Examining Green Production and Development of Firm Specific Capabilities in Kenya's Manufacturing Sector

Abstract

Green production has become an important strategy to achieve firm-specific capabilities which are the niche for manufacturing enterprises. It is the application of environmental social responsibility to reduce the negative impact of manufacturing firms with their main objective being economic benefits. This paper aims to review current literature and contributes a set of empirical evidence concerning the emerging topic of green production and development of firm-specific capabilities which affect the performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya. Pragmatism philosophical paradigm and explanatory survey research design were utilized. Target population of 139 registered manufacturing firms was considered, out of which a sample of 102 Chief Executive Officers obtained using Cochran's sample size formula representing the firms selected by simple random sampling technique. Questionnaires were then administered to these CEOs. Data collected was analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The findings indicated significant positive relationship between green products and development of firm-specific capabilities, between green processes and development of firm-specific capabilities, between green use and development of firm-specific capabilities and between the green end of life management and development of firm-specific capabilities. Similarly, the overall test of significance with F-test confirmed the high significant effect of green production on the development of firm-specific capabilities. It was concluded by the findings the extension use of system dynamics and resource-based view theories. Subsequently, it extended the literature on the match between Green productions on development of firm-specific capabilities. The findings clarified the alignment of green production on the development of firm-specific capabilities for practitioners to allocate limited resources based on their strategic choices.