Top Management Team Diversity and Competitive Advantage of Safaricom Limited, Kenya

Abstract

TMT diversity is a concept that is recently being embraced by firms to ensure that they have a competent top management team that can set strategies and decisions to drive the firm towards achieving competitive advantage. This research was set out to establish the influence of TMT diversity on competitiveness of Safaricom Limited in Kenya. A case study design was employed to enable the researcher to conduct an in-depth investigation of Safaricom Limited through establishing the influence of TMT diversity on competitive advantage of Safaricom Limited. An interview guide was applied to collect primary data by interviewing five Heads of Departments: Finance, Customer Management, Operations Management, Marketing and Strategy and Innovation and data analysis was done using content analysis. The study concluded that the most commonly applied TMT diversity practices were functional experiences, educational qualifications, gender and age. Through TMT diversity practices the company was able to make better decisions and strategies which propelled the firm towards achieving competitive advantage. The study further established that use of TMT diversity practices enabled the firm to enhance its competitive position by producing value adding products and services that resulted to customer satisfaction which minimized customer complaints. The success of Safaricom Limited as the leading telecommunication firm was attributed to creativity and innovation which are critical drivers of TMT diversity. The study recommends the need for telecommunication firms to embrace TMT diversity so as to improve the quality of decisions and effectively implement management practices. This research was limited to scope because of resource and time constraints forcing the researcher to conduct a case study of Safaricom Limited. Thus, it would be advisable for future researchers who have an interest in this field, to do a replica of this study to include all the telecommunication firms in Kenya; findings can then be compared and a conclusion will be drawn based on facts.