Electronic Procurement Adoption: the Case of Kenya Ports Authority

Abstract

The supply chain of any organization is a vital component of the whole business cycle. The maritime sector and KPA in particular is not an exception to this regard. This sector offers employment both directly and indirectly to a vast majority of residents in the entire eastern and central African region. The increasing significance of technology in the supply chain is of paramount importance to the performance of any organization. The overall objective of the study was to determine the factors that influenced the adoption of e-procurement at KPA and its associated benefits and challenges. This study was guided by various theoretical reviews. This was a case study research. The study had a total population of 94 procurement personnel at KPA. The study used primary data which was collected using questionnaires and interview guide. Descriptive and factor analysis was used to analyze the quantitative data while content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. The study found out that value for money and reduction of corruption and corrupt practices as among the driving factors for e-procurement adoption at KPA. The benefits include enhanced transactional speed, overall process cost reduction, shorter procurement cycle times, ease of process monitoring and audit as among the benefits while the sharing of passwords among suppliers and their resistance to learn and embrace new technology as among the greatest challenges. In light of the findings, the study recommends that since KPA has successfully adopted eprocurement, there is need to focus on web security issues, web uptime tracking and supplier (external users) password control measures as these seem to be the major challenges prohibiting the organization from fully achieving its goals. E-procurement adoption at KPA has enabled the organization to redesign and improve business work processes radically but there is still need for initiatives that emphasize incremental improvement in the whole e-procurement process and output to cope with changes in the ever changing business environment.