Information Sharing and Supply Chain Responsiveness of Manufacturing Firms listed at Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya

Abstract

Information has turned out as one of the vital asset that enhances supply chain responsiveness helping an organization to effectively meet customers’ needs. The study sought to determine the effect of information sharing on supply chain responsiveness of listed manufacturing firms at the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Specifically, the study focused on identifying extent of information sharing among manufacturing firms listed at Nairobi Securities Exchange, establishing the relation between information sharing, and supply chain responsiveness of manufacturing firms listed at Nairobi Securities Exchange and establishing the barriers to information sharing among manufacturing firms listed at Nairobi Securities Exchange. The study targeted 9 firms listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange and census was used. The study gathered primary data using questionnaires and the analysis was done with use means, standard deviations and regression analysis. It was established that the extent which firms share information across supply chains is determined by the implementation of information sharing, quality of the information shared, the type of information shared and the technologies used in sharing of this information. It was shown that information sharing has positive and significant effect on supply chain responsiveness. Some of the barriers during information sharing include information leakages and the heavy costs. The study concludes that information sharing has significant effect on supply chain performance of the firm. The study recommends that industry players in the manufacturing sector should work closely to enhance the information quality that is shared by the members in the industry with other suppliers. The key limitation faced in the study was that respondents were busy during the data collection exercise and it was not possible to gather data in a day. To prevail over this limitation, a drop and pick latter method was adopted in distribution of the study items. Assurance was also provided to respondents that information given was only to be used for academic purpose and no one was to be victimized for sharing the information sought