Strategy Implementation And Challenges Faced By Small Scale Businesses In Kenya: A Case Of Isiolo County
Abstract
A study was conducted to determine strategy implementation and challenges faced by
small scale businesses in Isiolo County. The study had one objective to achieve; to
determine the challenges faced by small scale businesses in strategy implementation.
To achieve the intended objective a case study was carried out to gain an in depth
understanding of the challenges. A total of sixteen respondents were interviewed by
the use of an interview guide. Some limitations encountered during the study included
loss of institutional memory as a result of high turnover. The research was limited to
important information since most of the respondents did not know what strategy
implementation was about. There was consistence between the research findings and
the literature review carried out. The major challenges as revealed in the study
highlighted frequent change in leadership, lack of succession planning, high
employee’s turnover, lack of financial resources, lack of a strategic plan, lack of
employee training, inappropriate organizational culture and lack of skills and
competence. The research established that at least 98% of small scale businesses
owners did not implement strategy since most of them did not understand what
strategy was about.2% of respondents who had an idea what strategy was were
reluctant to implement it. Most employees interviewed were form four leavers while a
few others had certificate courses. Most employees in small scale businesses were not
contented with the job but instead stood there searching for greener pastures. The
researcher recommends further research in a County similar to Isiolo in terms of size
and operate in areas of intervention that are close to Isiolo County so as to establish if
the challenges faced by small scale businesses in strategy implementation are similar
to those of Isiolo County. The study recommends there should be a budget allocation
for the strategic planning process and implementation. The plan should be
communicated to all, monitoring the strategy implementation process should be done
by a team. This will be important for the strategic planning process to be owned by
the stakeholders. It is also recommended for these small scale businesses to have
resource mobilization strategy to implement the strategic plan. The limitations of this
study are that most of the current employees in the organization were not there during
the planning process and a large part of the implementation period. Therefore most of
the information they had was from observation and colleagues. The researcher would
have wished to interview more of the staff who had been involved in the strategic
planning process and implementation but due to time constraint and accessibility this
was not possible. This study was also limited to an in depth case study of Isiolo
County hence the findings are unique to this organization and cannot therefore be
generalized to be a representation of similar organizations in the industry.
Citation
Master Of Business Administration, University Of Nairobi, 2013.Publisher
University of Nairobi School of Business