The influence of corporate culture on strategy: A survey of the internet service providers in Nairobi

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of Corporate Culture on Strategy among internet service providers in Nairobi. The objectives were two fold, namely, to establish which of the elements of corporate culture influence strategy and to establish the importance attached to the alignment of strategy and organizational culture on organizational effectiveness. This study therefore sought to bridge the gap by determining corporate cultural issues on strategy implementation within internet service providers in Nairobi. A census research design was undertaken based on a selfcompletion questionnaire. Data was collected from a sample of 28 respondents drawn from a list of ISPs. The data was analyzed using percentages, and then presented using graphs and tables with the interpretation based on resulting means and ranking. The study concluded that successful strategy execution requires that the elements of culture are supportive if not compatible with the strategy to be implemented. Furthermore, this study concluded that a strategy- supportive culture funnels organizational energy towards getting the right things done and delivering positive organizational results. Although, strategy- culture can lead to problems created by a series of psychological processes; this study recommended that cultural values are very powerful because they inspire employees by appealing to their ideals and clarify expectations and thus overtime results to good strategy implementation. While this research provides valuable insight into the influence of corporate cultural issues to strategy implementation, the researcher recognizes the small sample size for a generalization of the entire internet services sector as a major limitation.