Supply Chain Management Practices: A case study of a food production company

Abstract

The study sought to investigate the supply chain practices, adopted by the various supply chain partners, in a food supply chain which consists of small enterprises. This is because the inefficiencies in both unique sectors cause hikes in food prices that may lead to the collapse of small enterprises. Supply chain practices such as internal and external integration, information sharing, lean production and traceability were examined. A questionnaire was used as the research instrument for this descriptive case study approach because the context of the phenomenon being investigated in order to address the research question. The findings indicate that the focal firms collaborate more with their suppliers than with customers. This is primarily attributed to information asymmetry between the focal firm and the customers. The recommendations suggest that there must be effective collaboration between all the supply chain members in order to improve both internal and external integration which will reduce costs and improve transparency and traceability processes needed for a food supply chain.