Sustainable Supply Chain Management Practices and Performance of State-Owned Sugar Manufacturing in Western Kenya

Manufacturing in Kenya has been declining, with the sugar industry facing intense competition that exacerbates its performance challenges. Despite the Kenyan government’s efforts to realize the economic pillar of Vision 2030, the manufacturing sector continues to encounter significant obstacles. Therefore, The general objective of the study was to determine influence of sustainable supply chain management practices on performance of sugar manufacturing firms in western Kenya. The study will specifically investigate the influence of environmentally sustainable supply chain practices on performance of state-owned sugar manufacturing in Western Kenya, examine the influence of socially sustainable supply chain practices on performance of state-owned sugar manufacturing in Western Kenya and establish the influence of economically sustainable supply chain practices on performance of state-owned sugar manufacturing in Western Kenya. The study is grounded on Natural Resource-Based View (NRBV) Theory, Stakeholder Theory and Institutional Theory. The study will use a descriptive survey. The population for the study will 84 constitute 4 state-owned sugar manufacturing in Western Kenya. The research will employ the census technique.. Data analysis will involve descriptive statistics, including means, standard deviations, frequencies, and percentages. Additionally, inferential statistics, such as Pearson correlation, multiple regression, was employed to analyze and test the hypotheses. The findings of the study were presented using tables and charts to facilitate clear communication of the results. Findings revealed that socially and economically sustainable practices significantly improved the performance of state-owned sugar manufacturers in Western Kenya, whereas environmental sustainability showed no statistically significant impact on firm performance. The study concludes that embedding social equity and cost-efficiency measures into supply chain strategies is essential for competitive resilience, while environmental practices must be strategically integrated to become effective performance drivers. Accordingly, it is recommended that sugar manufacturers: embed environmental KPIs into core planning and procurement processes; institutionalize supplier-diversity and community-engagement frameworks to reinforce social sustainability; and adopt continuous-improvement methodologies (e.g., Kaizen, Six Sigma) alongside real-time performance dashboards to solidify economic sustainability.