Cost Management Practices and Profitability of Private Sugar Manufacturing Firms in Western Kenya

The escalating competitive pressures and volatile market conditions in the sugar manufacturing industry have heightened the importance of effective cost management practices for ensuring profitability. Despite this, many private sugar firms in Western Kenya struggle to optimize costs and sustain profitability, often due to inadequate financial strategies and inefficient resource allocation. This study was undertaken to investigate the influence of cost management practices on profitability, with the aim of providing empirical evidence from private sugar manufacturing firms in the Western Region of Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to examine the impact of cost reduction strategies on profitability, evaluate the effectiveness of financial forecasting in improving profitability, and explore how activity-based costing influences profitability. The study adopted the Activity-Based Costing, Cost-leadership strategy, and Resource-based View theories as its theoretical framework. An explanatory research design was employed, utilizing questionnaires for data collection. The target population comprised 71 respondents from five privately owned sugar manufacturing firms in Western Kenya, all of whom participated through a census approach. A pilot study was conducted at Kibos Sugar Factory in Kisumu County, Nyanza Region, to test the reliability of the data collection tools, with expert opinions sought to enhance validity. Data analysis involved both descriptive and inferential statistics, facilitated by SPSS version 26.0. Descriptive analysis included frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations, while inferential analysis employed correlation and regression to test the hypotheses. The results indicated that budget reduction, especially negotiation skills, had a significant positive effect on profitability (R² = 0.388), whereas robot-based operations and remote working showed moderate effectiveness. Financial forecasting emerged as the strongest predictor of profitability (R² = 0.434), particularly through effective budget monitoring, despite concerns over transparency with budget reallocations. Activity-based costing explained 32.9% of the variance in profitability (R² = 0.329), with asset tangibility identified as most impactful due to its role in credit access. Collectively, these practices accounted for 54.5% of the variability in profitability. The study concluded that implementing effective cost management practices significantly enhances firm performance. Recommendations include institutionalizing negotiation training, adopting blockchain technology for transparent budgeting, leveraging AI for adaptive financial forecasting, and utilizing tangible assets to improve access to finance. Firms are encouraged to adopt a hybrid cost leadership strategy and develop climate-resilient financial frameworks. Future research should explore the return on investment for robotics, blockchain feasibility, behavioural finance in budget reallocations, and comparative cost strategies across COMESA sugar markets. Overall, the findings underscore that integrated cost management practices are vital for strategic, transparent, and sustainable financial decision-making, ultimately driving profitability in the industry.