Influence of procurement best practices on the performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms in Kenya

Abstract

In today’s highly competitive market, the demand for superior goods and services is the single most critical fact for companies to survive in the ever-expanding global marketplace. Procurement best practices are vital in determining the economic success of organizations where they achieve competitive edge and greater market share through extraordinary levels of performance by providing superior products with competitive prices as required by demanding customers. This makes procurement best practices critical to this sector as they strive to continuously improve their processes and products to meet customers’ expectation. The overall objective of this study was to examine the influence of procurement best practices on the performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study aimed to establish how reverse logistics, outsourcing, strategic alliances and vendor managed inventory influence performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms. To achieve this, the researcher reviewed both theoretical and empirical literature and proposed to use the research methodology that addresses the gaps identified in literature as well as answer the stipulated research questions. This research study adopted a descriptive research design approach. The researcher preferred this method because it allowed an in-depth study of the subject. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from the 197 heads of procurement departments because it was a census. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Quantitative data was analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The qualitative data generated was analyzed by use of Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22. The response rate of the study was 77%. The findings of the study indicated that reverse logistics, outsourcing, strategic alliances and vendor managed inventory have a positive relationship with performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms in Kenya. Finally, the study recommended that food and beverage manufacturing firms should embrace procurement best practices so as to improve performance and further researches should to be carried out in other sectors to find out if the same results can be obtained.