| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between competitive strategy
and organization competencies co-alignment, macro environment and firm performance
of private middle level colleges in Nairobi County –Kenya. The main theoretical
frameworks used are organizational theory, contingency theory, and systems theory and
business policy. A descriptive cross-sectional survey research design was used. More
specifically, census survey was used to include all the registered and fully accredited
private middle level colleges in Nairobi County. A questionnaire with both open and
closed ended question was used to collect data. Descriptive and inferential statistics,
Correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis and pair wise regression analysis were
also utilized for data analysis. The results indicate that there was no significant difference
between the performance of low cost leaders and that of differentiators.The descriptive
statistics and correlations indicated that there exist relationships among the competitive
strategies, organisational competencies co-alignment and firm performance though not
statistically significant at 5%. Indeed, results indicate that joint effect of competitive
strategy and competencies on corporate performances is greater than the sum total of the
independent effect of the same variable on performance. Despite overally not statistical
significance the study results for the effect of strategy, competences and macro
environment on most indicators of performance were positive. It was evident that there is
a fairly strong relationship between strategy-competencies co-alignment and corporate
performance. However, we observed that the strength of strategy-competencies coalignment
and macro environment does not guarantee significant positive change in
corporate performance. This has critical managerial implications in terms of assessing the
symbiotic advantage or complementariness of adopting particular strategy in tandem with
inherent firm competencies. The results of the study support the proposed substantive
linkage between the resources based capabilities of a firm and competitive advantage.
One obvious implication of the study findings is the need for a firm to understand its
competitive environment, and based on that to implement a suitable set of alignment
mechanisms. Analyzing strategy /competence/ environment/performance relationship
from a multivariate perspective has lead researchers to consider a more dynamic model
for the study of strategy rather than a static model. The study therefore contributes in the
search for a true dynamic theory of strategic management. This trend has manifested
itself in the consideration of strategic management from an evolutionary perspective
where a single theory or perspective is not forwarded, but one in which a researcher can
draw from a number of operations of bodies of Literature in the quest to fully explain the
dynamic operations through a synthesis of materials. It offers a holistic type of approach
that more and more scholars are considering as one of the keys to future research in the
area of strategy. The co-alignment approach that was used as the theoretical framework
for this study presented an exciting intellectual direction of the organizational analysis.
The stream of literature on this approach had discontinuities and lack of empirical
reaffirmations. The most significant contribution of this study was to restate the
importance of co-alignment and to confirm that they provided a superior explanation
of organization performance. | en_US |
