Strategic responses of container freight stations in Kenya to challenges in the business environment

Abstract

Businesses do not exist in a vacuum; rather they operate within an environment. The environment itself is dynamic and surpriseful and is multi-layered. Container Freight Stations are businesses run by private entities licensed with the sole mandate of decongesting the Mombasa port in terms of handling, transfer and storage of cargo (vehicles and containers). Strategic responses by various firms have been studied in various settings, yet no endeavor had been done and so little information is available on CFS and their operations. The purpose of this study was to determine the strategic responses of container freight stations in Kenya to challenges in their business environment. The study was a census that employed exploratory research design. The population of interest was all the 10 KRA licensed CFSs. The research instrument was a questionnaire addressed to the chief executive officers or their designated representatives, which was dropped and later picked, further follow up interviews were carried for clarifications. The findings pointed to the challenges in the immediate operating environment with respect to logistics; site and location; industry environment challenges centered on threats of entry, while the remote environment came up with challenge of government policies with respect to regulatory framework. The CFSs adopted a combination of strategies including aggressive marketing; operational efficiency and cost cutting amongst other strategies. The study hopes the findings will be used to enhance better regulation and to promote competition and growth.