Management of Strategic Change at International Livestock Research Institute, Kenya

Abstract

The contemporary business environment is turbulent and fast changing. This turbulence has the potential to create new opportunities or erode competitive advantage for existing firms. To sustain their competiveness and profitability, companies have to undergo change to renew their capabilities. The purpose of this research is to determine the nature of Strategic Change Management practices adopted at International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), a non-profit organization. A case study was preferred to get in-depth knowledge of the process by interviewing key members of the organization who participated in the change process. Results show that ILRI responded to changes in its business environment by reconfiguring its organizational structure to incorporate institutions that effectively make the institute dynamic and then through innovation and collaboration came up with an effective strategy to meet its new objectives. If well implemented this strategy has the capacity to revolutionize the livestock sector, ensuring food security and alleviation of poverty. However, due to the fact that the business environment is continuously changing with new inventions/ innovations coming up, there is need for continuous sensing of the business environment to seize any new opportunities that open up. Given that the execution phase had just started, this research would be more complete if further research is done to determine how the new strategy is implemented and its impact.