Effect of supply chain management performance on trade performance: a case study of Kyagalanyi coffee ltd, Uganda.

Abstract

This study examined how supply chain management performance (SCMP) relates to trade performance at Kyagalanyi Coffee Ltd, Uganda. Five objectives covered efficiency, responsiveness and agility, integration and collaboration, reliability and quality, and logistics and inventory management. A sixth tested whether government trade policy and customs regulations, technology and ICT infrastructure, and market competition and global shocks moderated this relationship. Drawing on the Resource-Based View, Transaction Cost Theory, Systems Theory and Institutional Theory, the study used a mixed-methods case-study design. Of 91 questionnaires distributed, 81 were usable (89.0%). These were supplemented by ten key-informant interviews and a review of company documents from 2023 to 2025. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, multiple regression and hierarchical moderation models, while qualitative data were analysed thematically and compared with the documentary evidence. Overall SCMP was strongly and positively associated with trade performance (r = .696, p < .001), explaining 48.4% of its variation. Together, the five dimensions explained 50.0%, F(5, 75) = 15.027, p < .001. After adjusting for the other dimensions, only responsiveness and agility (β = .265, p = .030) and reliability and quality (β = .249, p = .031) were significant. Efficiency (β = .195, p = .087), integration and collaboration (β = .097, p = .419), and logistics and inventory management (β = .048, p = .658) were positive but not significant. Technology and ICT infrastructure was the only significant moderator after Holm adjustment (β = .241, adjusted p = .0221), adding 4.3 percentage points to explained variance and strengthening the SCMP–trade performance link. The policy/customs and market/shocks interactions were not significant. The study recommends that the firm prioritise responsiveness, reliability and digital visibility, while keeping its wider operational controls well-coordinated