Strategic change management practices by East African Portland cement company limited

Abstract

The cement industry in Kenya has evolved in the recent past. The industry that once comprised of two companies, EAPCC and BMBC, has seen the entry of four new companies in the last five years making the industry very competitive; two more companies are set to join the industry. This, coupled with expansion from existing competitors threatens to reduce EAPCC‟s market share. It is as a result of these changes in the company‟s environment that has made EAPCC, which is the oldest company in this industry, adopt strategic change so as to survive. The objective of this study was to determine change management practices by East African Portland Cement Company Limited. The study sought to find out factors that led to implementation of change management in the organization, how the change was effected by looking at various methodologies that was used to implement the change. Finally the study looked at whether the change was effected successfully or whether it met obstacles along the way and whether the intended results of the change were met. The research design adopted was a case study since the unit of analysis was one organisation. Interview guides which comprised of open-ended and closed-ended questions were used to collect primary data. The interviews were administered to six interviewees who were the heads of departments at EAPCC. Content analysis was used to analyse the data. The study concludes that strategic change management was well implemented at EAPCC, addressed all the challenges that the organisation was facing at the point of implementation and has helped the organisation survive the turbulent environment. The researcher recommends that the organisation takes up a pro-active approach to dealing with changes in its external environment as this will enable it to better handle any changes in its external environment.