@article{MAKHILLIBM2017111227339,
    title = {Supply Chain Management Practices in the Petroleum Industry of Zimbabwe},
    journal = {International Business Management},
    volume = {11},
    number = {12},
    pages = {2210-2223},
    year = {2017},
    issn = {1993-5250},
    doi = {ibm.2017.2210.2223},
    url = {https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?issn=1993-5250&doi=ibm.2017.2210.2223},
    author = {Happyson,Muhammad and},
    keywords = {Supply chain management,competitiveness,customer satisfaction,supply chain collaboration,supply chain integration,performance},
    abstract = {Supply chain management is one of the contemporary management philosophies that have spurred
companies that seek competitiveness. Supply chain management focuses cost efficiency and customer
satisfaction. In the case of the petroleum industry of Zimbabwe opacity has kept petroleum companie’s supply
chain strategies weak and company competitiveness at bay. This study presents supply chain management
practices of the petroleum industry namely: procurement, inventory, logistics, information technology and
customer service. Petroleum companies in Zimbabwe are uncompetitive because the above supply chain
management practices are ineffective. Therefore, uncompetitiveness of petroleum companies is associated with
the fact that the companies have not embraced the supply chain management philosophy or that the
philosophy is not properly managed. The study uses concurrent parallel mixed methods research design to
simultaneously and independently collect qualitative and quantitative data from 102 petroleum industry supply
chain practitioners. This design was chosen in order to have a wider and detailed in-depth understanding of
petroleum companie’s critical success factors, supply chain performance factors and petroleum industry
challenges. Qualitative research results show that, petroleum industry supply chain challenges emanate from
poor industry structure, strategy, technology and environmental issues. Quantitative research results identified
the need for collaboration, support, strategic partnerships and development of supply chain management
strategies as the industry’s critical success factors. A regression analysis on supply chain performance
established that developing effective supply chain management strategies and staff motivation, training and
development were the two determinants of supply chain management performance. Both qualitative and
quantitative research identified common petroleum industry challenges namely, high cost of product,
Government regulation, lack of communication and cooperation among supply chain members and lack of
support from associative organisations. The study recommends the development of effective supply chain
management strategies at national, industry and company levels. Such strategies can focus on stabilising the
business environment, identifying and removing bottlenecks along the supply chains, prioritising predictors
of supply chain management performance in the allocation of resources and embarking on more supply chain
management research benchmarking with international best practices.}
    }