Factors influencing industrial buyers’ decisions on supplier selection within the plastics industry in Kenya
Abstract
The objective of this study was to establish the factors influencing industrial buyers’
decisions on supplier selection within the Plastic industry in Kenya. The research also
sought to establish the relative importance of these factors to the industrial buyers. The
study adopted descriptive research with the target population being industrial buyers in
the Plastic industry in Kenya. For the purposes of this study, Plastic manufacturing
companies were selected and respondents sampled from these companies The research
sampled 25 plastic companies in Kenya and two respondents from each company were
heads of procurement and technical managers and data was collected using structured
questionnaire. Data was collected and analysed using factor analysis. The results of
the research indicated that industrial buyers are more concerned on the basic attributes
and attach more importance to them. Five attributes were found to be most important
and were valued more important than price. Product quality, supplier reliability, cost
reduction, financial credit terms and few suppliers are the five attributes that industrial
buyers find most important when deciding on supplier of choice. These attributes will
play a great role in influencing the buyers choice of a supplier. The main challenge
facing chemical suppliers is bridging the gap between what they assume to be buyers
needs and want the buyers actually value.
Citation
Master of Business AdministrationPublisher
University of Nairobi