Strategic Resilience for Performance During and Post- the Covid-19 Pandemic Among Hotels in Kisumu City, Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this paper was: "To determine the strategic resilience for performance during and post- the COVID-19 pandemic among the Kisumu City hotels‟, following the massive negative impacts as suffered by the hotels, and as occasioned by the pandemic, between late-2019 – 2021, and counting. The design used was a cross- sectional descriptive survey design, on six hotels in Kisumu City. The hotels formed a heterogeneous mix of a stratified random probability sample of: one of 4-star; three of 3-star; and two of 2-star, as classified, gazetted and provided by the Tourism Regulatory Authority, Western Region Office, Kisumu. The methodology that was applied was of a qualitative research method, given the small case-number of six hotels, being below the minimum of 30 cases for a quantitative research method requirement. The analytical approach applied was of a „generic qualitative analysis approach, that includes: grounded theory, content analysis, thematic analysis, etc., all- in-one, procedures and nine-steps. The findings, out of six semi-structured interview sessions, with six senior-level management employees, did establish the overwhelming failure and underwhelming performance of the time-honoured strategy concept, as being „long-term-oriented‟, and as was not capable of dealing with the sudden, unprecedented and catastrophic occurences, as was COVID-19. In the strategy concept‟s place, a counter-weight concept of strategic resilience was vouched-for, and that espoused „looking and thinking forward to the horizon/future, despite the current difficult conditions, with a time advantage, business model innovation, lead-performance metrics, critical assumptions, organizational vision and values, etc., as the most conceptually viable and potent antidote with which to deal with sudden and or any organizational negative impact(s). However, the respondents, overwhelmingly, concurred, and also under-scored, the importance of complementarily applying both strategy (as post- thought) and strategic resilience (as pre-/fore- thought) concepts, to effectively and efficiently counter sudden organizational downturn and or imminent collapse, due to external and or internal environmentally-instigated negative impacts. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic being novel, unprecedented and destructively pervasive globally, the findings of this study were deemed inconclusive, calling, therefore, for further research, to similar or other situations, as all economic sectors were equally ill-affected, but which further research need bear tangible empirical evidence.

The research limitations and or implications, were: first, the novelty of the endeavor, and which therefore called for further research; and two, the inadequacy of only six cases for the study, limiting therefore the breadth, generalizability, validity and reliability (as would be expected, of a minimum of 30 cases), of the, otherwise „deep‟, inductive and qualitative responses, as borne of the semi-structured interviews, at the six Kisumu City hotels. Also, two erstwhile approved hotel-cases for this study, were dropped inadvertently, at the last minute, having become „casualties‟ of COVID-19. The study‟s practical implications, appreciated the uncertain, turbulent and complex business environment, as occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic (of late- 2019 – 2021, and counting), in which business model innovation and organizational entrepreneurship, evolution and adaptability, would have been indispensable ingredients. Thus, it brings to the fore, managerial values and vision, that wholesomely support/engender and ruffle, proactively, the ensuing status quo. The originality and value of this paper, displays how the need for active other than reactive manoevures to uncertainty, are given life by the dialectical teaming-up of entrepreneurial and managerial endeavor. This study therefore suggested organizational practices that might consistently enable the development of value, despite the prevailing circumstances as well as in the future that the organizations create and nurture themselves (with deliberate direction from, and management acumen)