The Impact of Supply Chain Resilience Strategies, Technology and the Floricultural Firms Performance, the Nakuru Kenya Story

Abstract

Changes are unavoidable in today’s risky and uncertain business environment including unpredictable supply chains of which the floriculture industry is not exempt The floriculture industry frequently encounters diverse and new challenges which must be managed to avoid losses, recovery challenges and even closure. It is important that firms employ relevant updated technology to enhance their resilience strategies to prepare for such disruptions, to continue existing and improve performance. However whether technology jointly contributes significantly in enhancing resilience and performance in floricultural firms is a topic that remains under-explored. Using the relevant empirical literature, the study sheds light on the relationship between resilience strategies and floricultural firms performance under the moderating effect of supply chain technology. The study adopted descriptive research design. Target population was 101 flower firms in Nakuru County-Kenya. Purposive sampling was used to pick 255 respondents. Moderated multiple regression analysis was used to test the moderating effect of supply chain technology. Performance was the dependent variable while supply chain resilience strategies i.e. supply chain collaboration, supply chain agility, supply chain flexibility and supply chain risk management were predictor variables. The study established that supply chain technology positively and significantly moderated the relationship between the supply chain resilience strategies and performance of floricultural firms. The study findings contribute to existing literature and provide practical recommendations to policy makers and floricultural supply chain managers to establish effective resilience policies and appropriate use of technology to manage and survive the unforeseen disruptions which will contribute significantly to their improved performance. Key words- Supply Chain Technology, Supply Chain Collaboration, Supply Chain Flexibility, Supply Chain Agility, Supply Chain Risk Management, Performance Kenya.