Factors That Influence the Performance of Mobile Phone Operators in Kenya: a Case of Zain Kenya Ltd

Abstract

How organizations assess their performance and the factors affecting it thereof has been challenging management commentators and practitioners for many years. Financial measures have long been used to evaluate performance of commercial organizations. By the early 1980s, there was a growing realization that, given the increased complexity of organizations and the markets in which they compete, it was no longer appropriate to take financial factors as the sole factors that influence performance and hence measure the same by it (Frigo and Krumwiede, 1999). This study was aimed at filling the gap in literature by finding-out the factors influencing the performance of mobile phone operators in Kenya by taking the case of Zain Kenya Ltd. The study took on a case study research design and collected primary data through interview guide on the Corporate Strategy Manager of Zain Kenya Ltd. The qualitative data was then analyzed using interview guide and presented in prose. The study concluded that Zain Kenya Ltd performance is affected by such factors as competition, political and regulation environment, customer demand and their social life, conditions in the labor market, level of technology and economic conditions as PESTEL issues and recommended that although the most effective method of mitigating the environmental factors is rate reduction, Zain should be very discrete in apply low cost leadership strategy and augment this with high service differentiation.