Logistics Management Practices and Performance of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Firms in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Abstract

The study sought out to determine the influence of logistics management on the performance of pharmaceutical manufacturing firms in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The objectives included to determine the influence of logistics management practices, logistics planning, inventory management, warehouse management, and transportation management on performance. The study is anchored on theory of constraints, lean theory, game theory, and queuing theory. The study employed an explanatory research design and mainly concentrated on all 77 pharmaceutical manufacturing firms within Nairobi City County. The respondents were chosen based on the sample frame. The heads of warehouse, sales and marketing, production and transport departments in each of the firms were employed as unit of analysis. The primary data were collected through self-administered questionnaires. Out of 168 questionnaires that were distributed, 146 responses were obtained, which gives a 93.06% response rate. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 24) was used to analyze the data. The Cronbach’s Alpha value was greater than 0.7 which indicated that the questionnaire met the minimum acceptable threshold. The study findings showed that logistics management practices namely logistics planning, inventory management, warehouse management and transportation management significantly influence the performance of pharmaceutical manufacturing firms in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study concluded that performance was predicted to improve for every unit increase in these practices. The study recommends that the management of the firms should invest in advanced software for logistics planning to further enhance efficiency and effectiveness in managing supply chain operations