Factors Influencing Strategy Implementation at Water Service Providers in the Lake Victoria South Water Services Board Region, Kenya

Abstract

The success of strategy implementation in organizations, those in the water sector included, depends both on the selection of an appropriate strategy and converting that strategy into action. Towards attaining expected strategic success, however, an entity is required to deal with various factors emanating from both internal and external environments. In this study, the objective was to establish factors influencing the process of strategy implementation at the Water Service Providers (WSPs) licensed and regulated by the Lake Victoria South Water Services Board (LVSWSB). Towards achieving this objective, the study adopted a descriptive survey design which relied on research data obtained from the nine WSPs operating within contextual jurisdiction. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire with an aggregate of 42 factors which were presumed to have influence on strategy implementation at the WSPs. Using factor analysis methods, the tested factors were consequently reduced to six at 63.147% cumulative loadings. The study found that strategy implementation was significantly influenced by a set of six latent factors which included stakeholder engagement, regulatory environment in the water sector, resource availability and utilization, internal work systems, co-ordination of strategy implementation, and strategy alignment with external environment. In conclusion, therefore, success in strategy implementation in LVSWSB region was dependent on both internal and external environments within which the WSPs operated. Based on the extracted factors, the study recommended that WSPs are sensitized and monitored in relation to their determinations of identifying and engaging their primary stakeholders. Also, it was highly essential that WSPs know their space in the water regulatory platform so that their engagements did not attract unnecessary legal challenges. Finally, the WSPs needed adequate funding partnerships to enable rehabilitation of dilapidated systems and support expansions to meet the widening demand gap. Arising from these, studies on other sets of strategy implementation factors, comparisons with dissimilar contexts, and widening of response scope were suggested.