Ruiru Feeds Ltd is an animal feeds enterprise with its headquarters in Ruiru, Kiambu County. The enterprise manufactures and distributes quality animal feeds for dairy cattle, dairy goats, poultry and pigs(SC, n.d.). The animal feeds are produced using advanced technology so as to boost quality and great value for each and every person’s investment (Mburu, 2017). Ruiru Feeds has been recognized countrywide in producing and supplying the best animal feeds
and also seeks to contribute to the growth and development of agribusiness fraternity in the country (Nanjekho, 2014).
Ruiru Feeds Limited has constantly reinvented itself to face the challenges of a dynamic business environment and enhance a sustainable development (Kamunge et al., 2014). The enterprise is also committed to maintain standards of excellence and efficiency which has made it to become large and respected feed manufacturer, being a dominant force in animal feeds and mineral licks in Kenya (Nanjekho, 2014). Ruiru Feeds offers specialized services in manufacturing and distribution of all categories of Animal Feeds, additives and mineral supplements to the Kenya farming community (Mburu, 2017).
Statement of the problem
A well-managed supply chain is capable of lowering the cost of doing business by 15-20% and it also provides a way for a business to form a competitive advantage without needing to lower its prices while allowing to deliver its orders more quickly to customers (Camerinelli, 2016). Businesses that adopt to manage their supply chain, there is bound to be a drastic boost in customer service as well as improvement in its performance (Hill & Alexander, 2017). Even with bigger companies in their effort to manage their supply chain, they have increasingly global supplier networks which create new opportunities and vulnerabilities (Bloomfield, 2017).
Ruiru Feeds Ltd often concentrated on their operations without creating relationships with other similar business partners that operate on a similar scale with the enterprise (Kamunge et al., 2014). They have found themselves at a disadvantage as to managing their relationships with suppliers since their suppliers are bigger businesses and hence, the enterprise doesn’t have the scale to create leverage (Nyambura, 2017). This leads to creating bottlenecks in the workflow and thus affecting operations and financial performance of the enterprise (Nanjekho, 2014).
Many studies have recently been undertaken around financial performance of SMEs (Agyemang & Ansong, 2017; Ainin et al., 2015; Wakaba, 2014) and despite the studies, none has been able to focus on SCM and financial performance of SMEs, thus presenting a research gap. Most of the studies have been done on larger firms (Ağan et al., 2016; Banker et al., 2014; Laari et al., 2016) and definitely, it is also inappropriate to compare findings of literature on larger firms to smaller firms since there are several key differences between the two (Storey et al., 2016). The purpose of this study therefore, will be to examine how Ruiru Feeds Ltd has been able to manage its supply chain, and how the management, in turn, has impacted its financial performance.