Incorporating Green Purchasing as a Best Practice in Procurement of in-flight Products at Kenya Airways Limited
Abstract
Companies are perceived as important actors in the drive for sustainability. Linked to this, and in
response to increasing demands from various stakeholder groups, companies start to look at their
supply chain to enhance their overall sustainability profile. Two major triggers can be identified:
(1) focal companies are held responsible for environmental and social problems caused by their
suppliers, which become more and more important as (2) an increasing share of value is created
at the supplier level. In response to such demands, companies have to find ways to incorporate
environmental and social aspects into their supply (chain) management. Therefore, environmental
and social standards are integrated into supply management by amending the purchasing
processes. This paper presents an approach to integrate Green Purchasing into supply policy and
supply management at the Kenya Airways limited, a 3-star airline projecting to become world
Class Company and a 7 star airline by 2020.The objectives of the study was to establish the ways
in which Kenya Airways Limited incorporates Green Purchasing as a best practice in
procurement of in-flight Products as well as the challenges being faced in incorporating Green
Purchasing. The findings of this research were geared to establish the "as is" situation for green
purchasing and this was a case study. Focused interviews were conducted with stakeholders who
are the key participant in supplier prequalification and purchase decisions through competitive
bidding process. This was a qualitative research focusing on collecting precise and exact facts
hence data collected was analyzed using content analysis. The results showed there is limited
scope to incorporate green purchasing in purchase decision of core products and even less for
support products. The company has a SHE evaluation policy for its suppliers which are a key step
to environmental considerations in purchasing. Involvement of the Industrial safety team in
supplier pre qualification points to the increased step towards best practices and this is a platform
to advance green purchasing practices into supply chain. The study recommends consideration of
the environment in procurement may include considering the environment from the outset. There
is most scope available early on when defining needs and specifications, and early action is more
likely to be successful. Additionally an array of strategies to institutionalize green purchasing in
Kenya Airways into their procurement practices has been spelt out. At the end of the study are
recommendations for further research in the gray area of green purchasing such as to what extent
purchasers are expected to have environmental competence and expertise to face challenges of
green purchasing and scope of green purchasing for core products and support products.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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