Influence of Supplier Training on Performance of Sugarcane Enterprises in Kenya

Abstract

Manufacturing firms are increasingly using supplier development to address gaps in their supply base aimed at improving their performance. There has been a decline in sugarcane yield in Kenya yet, the demand for sugar has been increasing steadily over time. Drawing on the supplier training aspect of supplier development strategy, the study objective was to establish how supplier training impacts on performance improvement of sugarcane enterprises in Kenya. The study hypothesis was that there is a significant positive relationship between supplier training and the performance of sugarcane enterprises in Kenya. The study was premised on a descriptive research design and a sample size of 400 drawn from a population of 250,000 active farmers was used. A pre-testof 10% was done to check on the reliability and validity of the data collection instrument. 400 questionnaires were issued out and 293 were returned, achieving a 73.25% return rate. The results of simple linear regression show an r= .347, p value=0.000. It was inferred that there was a significant and positive correlation between supplier training and the performance of sugarcane enterprises in Kenya. Similarly, the result shows an R2 value of .121 implying that 12.1% in variation of performance of sugarcane enterprises in Kenya was accounted for by supplier training. The regression result β= 0.203, t value of 6.253. The results show that if the rest of the variables in the model were controlled, the sugarcane yield would be 2.415 units. The research hypothesis was supported and the study concluded that supplier training had a positive influence on sugarcane enterprises in Kenya. The study recommends that sugar millers should establish demonstration plots to train farmers in modern sugarcane farming; developa policy that would facilitate the signing of contracts with farmers to facilitate material support to farmers and address the issues of technical inefficiencies in sugarcane farming in Kenya. Further studies are recommended to gain insights explore where sugarcane is grown under the contract regime as compared to sugarcane grown under the liberalized settings to provide empirical evidence on the constraints arising from the technical allocative inefficiencies that embed full exploitation of supplier development strategy in sugarcane farming in Kenya