| dc.description.abstract | This research set out to find out: what were the corporate venturing practices, and their justifying
factors, as exhibited by software development and distribution firms in Nairobi, Kenya. These
were issues of concern given the various changes in business environment in Kenya: the complex.
uncertain and dynamic IT industry in the flat Kenyan economy; which called for continued
entrepreneurial behaviour for continued renewal and growth.
To explore these corporate venturing practices and the pertinent factors. primary data was
collected using a survey design from eighteen respondent firms on empirically documented
corporate venturing practices, namely: culture, climate and corporate support: structure and design
of venturing effort; planning, monitoring, evaluation and control of ventures: and staffing and
rewarding venture activity. Additionally, factors espoused as being influential to the success of
corporate venturing such as mission of the venturing activity, environmental factors. product
market strategy, and entry strategies were investigated. The findings were ana lysed usmg
descriptive statistics and factor analysis ..
The findings of this study indicates that: there exists barriers to exercise of entrepreneurial
initiative due to bureaucratic designs in the organ izations, Iirn ited support from sen lor
management, and management styles that stifle corporate venturing; venture efforts are granted
sufficient autonomy, closely monitored by senior management and appropriate modes of
venturing employed. Majority of the firms plan for, evaluate, monitor and control venture efforts
as they do established lines of business; staff venture teams with team-builders, risk takers and
politically sensitive while rewarding them based on the success of the venture. Further. few are
concerned with customer satisfaction levels.
This led to the conclusions: the supportive entrepreneurial culture, climate and support are
lacking; empirically espoused practices on structure and design of corporate venturing are employed; planning, monitoring, evaluation, and control of venture is based on conventional
systems; and staffing and reward systems were as empirically documented outside Kenya. These
practices are largely explained by: limited market research to identify existence of new venture
opportunities; limited resources to exploit new venture opportunities; low venture user-need
congruency due to market ignorance; inability to leverage existing skill base to exploit new
technologies; and a lack of aspiration to be global market leaders.
Due to .the breadth of this study, it is limited in level of detail. Findings that are more concrete can
be drawn if a' more focused study say on staffing and rewarding venture effort or any other area is
conducted. It would be highly inspiring for example to find out why most of the respondents in
this study plan for, control and evaluate new venture efforts using similar systems they employ to
the existing lines of business, yet literature from outside Kenya indicates otherwise. | en |
