Strategy implementation and performance of firms in telephony industry in Kenya

Abstract

Strategy implementation has attracted much less attention in strategic and organizational research than strategy formulation or strategic planning. Strategy implementation is an enigma in many companies. The problem is illustrated by the unsatisfying low success rate (only 10% to 30%) of intended strategies (Raps and Kauffman, 2005). With the rapid growth, the industry has shifted from having one mobile operator that is Safaricom with an average of 80% of the market belonging to them, to having other players join in such as Airtel, Telkom, and Essar. This has caused stiff competition to be stiff among the mobile operators hence causing them to have innovative solutions that will set them apart from the rest. Empirical studies done in Kenya include; Kiptugen (2003) did a study to determine the strategic responses of Kenya Commercial Bank to a changing competitive environment. Given the importance of these processes, this study sought to fill the existing research gap by seeking answers to the following research question what is the effects of strategy implementation on performance of firms in telephony industry in Kenya? This is a cross section survey study aimed at establishing to establish strategy implementation and performance of firms in telephony industry in Kenya. The study considered this design appropriate since it contributed towards minimizing bias hence maximize reliability of the data. The population of interest of this study is telecommunication firms in Kenya. The target population was 16 employees currently working with four major telecommunication firms in Kenya at their head office in Nairobi. The study sampled 4 respondents from 4 telecommunication companies thus a making a total of 16 respondents who were used in this study. The study used both secondary data from other sources and primary data collected using questionnaires to carry out the study. The questionnaire included both structured and unstructured questions and was administered through drop and pick method to respondents who were the staffs of various Telecommunication firms in Kenya. Descriptive statistic and content analsyis was used, pie charts and bar graphs were used. The study established that top management support acted as propelling force in every stage of strategy implementation process, individual personality differences often determine and influence implementation, lack of coordination results to implementations taking more time that originally expected and that organization culture affects the implementation of strategic plan, biased on the revelation. In order to ensure success of strategy implementation within telephony industry in Kenya, the study recommends that the top management of telecommunication industry should show full commitment in all stages of implementation process. The study also recommends that stakeholders should be included in any assessment and pre-planning activities as well as planning and implementation this will help to increase the chances for the success of implementation process, as well as enriching the process with more ideas. Ineffective strategy implementation is perhaps the most costly item in any organization expenditure. The finding of this study will be of great importance to policy makers as it will help them to come up with factors that delays strategy implementation and those which will hinder their implementation altogether.