Response Strategies to Changes in Macroenvironment by Middle Level Colleges in Nairobi Central Business District, Kenya

Abstract

Firms do not operate in a vacuum but in a given environment. It is from the macro environment that they draw the inputs such as raw materials which they eventually translate to outputs in the form of finished goods and services for external consumption. Organizations are environment dependent and environment serving and are in two way interaction, receive inputs from the environment transform or add value and return outputs inform of goods and services back to environment. Environment changes create pressures for change in organization and this means that they have to respond to the relevant external change and ensure that they survive. Response strategies are essential due to the fact that organizations are open systems and have a continuous interface and interaction with the external environment and as such these strategies will be triggered by the changes. The objective of the study was to determine response strategies to changes in macro environment by middle level colleges in Nairobi central business district, Kenya. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population of the study consisted of all the one hundred and twenty middle level colleges operating in central business district. The study used primary data which were collected using a structure questionnaire. The findings of the study were that the changes in the environment emanated from political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal factors. The study concludes that the response strategies pursued by the colleges play an important strategic role of creating value and improving business performance. As such the competitive advantage of middle level colleges in stems not from market position, but from the strategies which they implement and how it responds to the challenges they face. The colleges should continue reviewing the challenges facing the sector so that they avoid reacting to the challenges thus adopting strategies that will not lead to the achievement of desired objectives. Future research should be undertaken on the colleges operating in different environment and also on the relationship between colleges’ response strategies and performance of the middle level colleges. The results of this study form an important base upon which further research on response strategies adopted by organization shall be undertaken. There is growing need for policy makers to bear in mind the macro environment changes affecting middle level colleges and their implication to quality and long term survival of this organizations.