Supply Chain Information Sharing and Performance of Commercial Banks in Kenya

Abstract

SCIS is critical in attaining optimal performance through proper planning and coordination as well as timely and accurate decision making. It informs organizations of market needs for example demand, and their role in meeting those needs. To achieve the objectives of the study, collection of primary data was through selfadministered semi structured questionnaires focusing on general information, factors affecting SCIS of commercial banks and on the influence of SCIS on the Kenyan commercial banks’ operational performance. The study population entailed 40 Kenyan commercial banks and the respondents were: heads of procurement and finance, as well as head of operations. Frequency tables, mean & standard deviation were used for the first two objectives with regression analysis applied for the third. To reduce the variables into a manageable number and to establish the impact of the various SCIS factors on performance, factor analysis was employed and a regression model. The results found that integrated IT, collaboration, commitment and trust were utilized to a great extent by commercial banks. However, top management support practices were utilized to a moderate extent. The factors that highly influenced SCIS included, integrated information, collaboration and SRM. The outcome of the regression revealed that the coefficient of determination (R2), 59.7 was an effective predictor. The model of regression was found to be significant, integrated IT, SRM, trust, top management support and commitment were positively linked to bank performance. But collaboration was negatively linked to bank performance. The research recommends that commercial banks should fully support their SC partners by engaging them in decisions and issuing incentives to encourage them to effectively participate in supply chain roles. The study recommends more priority by TMS through full support to their supply chain partners in terms of resources, involvement in key decisions, information sharing and incentives. This will boost their relationship with the supply chain partners and improve efficiency and effectiveness in the delivery of goods and services. The study recommends that need for commercial banks to allocate adequate finances to invest in integrated supply chain information sharing systems. This will boost efficiency in information sharing and connectivity among the supply chain partners resulting to reduced lead time, stock-out cost and timely delivery. Experimental or simulations researches are recommended to ascertain if the findings will hold. In future, scholars interested in this line of research can build on this study and establish the contribution of SCIS using different approaches for validation purposes, more specifically, validating the guidelines for information sharing will enable the researchers to develop strategies to share information.