Strategic leadership and sustainable competitive advantage of commercial banks in Kenya

Abstract

Competition in organizations has tremendously grown due to various changes in the environment thus survival tactics are essential for the success of organizations. Strategic leadership plays an important role in sustaining competitive advantage for commercial banks in Kenya over the long-term. Strategic leaders are therefore important in banks since they are key people who have capabilities to anticipate and foresee challenges and opportunities in both the present and future of the banks. The purpose of the study was to investigate the strategic leadership and sustainable competitive advantage of commercial banks in Kenya. The objective of this study was to determine whether the practice of strategic leadership has an impact on sustainable competitive advantage of commercial banks in Kenya. Descriptive research design was used in the study. The study targeted 43 commercial banks in Kenya. Questionnaires were used as the main data collection instrument in the study. Questionnaires were deemed appropriate as they ensured the confidentiality of the respondents. The data collected from the field was coded and analyzed using descriptive statistical techniques such as frequencies, percentages standard deviation and means. The findings indicated that even though there is intense competition within the financial sector, banks can still have a sustainable competitive advantage. The findings also indicated that the strategic leadership practices and roles such as anticipating environmental change, nurturing people’s creativity, improve on service delivery through adoption of modern technology, reduce costs of operation, employ competent staff, strategy implementation and ethical practices among others all had a great impact in sustaining the banks competitive advantage. The study recommends the commercial banks to have their strategic leaders pay more attention to both the short and long-term performances. They should create an effective strategy that can lead their banks to vision while short-term goals still remain. In order to lead an organization to success over the long term, the study also recommends the commercial banks to have its leaders to not only have a few capabilities but also have sufficient and effective capabilities to create an effective strategy.