ELECTRONIC PROCUREMENT PRACTICES AND SUPPLY CHAIN PERFORMANCE OF LARGE MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN NAIROBI COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Procurement is an enabler of commercial practices in both developed and developing countries. The effectiveness of the process however determines how beneficial and impactful it turns to the economy. It has been argued that e-procurement serves to enhance the procurement performance in both private and public institutions. However, in Kenya, despite the adoption of e-procurement in most of the manufacturing firms, their supply chain performance still remains poor. It is against this background that the study sought to investigate the influence of e-procurement practices on the supply chain performance in large manufacturing firms in Nairobi. This study sought to examine the influence e-sourcing on performance of the supply chain in large manufacturing firms in Nairobi and to establish the influence of e-payment on performance of the supply chain in large manufacturing firms in Nairobi. The study adopted descriptive research design and the target population comprised of 354 large manufacturing firms in Nairobi. Power analysis was used to identify the sample size of 187 procurement officials from the large manufacturing firms in Nairobi who were picked through simple random sampling. Structured questionnaires were utilized to collect the data which was analysed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings were presented in the form of tables, pie-charts and bar-graphs. The study concludes that e-sourcing has a positive and significant effect on performance of the supply chain in large manufacturing firms in Nairobi, Kenya. The study also concludes that e-payment has a positive and significant effect on performance of the supply chain in large manufacturing firms in Nairobi, Kenya. Based on the findings, this study recommends that the management of manufacturing firms in Nairobi, Kenya should continue embracing e-selection, e-mailing and e-awarding. In addition, the management of manufacturing firms in Nairobi, Kenya should continue embracing e-Bidding, e-tracking and e-contracting.