Response by Kenya Kazi Security Company Limited to Changes in the Environment

Abstract

The environment within which any organization operates plays a significant role in the survival of the organization. Managers need to understand the uncertain nature of the environment within which their organizations operate and try to align the organizations strategies and capabilities to these environmental changes. This ensures the competitiveness and survival of the organization in the dynamic and uncertain environment. The security industry in Kenya has experienced various changes within the environment operated by the industry players, prompting a wide range of responses aimed at safeguarding market share and ensuring business success. The research was a case study of Kenya Kazi security Limited to establish the various changes within their environment and how they responded to these changes. The objective was achieved by collecting both primary and secondary data. The primary data was obtained through individual interviews with four key managers at the company, while the secondary data was obtained from the company’s publications. The research established that the environment within which Kenya Kazi operates has experienced significant changes. These include increased competition from other players within the industry, demand for a wider range of services from the company’s clients, increased insecurity within the country and technological challenges faced mainly by the company’s guards workforce. The company has responded to the above challenges by adopting to modern technology, the use of market research to establish what their clients and the potential clients would wish to have in the companies security product range and improved customer relations. The company 3 has also responded operationally by adopting lease financing to acquire some of the key assets like their fleet of response vehicles. The company has also adopted specialized training programs for their operations staff especially on the use of modern technology and also on ways to respond to the sophisticated nature of criminal activities in Kenya. It is recommended that the company invests more in the analysis of various strategic business areas within the company’s environment to enable the company establish which areas it will do business in the future. The analysis includes the establishment of the company’s competitive position in each strategic business area and also what it has to do to gain the competitive position. The company needs to admit the fact that it could be loosing its market share to some of its competitors and hence the need to establish new markets now and in the future. The study is limited in that information gathered may not be useful in assessing the response by other industry players since it is limited to a case study of Kenya Kazi Security Limited. Also most of the respondents viewed some of the necessary information for the study as classified information that shouldn’t be shared with outsiders like myself. Also the duration of the study was less than one year and yet the company had undergone many changes within the ten years that I sought to establish its response to changes in the environment. Suggestions for further research include a study on other industry players to establish how each has responded to changes in the environment. A survey study on all major industry players would be interesting in making a comparison on what each company regards as a change in the environment and how each has responded