| dc.description.abstract | Kenya's sugar sector dates back to the early 1920s when it first began operations. According to a research that was published in 2015 by the Export Processing Zone Authority, the sugar sector provides jobs for more than six million people in the nation, which is more than 16% of the total population of Kenya. Huge difficulties in operations management have plagued the industry, which has contributed to the under performance of public sugar manufacturers. Low capacity utilization is one of the critical challenges. As a consequence of this, the majority of public companies that manufacture sugar has requested financial assistance from the government, in contrast to their counterparts in the private sector. This study was anchored on Dynamic Capabilities Theory to establish how capacity utilization affect performance of public sugar manufacturing firms in Kenya The research design utilized in the study was a mixed one, more particularly, a cross-sectional and an explanatory research design. The target population of the study comprised of 450 respondents stratified as 384 sugar cane farmers, 6 operations managers and 60 heads of departments of public sugar manufacturing firms in Kenya. Multiple regression and correlation analysis was used to determine the effect of capacity utilization on firm’s performance. From the data analysis an R value of 0.835 (R2 = 0.698) was obtained which indicates there exists a strong influence of capacity utilization on performance of public sugar companies in Kenya. From the findings on capacity utilization, it can be recommended that public sugar firms to acquire modern technology on crushing with high efficiency levels. There is also need to empower farmers so to guarantee steady supply of cane. Factories to set up power plants to supplement on national grid and also act as back up in case of power outage. Dual crushing system should also be envisioned as a safety net in the event of machines breakdown. | en_US |
