The Role of Shared Service Centers in Creating a Competitive Advantage for a Manufacturing Firm: Case Study of East African Breweries Limited

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of share services m creating a competitive advantage for a manufacturing firm. By looking at a case study of East Africa Breweries Limited, this research tried to explore if indeed manufacturing organizations in Africa are able to obtain competitive advantage through the use of Shared Services Centers (SSC); the scope of SSC in Sub-Saharan Africa; the benefits and challenges of the various SSC models that would enable high performance and the impact of adopting such a model as well as the roles played by the resource strategy to achieve the full benefit of SSCs. The study was guided by the following research questions:

1. What is the role of shared services in offering competitive advantage for a manufacturing firm? ii. What are the misconceptions of the SCC with regards to outsourcing, re­ engineering, centralization and decentralization? 111. What is the role of human resource in achieving the full benefits of SSC for a manufacturing firm? JV. What is the role of information technology in achieving the full benefits of shared service centre model? The study used a descriptive research design methodology. The pnmary data was collected through questionnaires that were developed and administered to employees in various management levels in the organization. The study was guided by four independent variables that represent each of the research questions.On the role of shared services in creating a competitive advantage for a manufacturing firm, most of the respondents felt that shared services enabled the organization to remain competitive in the industry. The study further established that the business was better placed to beat competition and as a result increase market share for the organization. The second objective that looked into details the misconceptions of shared services with outsourcing, re-engineering, centralization and de-centralization came up with the following findings. This area proved that most employees really didn't know the difference between all this misconceptions. Employees were divided in their responses, between those who were knowledgeable as far as the differences among all this isconceptions and those who really didn't know much. They also indicated that the business had really not done much to help them distinguish the differences between shared services and other misconceptions. However, it was very clear across the board that the creation of the business centre did not Jead to loss of Jobs. When it came to the role of human resource and infonnation technology in enabling the business achieve the full benefits of shared services, most of the respondents agreed that these 2 functions were at the heart of the success of shared services across the business.The study recommends that further studies be carried out on viability of movi ng all support functions into shared services. The study also recommends further research to be carried out on the external business environment and the place of shared services and outsourcing in tomorrow's business environment .