Transportation management as a supply chain driver and performance of large manufacturing firms in Kenya

Esther Njeri  Muiruri; Noor Ismail Shale; Anthony Osoro

doi:10.51867/ajernet.6.3.26

Autores

Esther Njeri Muiruri Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Kenya
Noor Ismail Shale Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Kenya
Anthony Osoro Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Kenya

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51867/ajernet.6.3.26

Palavras-chave:

Firm Performance, Large Manufacturing Firms, Supply Chain Drivers, Transportation Management

Resumo

The manufacturing sector in Kenya stands to be at the centre of economic growth and development owing to its role in job creation and value addition. Despite its promising potential, the sector has over the past five years faced stagnation and overall decline in performance, as a result of accelerating disruptions in the operating environment such as sky rocketing costs of production, political instability, increased competition, unpredictable policy frameworks among others. Available evidence shows that one of the major supportive aspects that could enable modern businesses particularly manufacturing firms to be more resilient and competitive amid the disruptions is transportation management, which helps streamline the logistics processes for cost-efficiency, timely deliveries, and customer satisfaction. However, there remains scant evidence on embrace of transportation management as a supply chain driver in large manufacturing firms in Kenya, hence the motivation of this study. The study was anchored on Transaction Cost Economics theory, which upholds the essence of streamlining processes like transportation to minimize on costs and maximize on value. Using a cross-sectional research design, the study targeted supply chain managers drawn from 553 large manufacturing firms in Kenya. Using Slovin’s sampling formula, a total of 233 respondents were sampled. A questionnaire was used to collect primary data, which was analyzed using quantitative and qualitative techniques. The findings revealed that transportation management had not been effectively embraced among most of the surveyed large manufacturing firms in Kenya. It was also uncovered that the large manufacturing firms recorded declining and unstable performance for the period under review. The downward trend in performance was strongly correlated with low embrace of transportation management, implying that transportation management significantly influenced performance of large manufacturing firms. This raises the need for supply chain managers in large manufacturing firms in Kenya to uphold effective transportation management to strengthen and streamline the flow of goods across the supply chain network for enhanced performance.

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