Stakeholder Engagement: Issues to Resolve for Sustainable Performance of Sugar Mills in Western Region, Kenya
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Date
2024-06
Authors
Wanzallah, Thomas Wetsakhulia
Muathe, Stephen Makau
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abjournal
Abstract
The Kenyan sugar industry suffers from poor performance
linked to corruption, mismanagement, reduced cane production,
overreliance on imports and growing long maturing cane variety. These
problems can be resolved by engagement of different stakeholders. This
article is on stakeholder engagement and effect on sustainable performance
in the sugar mills in western Kenya. The paper adopted the stakeholder
theory, balanced scorecard model and human relations theory of
management, as its theoretical framework. The descriptive research design
was employed. The respondents included managers in the sugar mills, the
permanently employed staff, government officials handling the industry in
the region and representatives of cane farmers from the farmer blocs.
Simple and stratified sampling technique was used and respondents filled
the structured questionnaire from which descriptive, regression and
correlation analyses were conducted. The findings revealed that
respondents agreed that stakeholder relationship management increased
sustainable performance of sugar mills. The correlation analysis results
showed that stakeholder communication at (r =0.852), capacity building (r
=0.551), stakeholder relationship management (r =0.742) and stakeholder
control processes (r =0.641) were all closely associated with the dependent
variable on sustainable performance. From the regression analysis, the
results showed that 70.9% of change in sustainable performance in the
sugar mills was influenced by stakeholder engagement. The beta coefficient
results indicate that the four means of stakeholder engagement influenced
performance of the sugar mills. The study concluded that aspects of
stakeholder engagement improved performance as measured in terms of
high-quality products, profit margin, sales volume and increased market
share. It is recommended that the government as a key stakeholder of the
sector should have policies to ban sugar free imports, enhance
competencies of stakeholders through training, research on best cane
variety and engage stakeholders to monitor and control activities in
reducing corruption, mismanagement and misappropriation of resources.
Engagement of stakeholders is important when seeking to grow and
establish the industry.
Description
Article
Keywords
Stakeholder communication, Capacity building, Control process, Managing stakeholder relations, Sales volume, Market share, Profit margins, Employee satisfaction
Citation
Thomas W. W., Stephen M. M. (2024), Stakeholder Engagement: Issues to Resolve for Sustainable Performance of Sugar Mills in Western Region, Kenya. African Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities Research 7(2), 298-320. DOI: 10.52589/AJSSHRV2VKATCA