Assessing supply chain practices and how they are perceived to impact performance of firms in Sierra Leone: A Case Study in a telecommunication company (Sierratel)

As competition is no longer between organizations but among supply chain players, Supply chain practices have become a major strategy employed by many businesses to gained competitive advantage and improving organizational performance. The research aimed at assessing Supply Chain Practices and how they are perceived to impact the performance of firms in Sierra Leone a case study in a Telecommunication Company (Sierratel). Two paradigms of the supply chain were developed for this research. Supply chain enablers (Organization, People, Technology, Plan, Source, Deliver, Information Sharing) and supply chain non-financial performance (Flexibility, Responsiveness, Reliability and Agility). Self-administered questionnaires were sent to thirty-four respondents through google form using a simple stratified random sampling technique. Descriptive statistics is applied to analyse the data through SPSS. The findings showed differences in various supply chain practices adopted and implemented by the company. People, Technology, Delivery, Responsiveness, Reliability and Agility did not create much impact on the company's performance. Further analysis also revealed that supply chain processes as one of the practices among the others adopted and implemented are almost in its right footpath as compared to strategy and performance but continuous improvement of supply chain practices will attain a sustainable competitive advantage and hence firm's performance.