A comparative study of innovation as a competitive strategy in the mobile telephony companies and banking sector in Kenya

Abstract

For organizations to achieve their goals and objectives, they have to constantly adjust to their environment. This environment is constantly changing and so it makes it imperative for organizations to continuously adapt their activities in order to assure survival. In today's highly competitive environment, companies need an extra edge to enhance their competitiveness. Many organizations are putting more focus on attracting and retaining customers and increasingly human resource professionals are tasked with developing programmes designed to enhance employees’ customer service skills. The increasingly competitive global marketplace has compelled organizations to transform themselves in the way they conceptualize and conduct business. The objective of the study was to establish and determine innovation strategies adopted by the mobile telephony companies and commercial banks in Kenya. The study adopted cross sectional survey design. The population of the study consisted of all the four mobile companies and all forty two commercial banks operating in Kenya. The study used primary data which was collected through self-administered structured questionnaires. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics and presented using tables. The findings of the study was that the companies innovation strategy incorporates sum of knowledge, experience, resources, assets and managerial capabilities and skills in business available or is able to obtain in due time, improvement of climate for innovation, innovation which include an organized, systematic, and continual search for new opportunities, innovation strategy which has been linked to available resources, the corporate strategy, the marketing function and the information technology functions and finally, that organization approach to innovation is comprehensive or rather all inclusive. The application of innovation strategy in the companies was supported by organizational structure, culture and management risk aversion. Resource constraint was found a hindrance to innovation strategies in the companies.