Abstract:
In today’s world, procurement performance in private sugar firms is one of the emerging issue of concern. Sugar firms are still hurtling down on cost even when the effects are detrimental to the product’s quality. In some scenarios, the quality dimension gets altered to save cost, and the management holds high optimism hoping the quality risk does not get discovered. The main objective of the study was to establish the effect of supplier relationship management practices on procurement performance of private sugar firms in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were; to determine the effect of information sharing on procurement performance, to examine the effect of supplier training on procurement performance, to determine the effect of contact management on procurement performance and to establish the effect of strategic alliance on procurement performance of private sugar processing firms in Kenya. The study was guided by; information theory, the Principal Agent theory and stakeholders’ theory. Positivism research philosophy was used. The study adopted descriptive research design. The target population of the study was 50 respondents from ten private sugar manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study employed census sampling. Questionnaires were used to collect primary data. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics that involved multiple linear regressions. Results with an R2 0.629 showed that information sharing, supplier training, contract management and strategic alliance explained 62.9% of variations in the procurement performance of private sugar firms in Kenya. Regression coefficients of 0.046, 0.176, 0.217 and 0.354 for information sharing, supplier training, contract management and strategic alliance respectively indicated that embracing supplier
management practices improved procurement performance. Therefore, the study recommends embracing of supplier management practices for private sugar firms for the sake of improving procurement performance. The study findings may helpful to management of sugar firms, government and other stakeholders in understanding the best practices to adopt in order to realize excellent supplier relationship that will in turn enhance performance. Further, the study adds to the existing body of knowledge by establishing effect of supplier relationship management practices on procurement performance from the perspective of sugar firms.
