Response Strategies Adopted by Real Estate Firms to Environmental Changes in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

The organization is environment dependent and environment serving hence not self-sufficient. They are dependent on input resources derived from the environment and use them to generate resources (good and services) utilized by the same environment. They take a combination of resources from the environment, do value addition and deliver them back into the same environment in form of services and goods. Organizations are therefore affected by external conditions and in turn affect the environment within which they operate. Over the past 10 years there has been tremendous changes in the environment that has greatly impacted on how industries operate and real estate hasn’t been spared either. The research project sort out to establish the response strategies adopted by real estate firms to environmental changes in Nairobi, Kenya. To attain this, a semi- structured questionnaire was used to collect the primary data. The drop and pick method was employed with the option of mailing used on the tech-savvy firms in operation in Nairobi. The findings showed changes that had a positive outlook to the real estate firms included the development of infrastructure by government such as Thika superhighway and the Standard gauge railway, investment from the diaspora, county governments and county to county migration and information technology infrastructure. On the other side, continuous electioneering period, election uncertainty, change of government and tribalism were some of the changes that had a negative outlook on the industry. The real estate firms responded to the changes through well thought out strategic responses that included new product introduction like lifestyle developments, getting into new markets like satellite towns, opening new branches, improved distribution channels, adherence to regulations, outsourcing of critical services that require attention and specialization and investing heavily on information technology through automation of processes, having a robust client service, divesting some product lines, diversification and downsizing. These responses worked positively since the firms were thriving despite the many changes within the environment they operated in. The study identified that emphasis need to be on information technology has its potential was underutilized and that government should crack down on illegitimate real estate agents to ensure they get registered and enhance a level playing ground