Information Systems And Supply Chain Integration In Manufacturing Industry In Kenya

Abstract

Manufacturing firms as a long-time leading in competitive edge in business. Manufacturing industry have realized the importance of SC integration through the use of IT which as enable them achieve value of the firm by reducing cost and maximize profit. The benefits however lie wide within integration circles that can allow expertise in SCM of manufacturing companies to interlink supply chain integration and the TI application according to Chrisopher and Towill (2000). There has been massive adoption of information systems by Kenyan manufacturing firms in a bid to achieve delivering just-in-time insights, standardization and seamless innovation for implementing new age solutions. The study’s general objective was to find out the effect of information systems on supply chain integration by large manufacturing firms in Nairobi, Kenya. The study’s specific objectives were; to establish the extent to which information systems has been adopted by large manufacturing firms in Nairobi, Kenya and to determine the effect of information systems on supply chain integration by large manufacturing firms in Nairobi, Kenya. This study was informed by the technology acceptance model and the resource based view. The study used the descriptive research design. The target population was the 230 large manufacturing firms in Nairobi County, Kenya upon which 70 were sampled. Primary data was collected from the respondents by use of self-administered structured questionnaires containing closed ended questions. The collected data was edited and coded and fed into the SPSS computer package version 23 to generate both descriptive and inferential statistics. The inferential statistics was undertaken by performing a regression analysis on the dependent variable (supply chain integration) and the independent variables (Electronic Data Interchange, Radio Frequency Identification Systems, Enterprise resource Planning, E-Procurement). The study found p values of 0.000 and 0.002 at 95% level of confidence on the relationship between information systems and supplier integration and information systems and customer integration respectively. This shows that the model adopted for this study was significant and that information systems statistically significant influence on supply chain integration by large manufacturing firms. It was concluded from the study that the firm had adopted to a large extent information systems including electronic data interchange and enterprise resource planning while they were yet to fully adopt others such as RFDI and E-procurement. The research recommends that the manufacturing firms should focus on improving their processes and linkages within the supply chain network through adoption of information systems. The companies should also put in place the precautions that come with adoption of information systems such as cyber crimes to avoid loss of fundamental information or business secrets