| dc.description.abstract | Corporate strategy is primarily about the choice of direction for an organization as a
whole and the management of businesses or product portfolio for maximum value
(Wheelen and Hunger, 2008). Corporate executives are therefore concerned with the
orientation towards growth, coordination of cash flow among business units and
building of corporate synergies through resource sharing and development. Thus, the
study sought to understand the process of corporate strategy development and its
challenges at NHL. The rationale of the study arose out of the realization of the
Nakumatt’s tremendous growth and diversification over the last five years. The
challenge of managing a diversified company with arrays of businesses lies in the
development and management of well crafted corporate strategies.
The objective of this research project was to establish the corporate strategy
development processes and challenges faced by Nakumatt Holdings Ltd. An
interview guide was used to facilitate personal and in-depth interviews of the
Managing Director, Operations Director, IT director and all the departmental heads as
well as Branch Managers at NHL.
This was a case study of Nakumatt Holdings Ltd. An in-depth and comprehensive
inquiry was conducted on the corporate strategy development processes and its
challenges at NHL. Primary data was collected using an interview guide and posing
of mostly open-ended questions. The questions were administered through personal
interviews of the respondents. This was a qualitative study in which data was
analyzed using content analysis.
The research findings established that corporate strategy development at Nakumatt
Holdings limited is both planned and emergent. Planned process of strategy
development exists because there is evidence of strategic planning activities at
Nakumatt Holdings. The presence of vision and mission statements indicates the
strategic direction and path of Nakumatt. Some strategies are considered to emergent
because Nakumatt strategy formulation is continuous and response to emerging
environmental challenges is called for. Poor infrastructure has been a major challenge
to NHL in the development of her corporate strategies. The study suggests that further
studies can be carried out on the entire industry or all the major supermarkets, other
aspects of strategic management; strategy implementation and control and finally, a
post IPO period when NHL is expected to be public company. | en |
