The Effect of Strategic Changes on the Growth of Printing Firms in Kenya

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the effect of strategic change on the growth of printing firms in Kenya .The study adopted a survey study research that adopted a descriptive research design. Data was collected using questionnaires administered to employees of the sampled companies and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings indicate that the major strategic change practices implemented to a very great extent by companies in Kenya‟s printing industry included adoption of latest technology in printing, changing of employee attitude towards new technology, replacement of the company‟s obsolete assets, introduction of new technical requirements, outsourcing of non-core operations, and decision to be involved in a partnership programs. Other strategic change practices adopted to a great extent include increasing expenditure on advertising, changing components of the organization through divesture and/or acquisition, re-designing distribution channels, introduction of new product brands, the decision to be involved in mergers, the introduction of competitive pricing, reducing management levels, being involved in strategic alliances and sell;-offs. From the findings, majority of the respondents indicated that the firm has, increased its market network to other regions in the country, enhanced quality of services compared to rivals in the industry, adopted effective strategic responses towards external and internal changes faced by the company and has experienced high customer satisfaction to a very great extent .This implies that high levels of performance may result in adoption of strategic change practices. The study found that the firms achieved competitive advantage over their rivals in the market; increased profitability, gained high returns due to effecting Strategic change practices and increased volume of revenues. Based on the findings in relation to specific objective, the study concluded that strategic change practices positively influence organization growth. The study concluded that strategic change implementation influence organization growth positively to a great extent resulting to increased organization profitability, business turnover and volumes of sale. The study concludes that the most effective strategic change practice in enhancing organizational growth is evolutionary strategic changes while the second most effective strategic change practice in enhancing organizational growth is strategic reconstruction change. The study recommends that organizations should focus on adopting strategic change practices so as to improve organizational performance and growth hence increased customer base, asset quality, quality of service and increased market share and that for a company to grow it must ensure that strategies are implemented and offer clarity and guidance on how to implement this changes. The study‟s limitations included limited time set aside for the research and the limited scope of study.