The extent to which firms manufacturing fast Moving consumer goods in Kenya apply Real Time Strategic change principles

Abstract

Today's business environment has become increasingly dynamic. Organizations are under a lot of pressure to change as fast as their markets do. Managing strategic change is now a core responsibility of corporate managers and the traditional top-down approaches to managing change are falling short of propelling organizations to high performance levels. It is for this reason that emergent approaches to change like RealTime Strategic Change are generating a lot of interest. Real Time Strategic Change uses six principles; Real Time, Preferred Future, Creating Community, Common Understanding, Reality as a Key Driver and Empowerment and Inclusion. The objective of this study was to determine the extent to which manufacturers of Fast Moving Consumer Goods in Kenya apply the principles of Real Time Strategic Change and the challenqes associated with the application of the principles. The study targeted strategy/change m.. anagers. A survey design was used. A semi-structured mail questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. The data was analyzed using frequency distribution, percentages, mean scores and standard deviation. The results of the survey show that the firms apply the principles of Real Time. Strategic Change to a moderate extent, They apply RealTime principle to a large extent. The others; Preferred Future, Creating Community, Common Understanding, Reality as a Key Driver and Empowerment and Inclusion are applied to a moderate extent. They have largely embraced long term and short term strategic planning, performance management; focus on customer satisfaction and organizational learning as source of competitive advantage. There is an opportunity to benefit from further empowerment, information and knowledge sharing, communication and inter-departmental interfacing. However, the study has some limitations. The study was restricted to: manufacturers of Fast Moving Consumer Goods, senior managers within the organization and the principles of Real Time Strategic Change. Further research can use case study design; cover other manufacturers and industries as well as other aspects of RealTime Strategic Change.