Strategic Responses and External Environmental Challenges by International Committee of the Red Cross in Nairobi

Abstract

The research objectives for this study sought to determine the environmental challenges facing ICRC in Nairobi and to establish the strategic responses adapted by ICRC in Nairobi to external environmental challenges. Organisations exist in and are surrounded by an environment – the business or organisational environment. The environments in which organisations operate have become not only increasingly uncertain in recent years but also more highly interconnected; thus changes anywhere in the system reverberate unpredictably, and often chaotically and dangerously. On this basis, organisational strategy has to continually evolve in order to fit or match the organisation’s environmental condition. A case study was used to meet the objectives of this study. An interview guide was used to collect data from five senior managers. The data included the challenges in ICRC Nairobi’s external environment and the response strategies adapted. The data collected was analysed using content analysis technique. The study showed that ICRC in Nairobi has experienced a number of environmental challenges emanating from changes in the external environment. Changes in the political-legal, economic, technological, ecological, socio-cultural and ethical environments pose challenges for ICRC in Nairobi. In response to this complexity and change in its external environment ICRC in Nairobi continually evolves its operational strategy in order to fit into its environmental condition. The implication of the study on policy, theory and practise is that ICRC Nairobi continually monitors its environment and swiftly modifies its strategy in response to changes in its external environment in order to ensure its survival.