Supply Chain Performance Assessment of Brewery Industry: The case of Heineken Brewery
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Date
2019-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
In this thesis, the researcher assessed the perceived performance of supply chain in the case of
Heineken brewery companies in Addis Ababa. The study focused on seven supply chain
performance variables, integration with suppliers, integration with customers, supply chain
reliability, supply chain responsiveness, supply chain agility, supply chain operational cost and
inventory management Practice. The main objective of this paper is to get in-depth insight about
the supply chain performance of Sales outlet in the case of Heineken brewery. The research
strategy of this study is a multiple case study and the brewery companies were the unit of
analysis. Moreover, the study included first tier local strategic suppliers and their first and
second tier customers of the case breweries to ensure the reliability of the research output. The
research design applied was mixed approach. The quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS for
descriptive statistics and the qualitative data was used to further explain the findings of the
quantitative data. The finding of the study indicates that the downward supply chain is more
reliable and flexible than the upstream supply chain. The supply chain operation of the case of
Heineken breweries was perceived high. The study also found the gap related to joint planning,
forecasting and sharing of supply chain information of the case breweries with their suppliers
and customers. This study also identified gaps in managing supply chain inventories in relation
to visibility of the inventory status along the supply chain.
In conclusion, the Heineken breweries focus on responsiveness and reliability with high
operational cost. The case brewery companies collaborate with their chain partners only on
limited areas. The level of trust is also minimal due to high completion with rivalries.
Consequently, long term demand forecast or sales forecast are very rarely shared with channel
partners. The inventory management practice also shows potential risk of holding overstock or
under stock due to lack of using standard inventory management tools consistently. The
upstream supply chain is less reliable and flexible due to limited local suppliers‟ capacity as well
as long import process than the downward supply chain and that the supply chain operational
cost along the chain was considered high.
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Keywords
Supply Chain management performance, Heineken brewery, companies