The Influence of an Adaptive Culture on the Competitive Advantage of Mobile Telecommunication Companies in Kenya

Abstract

The current business environment is continuously changing, and corporations are operating in an era of risk and instability. Technological innovations, competition and globalization are examples of the factors many organizations have to contend with. Organizations, therefore, have to develop strategies that allow them to adapt and not only remain relevant but also maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace. The study examined the influence of an adaptive organization culture on the competitive advantage of an organization by conducting a case study of mobile telecommunication companies in Kenya. A descriptive cross-sectional survey was utilized in this investigation. Safaricom Limited, Airtel Kenya Limited, and Telkom Kenya Limited were the three telecommunications firms in Kenya that were the target respondents for the study. The study surveyed respondents from the three companies by selecting a total of 80 respondents working in the companies, across all hierarchical levels of the company. Primary data was utilized and was obtained using questionnaires. Mean, as a measure of central tendency, was used to identify and analyze the adaptiveness of the company’s culture and the competitive positioning of the companies. The standard deviation and average mean were used to determine the consistency with which an adaptive culture was implemented and the competitive advantage of the businesses analyzed. To investigate the strength of the connection between the research variables, correlation analysis, regression analysis, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests were employed. According to the findings of the research, all three businesses had organizational cultures that could be characterized as generally adaptive, with Safaricom Limited being rated as the most adaptive of the three companies. Safaricom Limited was found to be the most competitive in the Kenyan market, with Airtel Kenya Limited ranked second and Telkom Kenya Limited, third. It was established, by the study, that there is a statistically significant positive connection between an adaptive organizational culture and competitive advantage. The results indicated an adaptive culture was responsible for 68.7 % of the organizational competitive advantage in the three mobile telecommunication companies. The study recommended that mobile telecommunication operating companies as well as companies operating in the general business environment should implement policies and procedures that foster strong adaptive culture with behavioral examples modelled by the top management. Companies that are considered adaptive have a low power distance, are customer centric, are open to change and foster organizational learning