Small and Micro Enterprises Adoption of ICT for Competitive Advantage in Nairobi County

Abstract

ICT has been viewed as the driver for both the countries that have developed and those that are developing. Due to the increased competition and the need to enter the global market and remain relevant, most businesses have adopted the use of ICT so as to enjoy the substantial benefits that it comes with. Therefore ICT has been a greater contributor in the storage, retrieval, processing and dissemination of information. The aim of this study was to evaluate the small and micro enterprises adoption of ICT for competitive advantage in Nairobi County. A descriptive research design was used. The study was conducted at Nairobi County. Study period was from November 2017 to December 2017. A total of 328 administrators were included in the study selected through Probabilistic multi stage sampling. SME’s were stratified into light manufacturing, retail, technologies, services and wholesale that creates four strata’s which were homogenous, where each population was only assigned to a sub-group or stratum. From each of the 4 strata’s the SMEs were selected randomly. Sampling for the SMEs was without replacement and each SME was sampled only once and assigned to only one stratum. Finally, respondents were purposively chosen from the sampled SMEs who were either the administrator or the manager depending on how the SME structure was constituted. A self-administered data collection instrument consisting of socio-demographic data sheet, innovation and the challenges facing adoption. Data acquired was processed using SPSS version 23, utilizing descriptive and inferential statistics. Results were shared with relevant authorities such as NACOSTI, university of Nairobi as well as the SMEs upon request. The study found that most SME have low level of ICT capacity such as phones, smart phones, computers and laptops and network equipment’s i.e. modems, wireless radios amongst others. The study further found that most SMEs’ level of Information Technology (IT) skills in the firm was medium. The study recommends the need to have SMEs build in internal competencies in the use of ICTs based on level of skills.