STRATEGIC QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF SOFT DRINK MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN ELDORET CITY COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract: The manufacturing sector in Kenya plays a fundamental role in driving the country’s economy, alleviating poverty, promoting industry resilience and sustainability. Being part of the food industry, the conditions for operations are quite stringent and manufacturing firms are expected to consistently adhere to quality requirements that guarantee customer satisfaction. Soft drink manufacturing firms are experiencing ever closer scrutiny of their product quality as the pressure mounts from consumers to have their ever-changing needs and preferences met. This calls upon the organizations to engage in strategic quality management practices in order to survive and achieve their performance. The general objective of this study was to establish the effect of strategic quality management practices on operational performance of soft drinks manufacturing firms in Eldoret City County. Specifically, the study seeks to establish the influence of strategic continuous improvement on operational performance of soft drinks manufacturing firms in Eldoret City County on the operational performance of soft drinks manufacturing firms in Eldoret City County. This research was based on the stakeholder theory, agency theory and Deming’s quality management theory to explain the relationship between the study variables. The study intended to collect primary data using questionnaires. A descriptive survey design was be adopted. The target population included all the 64 soft drinks manufacturing firms operating in Eldoret City County as at December 2021. A census was conducted on all the 64 soft drinks manufacturing firms. The unit of observation was heads of operations and human resource unit of each soft drinks manufacturing firm. The total target was therefore be 128 respondents. Information assembled was evaluated using descriptive and inferential statistics ranging from frequencies, percentages, correlation and regression. Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 24 was used for data analysis. Based on the findings, the study concluded that strategic continuous improvement has a significant effect on the operational performance of soft drink manufacturing firms in Eldoret City County. β1=0.834, p value= 0.000). The relationship was considered significant since the p value 0.004 was less than the significant level of 0.05.The study concluded that the soft drink manufacturing firm’s management should provide a continuous improvement of quality systems and procedures through internal quality audits that contributes to zero defect of quality objectives. The study recommended that there should be a policy for making continuous improvement of products quality for every individual in the company and have firm’s benchmarks its quality against other quality management practices best practices as per ISO certification requirements. Keywords: Strategic Continuous Improvement, Strategic quality management, operational performance. Title: STRATEGIC QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF SOFT DRINK MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN ELDORET CITY COUNTY, KENYA Author: Martin Barasa Sirengo, Dr. Elizabeth Nambuswa Makokha International Journal of Recent Research in Commerce Economics and Management (IJRRCEM) ISSN 2349-7807 Vol. 12, Issue 2, April 2025 - June 2025 Page No: 9-16 Paper Publications Website: www.paperpublications.org Published Date: 07-April-2025 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15166465 Paper Download Link (Source) https://www.paperpublications.org/upload/book/STRATEGIC%20QUALITY%20MANAGEMENT-07042025-2.pdf