| dc.description.abstract | The study sought to establish the influence of sustainable procurement practices on the
performance of procurement in food and beverages manufacturing firms in Nairobi County,
Kenya. Four specific objectives guided this study, namely: to establish the influence of
reverse logistics, green specification, green inventory management and green tendering on
the performance of procurement in food and beverages manufacturing firms in Nairobi
County. The study was grounded on organization theory, system theory, legitimacy theory
and stakeholder theory. The study used descriptive cross-sectional survey research design to
survey one hundred and eight firms sampled stratifically from two hundred and seventeen
food and beverage manufacturing firms registered members of Kenya Association of
Manufacturers under Nairobi County. Procurement managers were used as the unit of
observation. A structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data. The
questionnaires were self- administered with assistance from the research assistants. The
study used descriptive statistics such as standard deviation, medium and mean to describe
data while multiple regression model was used to test the hypothesised model. The data
analysis was facilitated by Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS) version 20. The
findings were presented on tables and figures. The study revealed that reverse logistics,
green specification, green inventory management and green tendering are practiced across
the manufacturing firms across Nairobi County. Importantly, the study established that the
four sustainable procurement practices (reverse logistics, green specification, green
inventory management and green tendering) significantly positively affect procurement
performance through reduction of cost, clean environment and increased quality of
supplies. Therefore the study concludes that sustainable procurement significantly increase
procurement performance with the ultimate positive impact on firm performance. The
study therefore recommends that manufacturing firms should institutionalise sustainable
procurement practices through formulation and implementing of green procurement
policies and procedures in order to manage their operational costs, comply with
environmental regulatory authority requirements and increase quality of supplies. Secondly,
management should proactively sensitise the general employees on befits of sustainable
practices and specifically in regard to procurement function in order to create green culture
with consequential performance benefits. Further, the government should take a deliberate
step through policy interventions to encourage firms to green their operations as a way of preserving the environment and sustainably manage the natural resources to support future
needs of the populace. Finally, the study recommends that a further study should
incorporate service industry in order to compare and bring out a global view. | en_US |
