EFFECTS OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF FLOUR FACTORIES IN GURAGE ZONE

Abstract

This study was conducted with an objective of investigating the effect of supply chain management practices on operational performance of flour factories in Gurage zone. The researcher used a quantitative approach and descriptive and explanatory research design to achieve the objective of the study. The study also used primary data source and the data collection instrument was structured close ended survey questionnaires using the five-point Likert scale adopted from previous studies. The target population was 200 respondents. Using census method 199 questionnaires were filled and returned for the analysis. The researcher used the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) tool in order to find the results of descriptive and inferential statistics analysis. Some studies on only few components of SCM were taken as independent variable to study the effect of SCM on operational performance. This study therefore targeted to fill this gap by studying the effect of five major components of SCM on operational performance. The result of this finding indicated that the four predictors (Strategic supplier partnership, Level of information sharing, Customer relationship Management, and Outsourcing of Services) have significant and positive coefficient of Beta values indicating that they have positive effect on operational performance under the study. While Logistics process responsiveness has insignificant alpha value, which indicated that it has insignificant effect on operational performance under the study. Therefore, it is recommended that in order to achieve growth in operational performance, it is frugal for the organization to give appropriate emphasis to the constructs of supply chain management practices.