Root Cause Analysis in Horticulture Exporting Firms in Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to investigate the application of root cause analysis in the horticulture export industry in Kenya and explore the problem solving techniques used in the industry and hence give recommendations on the areas that were found to have gaps. Also to investigate the extent of awareness levels of and the use of problem solving techniques in the industry .Based on the literature, the paper sought to confirm the variables identified in the theoretical framework; that is the dependent, independent and the moderating variables. A survey comprising of 42 horticultural firms dealing with fresh produce processing was conducted targeting the Operations Managers of those companies. Semi structured questionnaire was used to collect date where questions were asked on a five-point Likert scale. Overall, the study found that brainstorming as the most widely used approach employed by the horticultural firms in solving the identified dayto-day problems being faced in the production process. The findings also show that the other problem solving techniques popularly used by the horticultural firms such as the hypothesis testing, means-ends analysis, lateral thinking, morphological analysis and trial and error method