Supply chain risk mitigation in South Africa: a case study of Eskom

Procurement process risk and performance: empirical evidence from manufacturing firms

Purpose

This paper employs the positivism paradigm, quantitative approach and explanatory research design. It analyses primary data obtained from manufacturing firms via structured questionnaires and uses the partial least square-structural equation modelling technique to establish the effect of individual procurement process risk on procurement performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Procurement risks are inevitable in manufacturing procurement process; a situation that could undermine the performance of manufacturing firms if not properly managed. Yet, with procurement accounting of about 14–19% of developing countries gross domestic product, the effects of procurement process risk on performance remain scarce in manufacturing firms in developing countries. Therefore, the paper aims to investigate the effect of procurement process risk on procurement performance of manufacturing firms.

Findings

In this paper, five out of the six procurement process risks studied were found to be undermining procurement performance of manufacturing firms significantly. However, the risk threshold effect on the performance differs.

Research limitations/implications

Although this research is geographically/sector bias, several insightful managerial implications can be drawn to manage procurement process risk in manufacturing settings irrespective of the area of operation. The results of this research imply that manufacturing firms' procurement process is risk prone and the effect of risk surrounding each procurement process on procurement performance differs. Hence, the need to identify and analyse the risks surrounding each procurement process before making managerial decision to spend firms limited resources in response to the individual risk to improve procurement performance in the manufacturing sector.

Originality/value

This paper is the first to provide existing and future procuring practitioners/firms with in-depth empirical evidence of the effect of the procurement process risks on procurement performance in manufacturing firms operating in developing economies.

COVID-19 operational disruption and SMEs' performance: the moderating role of disruption orientation and government support

Purpose

Despite the growing unforeseen and catastrophic events that disrupt business operations, empirical studies on the impact of operational disruption (OD) on small and medium enterprises' (SMEs) performance dimensions are limited. The study aims to investigate the moderating effect of disruption orientation (DO) and government support (GS) on the relationship between coronavirus disease (COVID-19) OD and SMEs' performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Quantitative survey method was used to collect data from 170 SMEs in Nigeria, through hand-delivery questionnaires. Partial least square (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze the data.

Findings

The result shows no significant relationship between COVID-19 OD, DO and GS with SMEs' financial performance (FP). However, the relationship between COVID-19 OD and non-financial performance (NFP) is negatively significant. The relationship between DO and NFP is positively significant. DO and GS have insignificant relationship with FP. Finally, DO and GS does not moderate any of the relationships between COVID-19 OD and the dimensions of SMEs' performance.

Practical implications

The result implies that health-related disruptions such as COVID-19 affect only the NFP of SMEs. However, supply chain managers and SMEs are encouraged to adopt DO to enhance NFP of firms.

Originality/value

The current study is the first to evaluate the impact of health-related disruptions on the two major dimensions of SMEs' performance (FP and NFP) by incorporating the moderating role of internal (DO) and external (GS) factors in to a single framework. However, the paper revealed new theoretical and practical knowledge by illuminating the absence of significant relationship between COVID-19 OD and SMEs' FP, implying that COVID-19 disruption does not significantly affect SMEs' FP.