Effects of Outsourcing Strategy on Competitive Advantage of Kenyatta International Convention Center, Kenya

Abstract

This study is on the effects of outsourcing strategy on the competitive advantage of hospitality industry: a case study of KICC Nairobi Kenya. A case study design was utilized to attain the study’s objective. The interviewees were heads of departments namely chief finance officer, chief human resources and administration, chief marketing officer, manager corporate affairs, chief of operations, and the general manager. The content analysis technique was utilized to analyze the primary data that was collected using a using an interview guide. The study established a significant relationship between the competitive advantage of the hospitality industry and its outsourcing strategy. The study also revealed that the functions outsourced from hospitality industry by other organizations were accounts payable, data entry and shipping inventory, specialized knowledge such as IT support for the industries accounting system and network. The study also established that although outsourcing faced a number of challenges, it reduced project timelines, saved labor costs, increased efficiency and reduced risks with IT practices among other benefits. The study recommends that the industry should follow a procedure that would help it to discover whether the outsourcing strategy is of success or failure. It also recommends that the KICC’s management team and other organizations in the hospitality industry should ensure that their organizations benefit from outsourcing practices while minimizing the risks that come with the practice. The study also found out that the outsourcing processes of the KICC as a facility in hospitality industry have influenced its competitive advantage thereby recommends that it should continue outsourcing most of its services which can be outsourced so that it can counter competition by giving work to the experts who do it perfectly. This means a study need to be done on industry basis hence a conclusion be made. A research can be done on the hospitality industry ranging them according to size, time in operation, location and the like. The current study only was limited to KICC which a very narrow scope.