scholarly journals Moderating Effect of Environmental Uncertainties on the Relationship between Risk Hedging Supply Chain Strategy and Performance of Manufacturing Firms in Kenya

Author(s):  
Karani Anthony Muriithi ◽  
Odari Sammy ◽  
Noor Shalle

The manufacturing sector in Kenya is faced by the challenges of performance and unstructured supply chain strategy. Further, the manufacturing sector growth in 2014 was 3.4% compared to a 5.6% growth in 2013 (Waiguru, 2015). This slow growth in manufacturing sector performance can be attributed to several environmental uncertainties such as the general election, high production costs, supply disruptions, political stability, unavailability of raw materials or demand fluctuations, technological changes, employees’ strikes, financial risk, terrorism and competition from imported goods (KNBS, 2018).The purpose of the study was to determine the moderating effect of environmental uncertainties on the relationship between risk hedging supply chain strategy and performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study utilized descriptive research design. The target population was 829 managers from manufacturing firms around the country. A sample of 270 managers was selected using stratified random sampling. Results indicated that risk hedging supply chain strategy explained 63.8% of the total variations in performance of manufacturing firms. In addition, risk hedging supply chain strategy had a positive and significant effect on firm performance (β=0.675, P < .000). With introduction of moderating variable (environmental uncertainties); risk hedging supply chain strategy explained 34% of the total variations in performance of manufacturing firms. This denoted those environmental uncertainties had a negative moderating effect on the relationship between risk hedging supply chain strategy and performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study concluded that risk hedging supply chain strategy had a positive and statistically significant effect on performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study further concluded that environmental uncertainties lower the effect of risk hedging supply chain strategy on firm performance. The study recommends that manufacturing firms should strengthen aspects related to risk hedging supply chain strategy. The firms should particularly strengthen safety stock, suppliers’ management and quality. The improvement of these aspects is expected to enhance performance of the manufacturing firms. This study further recommends that manufacturing firms should factor in environmental uncertainties related to demand, supply and technology when implementing supply chain strategies.

Author(s):  
Anthony Muriithi Karani ◽  
Sammy Odari Namusonge ◽  
Ishmail Noor Shalle

The purpose of the study was to determine the moderating effect of environmental uncertainties on the relationship between lean supply chain strategy and the performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study utilized a descriptive research design. The target population was 829 supply chain managers or directors from manufacturing firms around the country. A sample of 270 supply chain or procurement managers was selected using stratified random sampling. Results indicated that lean supply chain strategy explained 60.7% of the total variations in the performance of manufacturing firms. In addition, lean supply chain strategy had a positive and significant effect on the performance of manufacturing firms. With the introduction of moderating variables (environmental uncertainties); lean supply chain strategy explained 33% of the total variations in the performance of manufacturing firms. This denoted those environmental uncertainties had a negative moderating effect on the relationship between lean supply chain strategy and performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya. The study concluded that lean supply chain strategy had a positive and statistically significant effect on the performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 21
Author(s):  
Alexander Irungu Wanjiru ◽  
Stephen Makau Muathe ◽  
Jane W. Kinyua-Njuguna

Theoretical literature in strategic management describes performance as outcome of firm’s strategic objectives, which are developed and executed at the corporate level of management. Conceptual propositions also suggest that the external operating environment of a firm influences the relationship between its corporate strategies and performance. This paper examines the direct effect of corporate growth strategies on performance of large manufacturing firms in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The strategies under study are market development, product development and diversification. The paper also examines the moderating effect of external operating environment on the relationship between corporate growth strategies and performance of the large manufacturing firms. The authors adopted indicators of competitive position, consumer behaviour and credit accessibility to measure external operating environment.Multistage probability sampling technique was used to select study sample of 189 firms. One hundred forty eight firms responded where primary data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study findings indicate that corporate growth strategies have a positive and significant impact on a firm’s performance. It also found out that external operating environment has a moderating effect on the relationship between corporate growth strategies and firm performance. The study has important implications for managers and policy makers of the manufacturing firms.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel-Alejandro Ibarra-Cisneros ◽  
María del Rosario Demuner-Flores ◽  
Felipe Hernández-Perlines

