Strategic Response by Five Star Hotels in Hospitality Industry to Environmental Turbulence in Kenya

Abstract

The research project addresses the strategic responses by five star hotels in hospitality industry to environmental turbulence in Kenya. The strategic responses are due to the competitive environment found in the dynamic hospitality industry. The ability of managers to make decisions and hard choices, the strategies adopted play and important role in defining the strategies that are used and how to overcome new competitions arising from the ever changing consumer needs. The study was guided by environmental dependency and resource based view theories. The research methodology was guided by descriptive survey research design. The study did target 168 respondents who consisted of upper and middle managers in 8 of the five star hotels. The study employed Krjecie & Morgan table as sample determination formula to obtain 117 respondents. Data was collected using questionnaire with response rate of 85% that was useful in obtaining several responses from a wide scope of target population. Data was then coded and analysed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, frequencies). The findings showed that 18% of the respondents have been working in the hotel for less than a year while 20% have been in the hotel for between 1-2 years. 52% and another 10% have been working in the hotel for between 3-4 years and over 5 years respectively. The findings also showed that 28% of the respondents have been in the position for less than one year while 54% have been in the position for between 1-2 years. Another 10% have been in the position for between 3-4 years while 8% have been in the position for over 5 years. It was noted that strategic plan of the hotel is often revised and the findings showed that hotels revise their strategic plans yearly (28%), 2-4 years (49%), 5-6 years (23%) and none revises between 6-10 years. The findings indicated that majority of the respondents were of the opinion that the hotels are experiencing turbulence (48%) while 24% stated that it was irregular. Some 18 % were of the opinion that it was relatively. The study also revealed that the most common strategic response for hotels is product development and modification (46%) and aggressive market campaigns (36%). Some respondents believed that market development (15%) and corporate social responsibility (03%) were the most common and best response to environmental turbulence. The study recommended that top management of the hotels should change their organization policies in order to ensure that strategies are integrated into the management policies as they contribute to organizational performance and response to the ever changing and dynamic environment in the hotel industry. At the same time, the owners of the hotels need to provide a favorable environment and support that will encourage creativity and innovation among employees while employees in lower cadres should embed strategic thinking practices, techniques and methods in their respective working procedures and activities.