The Effects of Mobile Phone Technology on Logistics Performance of Clearing and Forwarding Firms in Mombasa County

Abstract

Mobile phone technology and the use of wireless technologies such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and sensors are becoming ubiquitous in logistics firms performance. From the management of inventory movement within a warehouse to providing real-time status updates, it is becoming a requirement to use mobile phone technology to meet customer service expectations and raise the productivity of the workforce. The studies main objective was to analyze the impact of mobile phone technology on logistics performance in clearing and forwarding companies in Mombasa county. The study adapted a descriptive cross sectional research design which was exploratory in nature to obtain qualitative information. The target population was 535 clearing agents registered in Mombasa County. A questionnaire was the preferred instrument for data collection. The researcher gave out 269 questionnaires and received 180 for analysis representing 67% response rate which was considered adequate. Analysis of data is by the help of SPSS and it brought out the relationship between mobile phone technology and logistics performance. The findings revealed that mobile phone technology variables considered in this study namely flow of information, logistics integration, fleet management system and warehouse and inventory management had a positive relationship with logistics performance. The relationship was significant at 95% confidence (p<0.05) for all the four independent variables. This shows that they are important factors affecting logistics performance albeit at varying degrees. Furthermore, the study found out that mobile phone technology has been adopted to a moderate extent. Also, mobile phone technology impacts logistics performance to a large extent. More importantly, information analysis and warehouse and inventory management were found to have a strong positive correlation with logistics performance while logistics integration and fleet management system had a weak relationship with logistics performance. The study therefore recommends that the firms should increase mobile phone adoption and make use of various fictions on offer in order to gain competitive advantage.