Influence of technology on operational performance of pharmaceutical firms in Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to examine the extent to which technology influences operational performance of pharmaceutical firms in Kenya. The objectives for this study were to test the relationship between; level of technology, supply chain technology, marketing technology and quality control technology and operational performance of pharmaceuticals firms in Kenya. The study was anchored on Diffusion of Innovation Model and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). There are 50 registered pharmaceutical firms operating in Nairobi and unit of analysis were all persons who were working in four departments; Supply Chain, Marketing, Quality control and Operations in those firms. The study adopted cross-sectional survey design which supported identification of 200 respondents by use of purposive random sampling technique. Questionnaires were used to collect data from Operations Manager, Supply Chain Manager, Marketing Manager and Quality control Manager from the Pharmaceutical firms in Nairobi. The quality of this study was guaranteed by testing validity and reliability of the questionnaire. Data was analysed using computer supported software Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) to generate means, correlation and regression coefficients. The findings on level of technology revealed that with mean of 3.54, the level of technology was considered high. Also, with an overall mean of 3.21, the findings indicated that technology was intensively used in all stages of supply chain mainly in planning, implementation and reporting. Preliminary tests of assumptions were run; linearity tests, normality tests, multicollinearity tests and homoscedasticity tests and the results provided a basis for running parametric inferential statistics. The results of persons correlation coefficient indicate that there is a significant positive correlation between supply chain technology, marketing technology and quality control technology and operation performance whereas; a significant positive correlation between marketing technology with operation performance positive significant correlation between quality control technology and operation performance. Multiple regression analysis was run to test if the technology usage significantly predicts operation performance of pharmaceutical firms. The results of the regression indicated that the three predictors, supply chain, marketing and quality control explained 31.6% of operation performance could be explained by a unit change in supply technology on marketing technology the model established that 35.5% operation performance could be influenced by a unit change in marketing technology and finally, 38.2% of quality control technology would influence operation performance. Overall, the consistency of regression coefficients on the predictors in the model suggest that these variables are important factors influencing operation performance and therefore proving the usefulness of enhancing operational performance of pharmaceutical firm through the use of technology in departments like supply chain, quality control and marketing department for general improvement of operational efficiency and effectiveness.