The Influence of External Environment on Strategies Adopted by Quickmart Limited Kenya

Abstract

Organizations are dependent on their external environment for their survival and existence. Organizations affect or are affected by what happens in the external environment which is beyond the control of the organization. Changes in the external environment creates pressure for change in organizations and this means they have to respond to changes for their survival. Kenya’s retail sector is said to be the second-most highly developed in Africa with large players like supermarkets taking up 30 to 40 per cent of the trade, thus presenting a large opportunity for local small and medium-sized businesses to ride on its growth. The study sought to determine the influence of external environment on strategies adopted by QMLK, Kenya. This research adopted a qualitative analysis on the strategic responses to environmental changes at QMLK. The respondents composed of the top management of QMLK mainly the Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operations Officer, Head of Commercial and Head of Marketing. An interview guide was used to gather primary data from the management of QMLK. Data collected was then analyzed through content analysis and findings were presented in form of brief discussions on the influence of external environment and the strategies adopted. It was clear that QMLK faces challenges in the external environment that range from political, economic, legal, and technological factors. It was deduced that QMLK was pursuing some strategies to cope with the changing environment. This includes product differentiation, marketing, product diversification, downsizing and cost control. The study therefore concluded that challenges posed by the turbulent external environment have led QMLK to come up with strategic plan in order to cope. The limitations encountered in the study include challenges of sharing detailed information, time constraint and scale of research. The study suggests further research to be carried out to determine strategic responses by other retail players in Kenya and determine factors that influence adoption of strategic responses by organizations to changes in the external environment.