Strategic Change Management Practices and Sustainable Competitive Advantage at National Bank of Kenya

Abstract

This research project is titled strategic change management practices and sustainable competitive advantage at NBK. Creating a sustainable competitive advantage may be the most important goal of any organization and may be the most important single attribute on which each firm must place its focus. The objective of the study was to establish the strategic change management practices undertaken by National Bank of Kenya limited in the last five years, to establish how the bank has been able to manage the strategic change practices and lastly to determine whether strategic change management practices gave the bank a sustainable competitive advantage. The research design was a case study of NBK. Primary data was collected through face to face interview from two senior employees at National Bank of Kenya headquarters at Harambee Avenue and three general managers in three NBK branches in Nairobi. The study established that the changes that were undertaken were; rebranding, downsizing, organizational alignment, culture change, introduction of new banking channels and product offering diversification. The study also established that the management of the change practices at NBK involved establishment of a vision and plan for the changes, engaging stakeholders, involvement of top management and effective communication. Lastly the study established that the strategic changes effected at NBK enabled the bank to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. The study recommends that involvement of employees should be at the forefront for any change effort to be effective. The study also recommends that the management should continually monitor and identify the impacts of the changes on employees and develop plans to realign the employees to support the long term changes at the bank.