dc.description.abstract | Streamlining and controlling inbound transportation is a cost cutting measure and
maintaining competitiveness in pricing and targeted profitability. Inbound
transportation is very essential for business competitiveness and more particularly to
the globalised or internationalised businesses. Firms that have adopted strategic
inbound transportation practices have succeed while others have failed. The
objectives of this study were to determine the strategic inbound transportation
practices used by large scale manufacturing firms in Kenya and to establish the
relationship between strategic inbound transportation management practices and
transportation performance of large scale manufacturing firms. To achieve the
objective of this study, the researcher used a descriptive research design. The
population for this study involved the sampled 46 manufacturing firms that were
concentrated within Nairobi County. The study used both primary and secondary data
sources that were collected using semi-structured questionnaires. Data analysis was
done using a descriptive statistics and a regression model. The researcher managed to
collect 40 questionnaires out of the 46 that were distributed to the respondents. This
represents a response rate of 87% which was considered sufficient for making
generalization on all the large scale manufacturing firms in Nairobi County. The study
concluded that the most widely used strategic inbound transportation practices by
large scale manufacturing firms were carriers and forwarders selection management
practices and freight consolidation and optimization management practices. Strategic
partnership practices, preparation and execution shipment, technology integration
management practices and monitoring and evaluation practices were least used by
large scale manufacturing firms. The regression results concluded that strategic
inbound transportation practices was positively related to transportation performance
of large scale manufacturing firms in Nairobi County. Further, the regression model
was found to be statistically significant in explaining the relationship between
strategic inbound transportation practices and transportation performance of
manufacturing firms in Nairobi County. The study recommends that Kenya
Association of Manufacturers should set policies that encourage and promote
manufacturing firms to effectively adopt and implement strategic inbound practices to
achieve reduced transportation costs, reduced defects, improved efficiency and
reduced lead time. The limitations of this study are that the researcher faced
significant cost and time constraints. The study was limited to a sample of 46 large
scale manufacturing firms that are concentrated within Nairobi County. The findings
obtained herein might not be conclusive. It would have been appropriate if future
researchers consider expanding the scope of this study to include all the large scale
manufacturing firms in Kenya. Then, findings obtained can be compared upon which
more reliable conclusion can be drawn. The study suggests that a comparative study
should be conducted on strategic inbound transportation management practices should
be investigated in another sector other than manufacturing sector that are similar in
terms of size and areas of intervention, findings can be compared upon which reliable
conclusion can be drawn based on concrete facts. | en_US |