Market Complexity, Early Supplier Involvement, Organizational Learning and Stock Obsolescence in the Telecommunication Industry

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between market complexity, early supplier involvement, organizational learning and stock Obsolescence in the Telecommunication industry in Uganda. The motivation for the study lies on concern regarding several cases relating to the increased volumes of unused stock in warehouses which cost such companies millions of dollars and other stock holding costs. A cross-sectional design was adapted with a sample size of 38 companies (10 Telecommunication companies and 28 suppliers). The questionnaires were given to 340 respondents and the response rate was 63%. 215 questionnaires were entered and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS V23) with a focus on descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, regression analysis and ANOVA tests. The reliability and validity of the instrument were established using Cronbach Alpha coefficient and content validity index respectively. The Pearson correlation coefficient results revealed a positive and significant relationship between the variables of market complexity, early supplier involvement, organizational learning and stock Obsolescence. Regressions analysis results revealed that Organizational Learning, Market Complexity and Early Supplier involvement account for only 48% of the variance in Stock Obsolescence. Thus the remaining variance of 52% can be attributed to other factors that are outside the scope of this study. The results further showed that Market Complexity and the Early Supplier Involvement are predictor variables for stock obsolescence while Organizational learning was not observed as a significant predictor for the Stock obsolescence. A conclusion was made and several recommendations proposed such as promoting and appreciating early supplier involvement, involving suppliers early in the product development stages, advancement in technology, investment in innovation, among others.