The Impact of External Environmental Forces on Strategy Development by Firms Operating in the Mobile Money Market in Kenya

Abstract

Positive organizational performance and evolution of competitive strategy has been linked to firms that adapted their strategies faster to external forces, and also understood the industry‟s attractiveness and their own positions than those which did not. As such, this research was conducted to establish the impact of the key external environmental forces on strategy development in firms operating in the mobile money market in Kenya and also establish the strategic measures taken to cope with those forces. All six firms providing mobile financial services i.e Safaricom Ltd, Airtel Kenya Ltd, Telkom Orange Ltd, Essar Telecom, Mobile Pay Ltd and Mobikash Ltd were involved, with primary data gathered through a self administered semi structured questionnaire to 4 respondents per firm involved in heading key functional areas. From the research, it was established that various environmental forces impacted on strategy development to a great extent and there was also consistency amongst the firms in the strategic measures adopted to cope with those forces to a great extent. The study concluded that there was a need to establish more parameters in evaluating the holistic impacts of environmental forces on strategy development. The study recommends that mobile firms need to establish flexible organization wide, yet structured and dynamic integrated environmental analysis systems and reengineer the tools for strategy development and communication across all cadres of staff. Keywords: External environmental forces, Strategy development, Strategic measures