Impact of lean supply chain management strategies on the performance of commercial banks in Kenya

Abstract

The principle of Lean is to eliminate the waste from the system. The purpose of this study was to explore Lean Supply Chain Management strategies on the performance of Commercial bank in Kenya. The study had two objectives to achieve: to find out the lean strategies adopted by commercial Banks in Kenya and to determine the impact of lean supply chain management strategies on performance of commercial Banks in Kenya. The research design involved a cross sectional survey of all commercial banks in Kenya. Data was collected using a questionnaire that was administered through drop and pick later method. A census was employed in the stud where the target population for this study included all the 43 Commercial Banks operating in Kenya. One employee was selected from the procurement and operations department of each of the 43 Commercial Banks in Kenya. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires with both close-ended and open-ended questions. The respondents of the study were selected from the supply chain department team of the 43 Commercial Banks in Kenya. Questionnaires were used as instruments of data collection. Secondary data was gathered from library material, bank journals and reports, media publications and various Internet search engines covering the business process management of Commercial Banks in Kenya. The data collected in the research was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency distributions, percentages and frequency tables were used to summarize and relate variables. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to determine the joint relationship between independent and dependent. The findings were presented in tables. The study established that lean supply chain management strategies were not common among commercial banks in Kenya due to internal and external challenges. The study concludes that most commercial banks in Kenya have been embracing lean supply chain management strategies despite the challenges experienced form the internal and external environment. Lean supply chain management strategies have assisted the commercial banks to enhance the performance form the financial and non-financial perspective. The study recommends that top level management to make customer relations a culture of the organization by training new and existing employees, management to integrate ICT in customer service delivery, management should invest in modern models of analyzing demand and supply trends in order to overcome the challenge of overwhelming demand and commercial banks should strive and maintain long term relationships for quality of products and services. It was such an uphill task for the researcher to convince the respondents to participate in the study. Commercial banks are known to work under very strict confidentiality in order to secure any unauthorized access to information. Most of the respondents agreed to participate on condition that the information will not be divulged to any other party other than for academic purposes only. Future studies should explore the reasons behind the Challenges of lean supply chain management strategies applied by commercial banks in Kenya. Factors Affecting the Implementation of lean supply chain management Strategies among commercial banks should be investigated. Researchers should go ahead and establish the reasons behind the failure of lean supply chain management strategy implementation hence establish long term solutions. Future studies will minimize the challenges experienced during lean supply chain management strategy implementation. Future studies should try to investigate the relationship between lean strategies and performance of commercial banks in Kenya.