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4 J. Mgmt. & Sustainability 157 (2014)
Sustainable Supply Chain Management as a Strategic Tool for Competitive Advantage in Tea Industry in Kenya

handle is hein.journals/jms4 and id is 523 raw text is: Journal of Management and Sustainability; Vol. 4, No. 3; 2014 ISSN 1925-4725 E-ISSN 1925-4733 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education Sustainable Supply Chain Management as a Strategic Tool for Competitive Advantage in Tea Industry in Kenya Barasa Peter Wamalwa1 1Director, Mount Kenya University, Mombasa Campus, Kenya Correspondence: Barasa Peter Wamalwa, Director, Mount Kenya University, Mombasa Campus, P. 0. Box 42702-80100, Mombasa, Kenya. E-mail: petbar2001us ttyahoo.com Received: March 11, 2014 Accepted: May 6, 2014 Online Published: August 29, 2014 doi: 10.5539/jms.v4n3p157 URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/jms.v4n3p157 Abstract It is assumed that companies that utilize sustainable supply chain management as a strategic tool in business management are likely to have a competitive edge over others. However, this is contrary to the Tea Industry in Kenya. The main purpose of this research was to establish the role of sustainable supply chain management as a strategic tool for competitive advantage in the tea industry in Kenya. The specific objective was to find out to what extent the supply chain collaborative strategy as a tool for competitive advantage is used by the companies in tea industry in Kenya. The mixed research design was used in the study. The target population was the tea companies in Kenya and the sample of eight Tea Companies were purposively selected for the study. Data collection was done by use of both structured questionnaires and oral interview to get the primary data while the secondary data was obtained by documentary analysis. The results finding indicated that sustainable supply chain management as a strategic tool contributes to the competitive advantage of Kenyan tea companies in the global market. The results provide information to the tea companies to come up with sustainable strategies in their supply chain management in order ensure the Kenyan tea remains competitive in the global market. Keywords: supply chain management, tea industry, strategic tools 1. Introduction With globalization, there has been an increasing interdependence across national and geographical boundaries of people. The intensity of competition has increased tremendously and there has been growing demands for flexible and cost efficient systems that can support customer differentiation. There are increasingly complex consumer demands, changing global regulatory regimes and increased concerns over products safety and security. Import restrictions have been put on the companies that fail to manage sustainably its supply chain and with the emergence of new types of inter-organizational relationships. Companies have entered in to a new era of understanding the dynamics of competitive advantage and the role played by supply chain management (Premkumar et al., 2006). Supply chain management has become increasingly crucial due to fewer companies being vertically integrated, increased competition, the increased realization of the effect that one entity has on the entire supply chain, greater emphasis on flexibility, and the need to produce new products more quickly (Lummus, 1999). Supply chain management (SCM) approach is progressively recognized by many organizations as a strategy to attain their business goals today (Chin et al., 2004; Altekar, 2005). Enhancing supply chain performance is a critical approach for achieving competitive advantages for companies (Cai, Xiao, & Liu, 2009). Environmental degradation, global poverty, lack of human rights, far-reaching health deficits and corporate governance resulted in sustainable supply chains management (SSCM) to emerge as key enabler that could push organization to focus on alleviating environmental issues, providing economic and social benefits (Govindasamy, 2010). Through sustainable supply chain management, companies can realize significant additional profits by acting within the triple sustainable issues of social, environmental and economic. In tea industry, the demand from customers is always variable or changing which is hard to anticipate and Customers are used to requiring products in a short time frame whenever they increase demands without prior alignment with the company. This means that companies have no power to shape the relationship with the supplier and must accept quality, price decision and terms and conditions that are dictated by the supplier (Cox

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