Strategic Leadership and Performance of Manufacturing Firms in Kenya
Abstract
Proper strategic leadership is precursory for effective strategy formulation, implementation and
control especially in the current highly volatile business environment. However, locally, there is
dearth of empirical findings on how strategic leadership affects performance of organizations.
Thus, this study increased this knowledge by answering the question: what is the relationship
between strategic leadership and performance of manufacturing firms in Kenya? Cross sectional
survey design was adopted for the study on a target population of the 700 manufacturing firms in
Kenya which are registered with Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM). A sample of 70
firms was selected using stratified sampling technique. Semi-structured questionnaire design was
used as the research instrument. Descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages, mean and
standard deviation) was used in the analysis. Pearson correlation analysis was also conducted at
95% confidence level (α = .05) to determine the significance of the relationship between strategic
leadership and performance of the firms. The study findings revealed that strategic leadership
attributes that are profound within the manufacturing firms included exploitation, maintenance
and alignment of core competencies with strategic objectives. The leadership also focused,
encouraged and put pressure on employees to contribute to organizational goals. The leadership
further nurtured culture that fosters positive performance besides developing human and social
capital. It concluded that strategic leadership is highly correlated with performance. The study
recommended that strategic leadership should align reward schemes with performance and
encourage interpersonal relationship among employees. Firms’ boards should also encourage
empirically sound leadership within firms.
Citation
A Research Project Submitted In Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirement For The Award Of The Degree Of Master Of Business Administration School Of Business, University Of NairobiPublisher
University of Nairobi School of Business