Strategic choices and competitive advantage of indigenous construction companies in Kenya

Abstract

Strategic choices guide organizations to identify where to action in order to outsmart competition sustainably. Organizations are composed of capabilities and resources, which include human, financial, physical and non-physical assets that can be used to enhance its competitive advantage to attain its objectives. This study’s general objective was to examine influence of strategic choice and competitive advantage among indigenous construction companies in Kenya, while the specific objectives were to establish the factors that influences strategic choices of indigenous construction companies in Kenya and to determine how the factors that influence a firm’s strategic choice affect the firm’s competitive advantage among indigenous construction companies in Kenya. Descriptive cross-sectional survey was used in the study and the population of the study was all 50477 registered contractors in Kenya. The sample of the study was 87 construction firms in Kenya. Primary data collected through a questionnaire was used in the study. The study used simple linear regression method and found a positive relationship between strategic choice and competitive advantage. Correlation analysis revealed that strategic choice has significant influence on competitive advantage among Kenya’s construction companies. The study concludes that competitive advantage is a continuous journey. Organizations have to continuously scan their external environment, note any change in trends in terms of customer needs and further looking inwards to assess the kind of capabilities it has in order to exploit the opportunities so availed. The study recommends that there is need for organizations to possess dynamic capabilities that can be harnessed to understand external and internal trends and crafting of strategies that can be applied to ensure long-term success. These strategies can achieve the intended goal if proper coordination of all the players is done by applying best practices in strategic choices.