Global Sourcing Practices in Five Star Hotels in Nairobi County, Kenya.

Abstract

The aim of the project was to find out the global sourcing practices in five star hotels in Nairobi County. Global sourcing is the procurement of products and services from global suppliers for local consumption. This practice has been growing gradually over the years and now more and more of organizations are practicing global sourcing. The study focused on five star hotels in Nairobi County which are eight in number and two respondents from the six hotels that accepted to participate. The research employed a descriptive design and used a semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect relevant data. Data collected was qualitative in nature, which was then analyzed through content analysis and presented using tables and percentages. Content analysis was chosen for this particular study because it helps one understand the big picture and the data is used to describe the phenomenon and what it implies. The research purpose was to unearth the different practices Nairobi hotels practice in respect to global sourcing and what challenges they face will globally sourcing. Data was labeled and coded so that similarities and differences can be identified and interpreted. The study revealed that the hotel industry practice three global sourcing strategies, being global outsourcing, contract manufacturing and international purchasing. Some of the challenges faced included the non-stability of the foreign exchange, inflation, the time it takes before shipments are received among others. The study recommends that hotels should enlighten themselves more on how they can optimize the most from global sourcing, this will eventually help in dealing with some of the challenges they face. The study concluded that Kenyan hotels are on the right path with regard to sourcing globally they however need to find better way of dealing with the challenges at hand. It also recommends that the government should look at the duty charges and pre-shipment conductions so that they can be more conducive for the participating hotels.