Supply Chain Mapping and Performance of Food and Beverage Manufacturing Firms in Kenya

Abstract

Kenyan manufacturing firms have been experiencing challenges in terms of operational plannings, which has greatly affected production capacity and performance. Among the strategies of improving performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms is adoption of supply chain mapping. The integration of supply chain mapping is considered a significant contributor in enhancing performance in food and beverage manufacturing firms thereby helping such firms to achieve a competitive advantage through supplier collaboration, lead-time management, customer order management, supply chain visibility and supply chain technology for a greater products market share occasioned by high quality products offered at competitive rates even during market disruptions. The study therefore sought to focus on evaluating the influence of supply chain mapping and the performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study was guided by specific objectives with variables namely; supplier collaboration, lead-time management, customer order management, supply chain visibility, supply chain technology and performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms. The study also established a moderating variable of supply chain technology on performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study adopted a cross sectional survey using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. According to the Kenyan Association of Manufacturers (KAM, 2022) there are 270 food and beverage manufacturing firms registered in Kenya. The research population was 270 food and beverage manufacturing firms in Kenya. Census method of data collection was used for the research that involved use of questionnaires. A five Likert scale questionnaire was administered to senior level management staff with the knowledge of supply chain operation functions. Both descriptive and inferential analysis was undertaken using SPSS version 26 and structural equation modelling R-Lavaan 0.6 – 15. A regression coefficient analysis as alternate model was also used to find out the influence of supply chain mapping strategies on the performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms. The reliability results obtained revealed that all the study variables had a Cronbach’s Alpha value above 0.7, thus signifying adequate convergence and internal consistency. The study concludes that all the supply chain mapping strategies positively influence performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms. All the variables had values above 0.5 (≥0.500) through principal component analysis. However, supply chain visibility had a higher acceptable assessment of .950 while supplier collaboration, lead-time management, customer order management and supply chain technology had acceptable values of .934, .916, .910 and .609 respectively. The study recommends that food and beverage manufacturing firms should embrace supply chain visibility, supplier collaboration and lead-time management as core supply chain mapping strategies with supply chain technology highlighting the naunced nature of the relationship. However, achieving top performance by food and beverage manufacturing firms depends on how a firm influence her supply chain mapping strategies.