Supply Chain Strategies and Green Logistics Performance at Unilever in Kenya

Abstract

The climate change is being recognized as one of the greatest challenges of this century, carbon emissions, the main contributor to climate change, are increasingly becoming the centre of attention and also in supply chains. Due to growing public awareness, consumers are increasingly including environmental criteria in their purchasing trends. The purpose of the study was to analyze the effects of supply chain strategies and green logistics performance at Unilever in Kenya. For this study, the target population was employees of Unilever Kenya, which is a global organization, with branches worldwide with one of the branches in Kenya along Commercial Street in industrial area. The study used 62 employees as a sample case that consisted of personnel who were logistics managers, transportation managers, and procurement officers or their equivalents at Unilever in Kenya.

To achieve the research objectives, both primary and secondary data was used. Primary data was collected through a questionnaire and interviews. Secondary data was obtained through documents review that is procurement manuals, newsletters and magazines. Qualitative data was analyzed through regression analysis, mean and standard deviation. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Data collected was analyzed by use of correlation and regression analyses.Further, it was established that Unilever has a good Information, Communication and Technology (lCT) framework though it needs to improve on some aspects including coordination of technology with customers and efficiency in information quality. Communication was rated average, with timeliness of communication on change and development of integrated communications plan being specific areas that need immediate attention. Further, it was found that the organizational culture at Unilever was supportive only to a moderate extent towards the adoption of green supply chain strategies. The study recommended that Unilever should improve its communications by strengthening timeliness of communications on change and building an integrated communications plan. The company should re-engineer its corporate culture.