M.B.S.M.T. Jayawardhana<\/b><\/p>\n University of Sri Jayewardenepura<\/i><\/p>\n B.N.F. Warnakulasooriya<\/b><\/p>\n University of Sri Jayewardenepura<\/i><\/p>\n \n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section> Abstract<\/b><\/p>\n Plantation sector plays a major role in the export sector in Sri Lanka where\u00a0Tea, Rubber and Coconut have been the major agricultural export commodities.\u00a0<\/span>According to the Export Development Board (2018), coconut accounts for\u00a0<\/span>approximately 12% of all agricultural products. As an agricultural commodity,\u00a0<\/span>coconut must undergo a series of operations before they reach to the market. It\u00a0<\/span>can be observed that in every operation, practices of supply chain management\u00a0<\/span>(SCM) are involved. In developing countries, especially in country like Sri\u00a0<\/span>Lanka, traditional supply chain (SC)s are usually involved by many players and\u00a0<\/span>they exercise many practices. A wholesaler is a vital player in the SC for a\u00a0<\/span>coconut industry. They exercise many practices when they work with the SC,\u00a0<\/span>especially with manufacturers and other intermediaries as well as face with\u00a0<\/span>many problems in performing these practices. Still whether these problems will\u00a0<\/span>have an impact on their business performance is a question that should be\u00a0<\/span>answered. However, a comprehensive search of various local and international\u00a0<\/span>literature revealed that the impact of problems of SCM practices of wholesalers\u00a0<\/span>in the coconut industry on business performance have not been studied in depth\u00a0<\/span>in Sri Lankan context. Therefore, this study is designed to examine the impact\u00a0<\/span>of problems associated with SCM practices of coconut wholesalers on their\u00a0<\/span>business performance with special reference to Kurunegala district, Sri Lanka.<\/span><\/p>\n A questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 60 wholesalers in the coconut\u00a0<\/span>industry in Kurunegala district, Sri Lanka. Problems cited in the literature were\u00a0<\/span>condensed into eight practices of SCM, namely human resource management,\u00a0<\/span>technology, facilities, supplier relationship management, customer relationship\u00a0<\/span>management, regulatory factors, geographic proximity and logistics and\u00a0<\/span>transportation. The collected data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics\u00a0<\/span>and discriminant analysis. The results show that these problems discriminate\u00a0<\/span>the business performance of the coconut wholesalers.<\/span><\/p>\n \n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section> Keywords<\/b><\/p>\n Supply chain Management Practices; problem in supply chain\u00a0management practices; Wholesalers; Business Performance.<\/span><\/p>\n \n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>