Supply Chain Practices, Reforms and Performance in the Kenyan National Government Ministries

Abstract

In the contempoary environment, the need to streamline supply chain operations in the public sector has become a major focus of many governmement instutions. As an effort aimed at improving pefrormance organizational performance, public insitutiins in kenya has shifted a concentiaional to modern practices following the reforms that has been enacted since 2005. This study sought to identify the commonly used supply chain management practices and reforms, and their influence on supply chain performance of ministries in Kenya. The study employed qualitative and quantitative research designs. The study also utilized the opinions of 54 respodents who were selected through census method. The collection of data was based on the primary data sources, speciaficlly questionnnaires. The data from field work was cleaned, coded and analyzed using SPSS 20, and then presented in form of tables and figures. The common supply chain practices applied in Kenyan ministries include use of information technology, partnerships, outsourcing, tendering, distribution and logistics, inventory control, and lean base reduction. Over the past decade, findings indicate the ministries have made a number of reforms that relates to their suply chain systems such as the introduction of e-government, ISO standards, and service delivery charters, among others. The findings agrees with previous studies that supply chain practices and reforms do, though not significantly, effect the supply chain performance in Kenyan ministries.