Modern Distribution Channels in Multi-Echelon Supply Chain and Performance of Kenya's Manufacturing Sector

This paper sought to establish the influence of distribution channels in multi-echelon supply chain on performance of the manufacturing companies in Kenya. Despite the merit surrounding the large manufacturing firms in Kenya, the performance of most of the firms has been declining over the recent past. While the decline of most of these companies have been blamed on factors such as poor management and increased competition, poor distribution systems have also been found to be major drivers of poor performance. The study employed a descriptive research design and targeted 454 large manufacturing companies in Nairobi. Purposive sampling was used to select 384 supply chain managers in these companies as the units of observation. The primary data was collected using questionnaires and SPSS was used to analysis the data in form of descriptive and inferential statistics. The study established that distribution channels had a positive and significant effect on supply chain performance of large manufacturing firms in Kenya. It was therefore concluded that the performance of the large manufacturing firms is highly dependent on the effectiveness of the distribution channels adopted as an aspect of distribution systems management. The study therefore recommended that there is need for large manufacturing companies to focus on enhancing the effectiveness of distribution channels and properly integrating them in order to enhance supply chain performance.