Examining the Relationship between Lean Supplier Relationship Management (LSRM) and Firm Performance: A Study on Manufacturing Companies in Ghana

Abstract

The main purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between Lean Supplier Relationship Management (LSRM) practices and the performance of manufacturing companies in Ghana. A close-ended questionnaire was used to collect the data for our analysis. A total of 200 questionnaires were returned and used for further analysis. IBM SPSS 25 and IBM AMOS 24 software were used to analyze the survey data. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) approach was used to examine the relationship between the latent and manifest constructs. The structural results revealed positive significant effects of Supplier Flexibility (SF), Supply Partnership (SP), and Just-In-Time Delivery (JD) on performance of manufacturing companies in Ghana. The result analysis further indicated that JD has the highest positive effect on performance with an estimated path coefficient of 0.68. The result also revealed the non-significant effect of Knowledge Sharing (KS) on performance of manufacturing companies in Ghana. The study seeks to add up to the already exiting literature on lean supply chain management and lean supplier relationship management on performance of manufacturing companies in Ghana. This research framework can be adopted by manufacturing companies in determining the implementation level of LSRM practices in their business processes. The study was conducted on cross-sectional basis and the results were based on quantitative analyze alone. Future research may use both quantitative and qualitative approaches. More studies can be done on the LSRM variables and their effect on manufacturing companies. Future studies can be conducted in other sectors, such as Human Resource sector, Warehouse sector and Transportation sector and their impact on firm performance as this study was limited to LSRM practices.