Supply chain management practices and operational performance of multinational manufacturing firms in Kenya

Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between supply chain management practices and operational performance of Multinational Manufacturing Firms in Kenya. The study had two objectives; to identify the supply chain Management practices used by Multinational Manufacturing Firms in Kenya; to establish the relationship between supply chain practices and Operational performance of Multinational Manufacturing Firms in Kenya. The research design adopted a census study survey. The population of the study consisted of 45 Multinational Manufacturing companies in Nairobi. Data was collected using a questionnaire from all the senior procurement officers and their assistants. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and a regression model used to establish the relationship between variables. The response rate was 86.67% which was considered sufficient for making generalizations of the whole population. The study found that most Multinational Manufacturing Companies have adopted supply chain management practices to a great extent which has enhanced service delivery, improved decision making enhanced overall cost reduction and real time delivery of goods and services. The study found that the relationship between supply chain management practices and Operation performance as represented by R2 was 0.6654 translating to 66.54% of the variations in operational performance being explained by the independent variable under study. The study therefore recommends that Multinationals put in place measures to that will ease adoption of supply chain management practices to improve their operational performance. The findings of this study and application thereof are however limited to MNC firms in the manufacturing sector in Kenya only, further research is therefore recommended for all Manufacturing companies across the industry to account for the 33.46% that is not explained by the regression model used for this research.