Is there a Link between Supply Chain Strategies and Performance of Large-Scale Manufacturing Firms in Kenya?

Abstract

Both supply chain strategies and supply chain performance are evolving areas of research. Most research findings on the relationship between supply chain strategies and supply chain performance have been contradicting but no attempt to clear the contradictions. The purpose of this paper is to establish the relationship between supply chain strategies and supply chain performance outcome among largescale manufacturing firms in Kenya. This was at firm level as the unit of analysis, using the Resource Based View theoretical un derpinning.   

A sample of one hundred and thirty eight (138) firms was drawn using proportionate sampling from a total population of six hundred and twenty seven (627) large scale manufacturing firms in Kenya. The response rate was seventy five percent. Descriptive statistics, reliability and validity tests of the constructs, correlation analysis, factor analysis and regression analysis models were used to test the hypotheses. Preliminary tests employed Kaiser Mayer-Olkim (KMO) and Barlett’s test. The study’s KMO measure is 0.849, a value indicating sampling adequacy as the Barlett’s test of sphericity is significant with its associated probability is less than 0.00. The findings indicated that there is a strong and significant relationship between supply chain strategy and the firm’s supply chain performance, where supply chain strategies alone are able to explain 51.3 percent of variance in the firm’s supply chain performance. The study suggested on future research considerations for additional variables, external validity and qualitative research approach aimed at extending the research.