Strategic Response to Covid-19 Pandemic and Performance of Nation Media Group Plc

Abstract

Media organizations in Kenya operate in a turbulent environment which has necessitated the need to develop strategic responses to enhance their performance in the midst of the turbulence. “The media firms started facing challenges from technological advancements at the turn of the millennium in the year 2000. Currently, Covid-19 pandemic has been the current challenge facing the firms and therefore need to come with strategic response if they are to survive in the market. The objective of the study was to establish the effect of response strategies to Covid-19 on performance of Nation Media Group Plc. A case study research design was utilized in this study. The main collection of data was done using an interview guide. The targeted respondents for this research were four senior managers at Nation Media Group Plc who sit in the board and are involved in strategy namely; Group CEO, Group finance director, editorial director and Group head of risk and audit. The data collected from the interview guide was examined qualitatively. The qualitative analysis was carried out using the content analysis. The results of the study revealed that Covid-19 had an impact which was mostly negative on the management structure, the culture of human resources, infrastructure, products, and production as well the finances of the firm. The issue of strategic response to effects of Covid-19 revealed that the company adopted strategies such as the product pricing strategy, service diversification, new customer management strategies and digitization. Finally the respondents revealed that the company’s performance was positively impacted by the strategic responses.” Based on the study conclusions the study recommends that NMG and other firms in the media sector should adopt such strategies that will aid them to address the negative effects of Covid-19. The study further makes recommendations to the government through the communication authority of Kenya to come up with polices that will enable media companies to adopt the strategies that will help them to fight the effect of Covid-19.