Strategic Quality Management Practices and Performance of Food Processing Firms in Meru County, Kenya

Abstract

The performance of food processing firms in Meru County has been a major concern for policymakers and stakeholders due to the critical role that this sector plays in the county's economy. However, it has been hampered by various challenges, including inadequate access to raw materials, inadequate infrastructure, stiff competition from imported products, and the lack of access to finance and technology. The study sought to assess the effects of strategic quality management practices and performance of food processing firms in Meru County, Kenya. Specifically, the study focused on the effect of customer-focus, quality assurance, quality control and quality improvement on organizational performance of food processing firms in Meru County. The study was anchored on the concepts of Service Quality Model, Deming’s Theory, Quality Improvement Theory, Resource-based View Theory and Balanced Scorecard Theory. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design. The unit of analysis was 20 food processing firms in Meru County. The unit of observation was 195 top and middle level management employees at various food processing companies in Meru County. Stratified random sampling was used to get a sample from different management groups. Slovins’ formula was employed in calculating a sample size of 132 for the study. Structured questionnaires were used to collect primary data while the secondary data was collected from the food processing firms’ documents. Piloting was done at two food processing firms in Nyeri County. Cronbach's Alpha was used to test the reliability of the study with a thresh hold of 0.7. Frequency, percentage, means and standard deviations were used to describe population characteristics in descriptive analysis. Inferential statistics employed Pearson's Product Moment correlation and various regression models to establish the variables' relationships. The study concluded that there was a moderate positive and statistically significant correlation between customer-focus quality assurance, quality control quality improvement and organizational performance of food processing firms in Meru County. The study recommended that food processing firms in Meru County should develop a customer-centric culture where all employees understand the importance of customer satisfaction and prioritize meeting customer needs. The study also concluded that food processing firms in Meru County should establish, implement and maintain quality management systems, such as ISO 9001, to improve compliance, food safety, competitive advantage and firm performance ultimately.