Disruptive Innovation and Competitive Advantage of Large Telecommunication Firms in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Technological dynamism of the telecommunication firms in Nairobi County has been characterized by innovation disruptions from various players time and again. Whenever such disruptions occur from small players in the industry, it normally attracts retaliation from big players leading to multiplier effect in the industry. Under such conditions, some organizations automatically emerge the winners while other suffer the adverse effects. It the past, however, it has never been clear as to the influence of disruptive innovation on competitive advantage of firms. The objective of the study was to address the foregoing gap. Descriptive research design was adopted in this study; the target population constituted all the 27 large telecommunication firms in Nairobi County as at December 2017. Primary data was collected using a semi structured questionnaire, after which cleaning, organization, and coding (of open ended responses) was done. Descriptive analysis entailed computation of the mean and standard deviation for the scores on various indicators. Regression analysis was done and significance of the beta factors interpreted at 5% level of significance. The operations were done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences, version twenty. Seventy three point six percent changes in competitive advantage could be attributed to changes in disruptive innovation. The study established that if there were no changes in disruptive innovation, competitive advantage would be at 1.508. However, a unit change in disruptive innovation would lead to increase in competitive advantage by a factor of 0.481. At 5% level of significance in conversation was found to significantly influence competitive advantage. The significance level was 0.1%, which was less than 5% threshold. The study suggests the findings for the development of policies that would be geared towards increasing the sustainability of the telecommunication sector in Kenya. The Information and Technology should apply the study results in decision making since it would assist in developing well-informed policies geared towards the achievement of the Vision 2030, the Big Four agenda, and the sustainable development goals in Kenya. The study also recommends that the academics in the field of strategic management, should consider using the empirical evidence adduced to further their research interests. Theorists should also consider the findings of this study to find further empirical foundation in light of the linkages between disruptive innovation and competitive advantage. By so doing, further studies in other contexts, including public, private, manufacturing, and service would develop. Finally, the study recommends that the top management team of the various telecommunication firms should use the findings for guidance in making necessary adjustments in their various functional units to enable them enhance innovation and become competitive. Specifically, because the study findings have drawn important lessons for success and best practices for the telecommunication sector against the backdrop of increasing industry competition.