Lean Management Practices and Competitive Advantage Among Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Firms in Kenya

Abstract

The study sought to establish the relationship between lean management and competitive advantages for pharmaceutical companies in Kenya. The specific objectives were to establish the extent to which lean management practices are adopted at pharmaceutical companies, to determine the practices relationship of lean management practices and competitive advantages and to identify challenges in Kenya in implementing lean management practices by pharmaceutical companies in Kenya. The study was anchored on three theories including Queuing Theory, The Theory of Constraints and Resource Based View Theory. The study adopted cross sectional descriptive research design. The study employed a census of 32 pharmaceutical firms operating in Nairobi, Kenya. The study adopted questionnaire as data collection instrument. Descriptive statistics were used to present the findings that contain central (mean) and dispersion measurement trends (variance and standard deviation). Tables were used to show the results. From the findings, lean customer practices influenced competitive advantage. It was established that there was positive and significant relationship between the lean customer practices and competitive advantage among pharmaceutical firms in Nairobi. There was also a significant relationship between the lean transportation practices and competitive advantage in pharmaceutical firms. In lean procurement, the roles associated with procurement operations have to be discharged efficiently in order to influence the needed goals on competitiveness. The study recommends that the policy makers in pharmaceutical firms should ensure that in lean customer practices, for it to be improved, there is need to improve first, how the customer needs can be timely established. The management should note that the lean transportation practices can be improved only when the pharmaceutical firms adopt the use of automatic monitoring devices on processes. In lean procurement, the practices can be enhanced when the pharmaceutical firms adopt sound replenishment models to pull consumption for its product, that the pharmaceutical firm gives suppliers feedback on quality and timely delivery and that cost and waste reduction approaches are fully adhered to by the personnel concerned in the firms.