| dc.description.abstract | Many researchers have carried out research studies in Multinational
companies in various sectors operating in Kenya but no study has been
carried out in Transport sector to establish the factors influencing investment
in Kenya by MNCs. The primary purpose of this study was to establish the
factors that influenced the three Multi- national companies (MNCs) to invest
in Kenya Railways.
The study used both Primary and Secondary data. Structured interview
guide and personal interviews consisting of open-ended questions were used.
Pertinent data were collected from the top and middle level management of
the Rift Valley Railways at the headquarters. The Rift Valley Railways
(RVR) officials targeted for interviewing were the head of Marketing, head
of Operations, head of Human Resource, head of Finance and head of
Administration. The response rate was 80% and the data collected was
analyzed using descriptive statistics.
The open-ended interview guide enabled the respondents to give as much
information as possible without any form of limitation. The researcher
designed the interview guide on the basis of the objective of the research and
the study's literature review. The primary data was supplemented by
secondary data from the existing records of Ministry of Transport, Kenya
Railways Corporation, Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Journals and
Internal circulars. The study findings established that factors such as;
knowledge and experience of the foreign markets; size and growth of the
foreign markets; government emphasis on FDI and financial incentives,
economic policy; cultural closeness cost of transport, materials and labour,
availability of resources; technology, political stability (that is, political
stability of host country and political stability of neighbouring country),
availability of raw material, availability of labour, conducive climate,
availability of investment incentives, infrastructure, increase of sales and
profit, entering rapidly growing markets, reduced operation costs and the
government general legal guarantee that includes, foreign protection Act and
international protection ,that is ICSID contributed immensely to the
investors' decision to invest in Railway line services in Kenya and Uganda.
The findings also revealed that the parent company is registered in South
Africa and has only two subsidiaries in Africa that is, Kenya and Uganda
undertaking their core mandate in railway line transport services under
concessionaire type of agreement of twenty five years reviewed after five
years of initial investment. However there is need for Rift Valley Railways
(RVR) investors to speed up expansion strategy to many other countries in
the continent and beyond. | en |
