Strategies Adopted by Supermarkets in Nairobi to Achieve Organizational Growth

Abstract

Organizations adopt strategies for different reasons the major one being to bridge the gap between policy and tactics. The study sought to establish how strategies lead to the organizational growth of the supermarkets in Nairobi. The study is guided by institutional theory, strategic choice theory and strategic choice theory. The research design adopted for this study was the survey method. This study focused on 174 registered supermarkets in Nairobi. The sampling technique used was probability sampling as the chance of each supermarket being selected from the population is known and equal. Simple random sampling procedure was used to select the sample size to participate in the study. A sample of 36 supermarkets will be used to represent the target population. This sample size is deemed to be fit for analysis. Primary data was collected by means of a semi- structured questionnaire. The questionnaires were self-administered via drop and pick later method to the respective branch managers or equivalent of various supermarkets. The structured questions are in form of a five point Likert scale, whereby respondents were required to indicate their views on a scale of 1 to 5. The quantitative data collected by the questionnaires was be analyzed through descriptive statistics. The quantitative data generated was analyzed with the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. The findings were presented in tables and mean, to enable effective and efficient interpretation. The process of data analysis will involve several stages namely; data clean up and explanation. Data clean up involves editing, coding, and tabulation in order to detect any anomalies in the responses and assign specific numerical values to the responses for further analysis. The study revealed that the supermarkets have adopted diversification strategy of organizational growth. On joint venture strategy the study revealed that by bringing together supermarkets with different skills and knowledge bases, a joint venture creates unique and usually synergistic learning opportunities for the partners. The increase in skills and knowledge from different parties increase the operational efficiency leading to lower costs. Lower costs lead to increase in profits as a sign of organizational growth. On merging and acquisition strategy in supermarkets in Nairobi, the study revealed that this strategy is applicable by companies where with financial capability may purchase another company or a particular product line of that company. When a company acquires another or a product line the size of the organization grows in size as well as product lines. This leads to growth of the organization in the long run by increasing the number of employees to handle the new business lines as well increased profit from the additional ventures.