living. Even if i go to India, after having worked in Europe for 5 years, i will get about half of what i get in Europe. Even with that salary in India, i can manage the same kind of life style.
Hi Dave. I have a theory, but it's just a theory: that in India, more than other places, the managers are more likely to be locals than to be foreign nationals. So they are paid on scales reflective of Indian average wages, where in other places in the survey, including China, they are managers brought from offices abroad, who negotiate salaries appropriate to their home economies. Factor in exchange rates -- a salary paid in Rupee versus one paid in Australian dollars, for example -- and the disparity can get pretty glaring.
I've no evidence for that; it's a starting point for investigating the issue. I'd be curious to hear if any readers in India have a better answer to Dave's question. If so, fire away.
I am surprised to see that India is at the lower end of the pay ranges on this list.I would have thought salaries would have been on par with China, rather than the Philippines.IT salaries have been increasing in India and just assumed that supply chain salaries would have been higher.
EBN Dialogue enables and encourages you to participate in live chats with notable leaders and luminaries. Not only editors and journalists, but the entire EBN community is able to comment and ask questions. Listed below are upcoming and archived chats.
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Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Euro-Crisis: What It Means for High-Tech Firms Join EBN Editor in Chief Bolaji Ojo and Contributing Editor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday, July 12, at 10:00 a.m. EDT for a Live Chat on high-tech and Europe's economic difficulties.
Microsoft Surface: Potential Winners & Losers What are the implications for the electronics industry supply chain of Microsoft Corp.'s decision to launch its own tablet PC? Join industry veteran and EE Times' systems and OEM expert Rick Merritt on Tuesday, July 3, at 12:00 pm EDT for a Live Chat on this subject.
Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
While no one really can accurately predict the future, we can take guidance from another Drucker saying which is the best way to predict the future is to create it.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.
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