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to study the moderating effect of absorptive capacity, defined as the set of organizational routines and processes through which companies acquire, assimilate, transform and exploit knowledge to produce a dynamic organizational capacity (Zahra and George, 2002), in three strategic orientations: market orientation; technology orientation and entrepreneurial orientation and their positive relationship in the performance of the medium and large Mexican manufacturing firms. Likewise, it is determined whether these three combined SOs influence firm performance.Design/methodology/approachThe data was collected from 171 medium and large-sized Mexican manufacturing firms. The proposed hypotheses are tested using partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).FindingsDespite the importance of knowledge for the development of firms, the results indicate that the moderating effect of absorptive capacity is only present in the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and firm performance. That is, firms cannot take advantage of knowledge simultaneously between the three strategic orientations. For their part, market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation exert a positive influence on firm performance.Practical implicationsThe main practical implication for the manufacturing industry is that they must develop mechanisms to detect what kind of knowledge affects each strategic orientation, in this way it can make the absorptive capacity influence the relationships between SO and FP.Originality/valueThe main contribution consists of studying the moderating effect of the absorptive capacity on the relationship between three strategic orientations and firm performance, and not concentrating solely on the simultaneous use of these strategies as is commonly done.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 61-73
Author(s):  
Thi Thanh Binh Dao ◽  
Thi Kim Anh Tran

Corporate governance is one of the most vital issues in this compound environment at present, which is indicated by the fact that the success or failure of firms strongly depends on performance of the control that board of directors and executive board, take on corporations’ activities. This issue has attracted a variety of researches worldwide, and become a popular buzz lately, however there is still limited researches on this topic in Vietnam. In this paper, we focus on manufacturing sector, one of the most important industries in Vietnam economy, which account for 41.2% of total GDP in 2012. By using stakeholder theory and Kitamura’s paper as a corner stone, a model using OLS regression and log functional form for production function, showing the relationship between some external factors and internal factors including corporate governance is built. From the result of the research, it has been found out that internal factors (corporate governance) significantly affect the firm’s performance, whereas external factors (market share) do not really show any influence. In term of production function, this manufacturing sector still benefits from an increase of capital but not that of labor.


2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 821-844 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yasmine Sabri

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop exploratory propositions and a conceptual framework on the interaction between organisational structure (decision-making centralisation and internal coordination) and the relationship between supply chain fit and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach Through a case study, two corporate groups with distinctive organisational structures were examined; both are undergoing a critical moment of changes to their top management and are reshaping their corporate and supply chain strategies. Data on decision-making centralisation, internal coordination mechanisms, supply, demand and innovation uncertainties, and supply chain strategies were collected from key respondents. Findings The analysis conducted suggests the need to consider the joint interaction between organisational structure and supply chain fit in offsetting the implications of a potential misfit on firm performance. Furthermore, the context sensitivity of a supply chain is often overlooked, hence simply modifying supply chain strategy does not necessarily lead to a variation in firm performance. Practical implications This research is of particular importance to most organisations in the testing times of uncertainty in the global landscape. It guides supply chain practitioners to better understand which elements of the organisational structure interact with the uncertainty of supply, demand and innovation. Originality/value This paper is one of the first to investigate the interaction between elements of organisational structure and supply chain fit and identify decision-making centralisation and coordination as the internal uncertainty factors that are most relevant to supply chain fit research. A conceptual framework has been built for future testing, in which the organisational structure moderates the relationship between supply chain fit and firm performance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 617-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luiz Fernando de Paris Caldas ◽  
Fabio de Oliveira Paula ◽  
T. Diana L. van Aduard de Macedo-Soares

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze to what extent spending on innovation activities and collaboration at the industry level affects the relationship between firm innovation and performance. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual model was proposed and empirically tested using multiple linear regression. The data were obtained from the Community Innovation Survey 2012, composing a sample of 890 Italian manufacturing firms. Findings The results provided full support for the positive moderating effect of intra-industry innovation spending and partial support for the positive moderating effect of intra-industry collaboration, both regarding the relationship between firm innovation spending and performance. Knowledge spillovers derived from intra-industry innovation spending and intra-industry collaboration affect firm performance. While this finding corroborates other studies that have found that the intra-industry R&D spending influences firms’ innovation and performance, it also contributes to improve the understanding about the complementarity of internal innovation activities and knowledge spillovers. Originality/value This study contributes to theory by filling a gap concerning the complementarity of internal innovation activities and the effect of knowledge spillovers to improve firm performance. Our findings suggested that intra-industry openness to collaboration and innovation spending, as proxies of knowledge spillovers, plays an important role in complementing firm level innovative efforts, even in the case of firms that spend less on innovation and have a lower degree of collaboration. This is especially relevant for small and medium enterprises, which can take advantage of access to the necessary information to overcome their internal resource constraints for R&D and innovation. The originality of these findings adds value in terms of furthering the understanding of this phenomenon.


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