Strategic Change Management Practices and Competitive Advantage of Safaricom Plc

Abstract

The environment in which organizations operate in is dynamic and ever changing. To remain competitive, organizations need to continuously devise how to adapt to the changes. Thus organizations have to come up with strategies to remain competitive. While having a strategy is one thing, it requires application of best practices to steer the organization to achieve the goals so identified in the strategy. There is therefore need for organizations to adopt learning organization concept and have with them dynamic capabilities that can have them remain competitive in an ever changing environment. This study sought to establish the strategic change management practices that Safaricom Plc has adopted and the contribution of such practices to competitive advantage of the Safaricom Plc. To achieve this, a case study approach was taken. Data was collected through the use of face to face interview with the aid of an interview guide. Four respondents were interviewed in Safaricom Plc that is Director Strategy and Innovation, Director Technology, Director Enterprise Business Unit and Director Consumer Business unit. Data analysis was done through content analysis with editing of the interview guide being done for consistency and completeness. Data collected was qualitative and hence the choice of content analysis which allows evaluation of qualitative data by identifying distinctive features of data to make accurate conclusions based on the similarity of the trends involved. The research established that Safaricom Plc employs a number of best practices to ensure successful change implementation. These include Establishing a vision, Strategic leadership, Stakeholder analysis and management, Resistance management, communicating openly and doing so in time as well as Monitoring and evaluation. The study further established the contribution that the application of such practices has had on the competitive advantage of Safaricom Plc. By applying best practices in Strategic change Management, Safaricom Plc has been able to gain competitive advantage with indicators like market share, time to market for products and services as well as product quality being as key distinguishers. The researcher recommends further research to be done in a different context for example a different player in the mobile telephony industry with little or no signs of competitive advantage. This will provide a rich ground for comparison and establish the role that Strategic change management practices would have on such a player. In addition due to the changing trends, the researcher recommends a repeat of the study in five years and establish how the different Strategic change management practices for example stakeholder analysis and management would be especially with a changing workforce.