Supply Chain Management Practices and Performance of Relief Humanitarian Organizations in Kenya

Abstract

This study embraced descriptive plan and mainly grounded on purposes of determining the extent to which supply chain management practices ought to be applied amid relief humanitarian firms in Kenya, secondly to ascertain the affiliation between study variables and SC performance of relief humanitarian organizations in Kenya as well as the challenges which prevent the said firms from fully embracing supply chain practices as part of their daily operations. Due to the minimal no of relief firms in Kenya, the researcher decided to do a census study of all population which was 40 firms. The researcher distributed 40 questionnaires and each firm was issued with one questionnaire to provide the data sought by the researcher. After data collection process was complete, researcher found out that out of the possible 40 respondents, 27 questionnaires was correctly filled and was therefore used for analysis in this study. The study findings was presented by researcher through use of descriptive statistics to enable the beneficiaries easily interpret the findings. This was through use measures of central tendency and dispersion such as frequency tables, means and standard deviations to aid in interpretation and understanding. The discoveries showed practices embraced to a great extent by relief humanitarian firms in Kenya with customer integration, supplier integration and outsourcing respectively being with utmost means hence it was concluded that they need to be fully embraced to realize the benefits of study variables or practices. The outcomes of the study pointed out positive connections between supply chain management practices and supply chain performance hence it was recommended that such firms entrusted with aiding during disaster occurrence should strive further to embrace said practices for their own benefit such as reducing response time, enhancing flexibility and effectiveness as well as remaining competitive in the current turbulent environment. The study further found that relief humanitarian firms face numerous barriers as they try to embrace study variables to moderate extent. The most faced challenge was greater cost of embracement as well as lack of support and assurance from management and board members. The research concluded that relief firms in Kenya need to embrace supply chain management practices and ensure that top management support their strategic plans to ensure sufficient funds are allocated for implementation of SC management practices. There is also need to train and familiarize employees at their respective firms to conceptualize the benefits associated with supply chain management practices.