Effect of Strategic Collaborative Partnerships on Service Delivery at Kenya Revenue Authority

Abstract

Global business scene has witnessed heightened competition coupled with various challenges including ethics and moral discourses. In order to surmount these, strategic collaborative partnership has been employed by corporates by tapping into business partnership complementarities, knowledge management and information sharing, collaborative coordination and partnership expertise among other prerequisites of strategic collaboration. The study aimed at determining the effect of collaborative partnership on service delivery at Kenya Revenue Authority. The guiding research objective of the study was to to determine the effect of strategic collaborative partnerships on service delivery at the Kenya revenue Authority. The study adopted case study design in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the relationships and the effects of the strategic collaborative partnership and service delivery at KRA. The study population comprised of individuals drawn from business development department, relationship management department, sales and marketing, information technology, human resources and the finance department. The study employed interview guide as a tool for collection of primary data which was eventually analyzed using content analysis. The study determined that establishment of strategic collaborative partnerships required firms to look at partners with key skills, resources and competences that are complementary, investment in knowledge and information sharing interconnectivity, common coordination, cultural compatibility and technological expertise. The study was also able to establish that strategic collaborative partnerships provide chances for knowledge and technology transfer which translates to faster growth and enhanced competitiveness. The research findings established that collaborative partnerships are key drivers of efficiency and effectiveness, robustness in technology for speed and responsiveness, accuracy, reliability and feedback mechanisms. The study was restricted to the assessment of the effect of the strategic collaborative partnership at KRA, which is one among many public corporations in Kenya. This calls for replication of a study of the same nature in other functional and related public sector organizations and a comparison made on the dependability of the findings on service delivery on these public organizations. The study was also limited by the sample size selected from only the head office in the southern region of the KRA. There are other offices of the same organization spread around Kenya. The study recommends that management of firms should focus on promoting positive corporate culture through improving on work discipline focus, result oriented staff, professional focus of interest, job orientation and employee orientation management commitment which would foster favourable corporate culture that would influence growth of strategic alliances between companies. The study further recommends that focus be given to why strategic collaborative partnerships collapse after only some years of the relationship due to a lacking strategic fit between the collaborating partners. There is need therefore for a managerial as well as strategic fit evaluation of the partners before the cooperation is entered into. Enhanced top level management involvement is required in order to offer leadership and support to the alliance process and hence better chance of success.