Supply Chain Integration and Sustainable Competitive Advantage of Humanitarian Organizations in Kenya

Abstract

The current business setting is a competitive one and thus forces firms to focus more on delivery of value to customers like never before. As a result of the said competitiveness, several changes need to be implemented. One of the ways through which the entities may achieve competitiveness is by integrating their supply chains. Production of valuable products makes supply chains more responsive thus improving their competitiveness. The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of Supply Chain Integration on Sustainable Competitive Advantage of Humanitarian Organizations in Kenya. The objectives were to find out the extent to which supply chain integration is implemented by humanitarian organizations in Kenya and to establish how Supply Chain Integration and Sustainable Competitive Advantage of Humanitarian Organizations relate. Descriptive research design was adopted. A study population of 41 licensed Humanitarian Organization in Kenya was used. The paper used primary data that was acquired using questionnaires (administered via electronic mails). Descriptive statistics was used to examine the adoption level of Supply Chain Integration by Kenyan Humanitarian Organizations. Regression analysis was utilized to establish the relationship between Supply Chain Integration and Sustainable Competitive Advantage of Humanitarian Organizations. The study findings indicated that Supplier integration, client integration and internal integration were all largely adopted. Further, the study established that supplier integration influenced sustainable competitive advantage of Humanitarian organizations in Kenya. Customer integration was found to influence sustainable competitive advantage of Humanitarian organizations in Kenya. Lastly, internal Integration was also found to impact sustainable competitive advantage of Humanitarian organizations in Kenya. Specifically, supply chain integration were established to influence cost, timeliness, quality, service delivery and flexibility of Kenyan Humanitarian Organizations. It is recommended that Supplier Integration, client integration and internal integration be largely adopted by the Humanitarian Organizations as they have been established to influence Sustainable Competitive Advantage of Kenyan Humanitarian Organizations. Forthcoming studies may focus on integrating supply chain and performance or responsiveness of Kenyan Humanitarian organizations.