Business Intelligence And Performance Of Sugar-Related Firms In Bungoma County, Kenya.

Purpose - This study examines how four complementary business intelligence (BI) capabilities - data management, analytical capability, technology infrastructure, and information dissemination - are associated with perceived organizational performance in an under-researched, resource-constrained manufacturing setting. Design/methodology/approach - A cross-sectional explanatory survey was administered to managers in two sugar-related firms in Bungoma County, Kenya. The archived analytic sample comprised 101 respondents from an estimated management frame of 121. Twenty-five seven-point Likert items operationalized the four BI dimensions and perceived performance. Pearson correlations, four simple ordinary least-squares models, and a simultaneous four-predictor model were estimated. Findings - The joint model was substantial, R = .851, R² = .725, adjusted R² = .713, F(4, 96) = 63.159, p < .001. Information dissemination was the strongest unique predictor (B = .361, SE = .047, beta = .459, p < .001), followed by technology infrastructure (B = .314, SE = .044, beta = .423, p < .001) and data management (B = .208, SE = .056, beta = .239, p < .001). Analytical capability added no unique explanatory value (B = -.001, SE = .052, beta = -.001, p = .986). Originality/value - The findings qualify technology-centric accounts of BI value. In this setting, value was associated less with the mere presence of advanced analytics than with reliable data, enabling infrastructure, and the organizational movement of insight to decision makers. The study therefore develops a context-sensitive "analytics-to-action" interpretation of BI realization in African agro-manufacturing. Research limitations - Because measures were self-reported and cross-sectional, the estimates are associational rather than causal; firm-level clustering, common-method variance, and omitted variables remain plausible.