Quality Management Practices and Financial Performance of Cement Manufacturing Firms in Kenya

Abstract

The study was set to establish the quality management practices adopted by cement manufacturing firm in Kenya and financial performance of the same. The study used a cross sectional research design since it focused on quality management practices and performance of the cement manufacturing firms in Kenya. The production managers and finance managers interviewed in all the six cement manufacturing firms were 76 total. The study used both primary and secondary data sources since the nature of the data was quantitative and qualitative. The respondents chosen for this study were the operation managers, quality managers and finance managers of all the six cement manufacturing firms. The questionnaire was administered through a drop and pick later method at an agreed time with the researcher. Secondary data was sourced from the Kenya Association of manufacturers and audited annual financial statements. A regression model was used for establishing the relationship between quality management practices and financial performance of cement manufacturing firms in Kenya. The model adopted consisted of six variables: The independent variables were quality management practices while the dependent variable is financial performance of cement manufacturing firms in Kenya. The findings revealed that most cement manufacturing firms that implemented quality management practices recorded high sales turnover leading to organizational performance. The study also recommends that cement manufacturing firms in Kenya should benchmark themselves with the best performing firms globally in order to find out the quality management practices that the firms use in enhancing competitiveness. Future researchers and academicians should research on the effect of quality management practices in another sector for example the banking industry or the insurance industry then findings and conclusions can be drawn based on concrete facts.