Influence of Industry Regulation on Strategy Formulation and Implementation Among Private Security Companies in Kenya

Abstract

Provision of security is a cardinal role of the government hence the delegation of this service to the private security companies is accompanied by stringent regulations. Private security firms play an important part in complementing the government’s security strategies. This research aims to examine how regulatory measures impact the development and execution of strategies within privately-owned security firms in Kenya. The aim of this research is to assess the impact of industry regulation on strategy formulation and implementation among private security companies in Kenya. This study will inform stakeholders and policy makers on the influence of regulation on strategies adopted by private security companies and how the regulation influences the execution of these strategies. In addition, the study helps to fill the existing intellectual gap on the impact of industry regulation on strategy formulation and implementation among private security companies. The environmental dependency theory, institutional theory and the regulation theories are adopted to guide this study. The descriptive research design was used for the study. The private security companies registered with KSIA and operating within Nairobi City constituted the population for the study. Given the small number of companies, a census was carried out targeting the 71 companies registered with KSIA. The self-administered questionnaires were employed as the data collection instruments for the study. The data analysis was conducted using descriptive and inferential statistics. The research outcomes indicated that regulation has influence on strategy formulation and implementation among private security companies in Kenya. All the factors of industry regulation (independent variables) had a positive influence (mild to strong) on the strategy formulation and implementation among private security companies. The shortcoming of the study is that it only focuses on the private security sector in Kenya, therefore the findings might not be readily applicable to other sectors or regions. In light of the results of the study, the researcher recommends carrying out more research using the same variables in other industries and lifecycle phases