Analysis Of The Relationship Between Strategic Procurement Techniques And Corporate Performance Of United Millers, Kisumu

ABSTRACT

Manufacturing industry has had challenges which have impaired the effectiveness of its

performance. This makes the supply chain a very prominent concern for all organizations as they

strive for better quality goods and services and thus higher customer satisfaction. Since most

firms have realized that maximizing performance of one department or function may lead to less

than optimal performance for the whole firm, it is now critical for firms to manage the entire

network of supply to optimize overall performance and become competitive in the long run.

Given the increasing importance of the purchasing function to corporate performance, it is vital

for firms to employ a systematic means of deciding which procurement techniques would enable

it attain its corporate goals. However, the department faces myriad of problems which include

high costs involved in maintenance of efficient procurement systems, guaranteeing supplier

confidence and lack of top management support leading to poor supply chain performance. The

purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of strategic procurement techniques on

corporate performance of United Millers. The specific objectives of the study were; to

investigate the effects of cost management on corporate performance; to determine the effect of

information technology on corporate performance; and to ascertain the effect of supplier

relationship on corporate performance. The study was based on resource based view theory.

Correlation was adopted. The study was guided by conceptual framework where independent

variable was strategic procurement techniques and dependent variable was corporate

performance. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires. The target population

of the study included 100 staff drawn from; human resource, finance, procurement, stores and

operation departments of United Millers, of which 10% was sampled for pilot study. A census

survey was adopted for interviews. In testing validity, a pilot study was done while in testing

reliability, the researcher used the test re-test technique of questionnaires outside the actual

sample selected. With a confidence level of 99%, the null hypotheses were rejected at

(sig=0.000, p