The goal of this study was to determine the joint effect of organizational strategy, organizational culture and external environment on organizational performance, using data from Sixty-one large private health facilities in Kenya. A descriptive cross-sectional design grounded on positivism research philosophy was used. Multiple linear regression analyses were employed to analyze the data. Generally, the results revealed that the joint effect of organizational strategy, culture and external environment on performance dimensions, which include efficiency, effectiveness, relevance and financial viability was statistically significant. Consequently, it was concluded that organizational culture and strategy are not separated from the external environment in which they are embedded. It was recommended that in order to maximize on performance, the private health facilities must establish an optimal balance among the three factors.
Derivatives market in Kenya is at its nascent stage which raises doubt on its depth in boththe short term and long term. NSE kicked off futures trading on 4th July 2019 which ischaracterized by very low volumes, a clear indication of shallow market which is at itsnascent stage. The study identified single stock futures and equity index futures as theinstruments traded in derivatives market in Kenya. The study explored the effect ofvolatility of the underlying spot market on the depth of the nascent derivative market inKenya. The study used Nairobi Security Exchange price list and contracts data ranging from4th July 2018 to 31st January 2020. The study employed descriptive statistics and inferentialstatistics namely granger causality tests, Johansen Cointegration and Autoregressivedistributed lags using Stata version 16. The results revealed that volatility of the underlyingspot market has a negative but statistically insignificant effect on single stock futures marketdepth. However, volatility of the underlying spot market has a positive but statisticallyinsignificant effect on equity index futures market depth. The study concluded that atnascent stage, volatility does not affect the derivatives market depth. Therefore, CapitalMarkets Authority and Nairobi Security Exchange should focus on other factors that canaccelerate the derivatives market depth such as introduction of new derivatives products.
This study determines the influence of competitive strategy drivers on the performance of manufacturing SMEs in Nairobi County in Kenya. Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of many economies all over the world through creation of employment opportunities as well as wealth creation for entrepreneurs. Strong competitive strategy drivers offer advantage to SMEs to help them achieve good performance and remain competitive in their respective markets. The study was anchored on resource-based theory which provided a framework for examining the association between the research variables. For the methodology, a cross-sectional survey was done covering 334 manufacturing small and medium enterprises in Nairobi County, Kenya. Structured questionnaires were used for data collection with a response rate of 89.6%. Various descriptive statistics were used to project the demographic characteristics of the association and the respondents. Inferential statistics was used to assess up the connection between the factors and test the model. The results indicated that the three competitive strategy drivers of environmental based drivers, resource-based drivers and hybrid strategy drivers exhibited significant relationship with performance of the Manufacturing SMEs in Nairobi county. The study’s recommendations will be useful to management of manufacturing-sector SMEs in developing long term strategies to address constraints that could have led to low capacity utilization and productivity in the sector. Additionally, it may be used to guide policy formulations geared to support manufacturing SMEs operations. The researcher recommends similar research to be undertaken in other SMEs and also have more managers respond to the questionnaires in order to enrich the collected data.
In Kenya, Youth-Owned Enterprises (YOEs) create employment for youths and contributesto poverty reduction. Despite this, more than a third of start-up YOEs often fails before thethird year of operation, resulting far-reaching consequences at all levels. Youth EnterpriseDevelopment Fund (the Fund) adopted a number of incubatory practices to increase YOEs’longevity and financial performance. Even though a number of studies have evaluated thesurvival and financial performance of YOEs, none has been done in Kenya. The studyanchored on the pragmatism school of thought, the cross-sectional design and mixedmethods approach. Primary data were sourced in mid-2019, from 176 start-up YOEsfinanced by the Fund; and Officers of the Fund, among others. Key findings show that allthe business incubation practices adopted by the Fund positively and significantly correlatedwith YOEs’ financial performance; with the correlation being strongest forentrepreneurship training (50.7%), followed by partnership linkages (42.0%), marketaccess (40.7%), and infrastructure support (23.1%). Besides, all the incubation practicescaused positive and significant effects on YOEs’ financial performance; while the regressionmodel accounted for 44.1% of improvement in YOEs’ financial performance. The studyconcludes that business incubation practices adopted by the Fund significantly improvedYOEs’ financial performance. This implies that: the Fund plays a crucial role in enterprisedevelopment; the incubation practices adopted by the Fund are insufficient; and that theFund’s potential in enterprise development is yet to be exhausted. Efforts to strengthen theFund should revamp the business incubation program with more strategies, among othermeasures.
Firm decisions are majorly affected by the operating environment in which they exist.Environmental context represents an exterior ecosystem. Effect of externalenvironment context on strategic management is a discussion that is ever ongoingwithin which the organizational decisions and strategy are integrated. Operatingenvironment either pose a threat or offer opportunities necessary to steer organizationperformance. The purpose of this study was to establish whether the operatingenvironment had any moderating effect on the relationship between corporategovernance and performance of firms listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).The study targeted all of the 66 the firms listed at the NSE within the period of thestudy. Both primary and secondary data sources were used. Reliability and validity ofthe study instruments was ascertained. Stepwise regression analysis was used to testfor the moderating effect of operating environment. From estimation, it was revealedthat corporate governance had a positive and significant effect on performance oflisted firms at NSE whereas operating environment significantly moderated therelationship between corporate governance and firm successes amongst companieslisted at NSE. Based on the findings, the study recommends for strict adherence toguidelines by listed firms as proposed by capital markets authority. There is anecessity for firms to clearly identify and define the components and dimensions of theenvironment under which they operate. The study therefore recommends fororganizational blending with their environment in order to remain relevant.
