Supply chain integration and supply chain performance of International Humanitarian Organisations in Kenya

Abstract

This study was conducted to establish the relationship between S.C integration and S.C. performance among international Humanitarian organisations in Kenya. The objective of the study was to establish S.C. integration and S.C performance of international humanitarian organizations in Kenya. The research design adopted was a census survey. The population of study will comprise seventeen (17) international Humanitarian organizations operating in Kenya. The study used primary data which was collected through self-administered structured questionnaires. The data was analysed and presented using mean and percentages. Correlation was undertaken to establish the relationship of the variables.The study established that the humanitarian organizations in Kenya have integrated their S.C and this has helped the organizations to focus on their core competencies and particular areas of expertise, reducing cost and becoming more efficient. The study established that information sharing resulted in reduced lead-time in the organization, improving S.C. performance and easy order processing. Integration resulted in increased efficiency, leading to the use of KPIs to measure performance. Integration of the S.C is affected by poor infrastructure, high staff turnover in the field, inability to anticipate disaster, transportation of bulky materials, lack of resources due to earmarking of funds, acquisition cost of an ERP and uncertainty in terms of demand, supplies and assessment. The correlation analysis findings were that the performance of the humanitarian organizations was affected by sharing of information, faster decision making, supplier relationship management and efficiency in supply. The study accurately collaborates the findings by (Sweeney, 2005) that, given the pivotal role of the integration paradigm within SCM, any meaningful innovation in this area must focus heavily on this issue.Further research on the same study can be done in the Great lakes region (countries) to establish whether S.C. integration is able to yield the same effect on supply chain performance of Humanitarian Organisations.It would be prudent for other researchers to explore the remaining 47.93% of the changes in theY, which need to be explained by other factors not found in the regression model used in this research.