Contribution of social media in promoting International Business in Kenya’s Telecommunication Industry

Abstract

The current level of competition in the international business front has and still is experiencing a lot of advancements than in the past few years. This is largely driven by dynamics in the global business environment that continuously push firms to keep changing and adopt new ways enhancing much better flow of business activities such as communication. Since a firm is an open system, it interacts with both the internal environment comprising of employees and management while at the same time interacting with the external environment which consists of customers, suppliers and competitors continuously; the interaction that is mainly aided by communication. Emergence of social media over the past few years has become a game changer on how firms communicate with both the external and internal environment. It has emerged as a very powerful frontier for businesses to meet their business objectives ranging from marketing, sales, public relations, branding, reputation management, customer care, customer relationship management, product development, to communications. It has made information flow borderless, seamless, real time and less expensive while at the same time within reach of millions in the shortest time. The project explored the understanding of the potential impact of social media to international businesses when well executed, because the future of business requires a holistic approach to adopting and integrating emerging trends on social media. The study adopted a descriptive research design in conducting a survey of firms that participate in international business that are based in Kenya. Data was collected from 10 firms based in Nairobi out of the targeted 10 through questionnaires, which is 100% expected response. The data was analyzed using measures of central tendencies, excel and statistical packages for social sciences and was presented in tables, graphs and charts. The findings indicate that most of firms that participate in international business actually have adopted the use of social media as one of their main communication channels to the customers, suppliers and competitors. Most of them have also reorganized the organizational structure and created a separate department that entirely deals with social media; in so doing, they have managed to greatly improve customer service, increased sales and marketing, reduces costs, increased their competitiveness and even aided realization of several organizational objectives. The study recommends that the influence of social media towards growth of international business is so significant to any organization participating in the international business and as such it is imperative for a firm to pay special attention and adopt active use of social media in order promote its growth of international business front.