| dc.description.abstract | Organizations are open systems and thus are in constant interaction with the external
environment. The external environment is made up of factors outside of the
organization that are beyond the firm's control. In order for organizations to survive
and gain sustainable competitive advantage, they have to constantly monitor and align
themselves to the factors in the external environment. For prosperity and survival,
organizations have to devise various strategies that will enable it respond to changes
in its external environment. Pearce and Robinson (1991) proposed the grand strategy
for surviving in the environment. Porter (1980) proposed the three generic strategies
organizations can use to respond to challenges in the external environment. Pearce
and Robinson (1991) defined strategic responses as the set of decisions and actions
that results in the formulation and implementation of plans designed to achieve the
firm’s objectives. The purpose of this study was to establish the strategic responses
adopted by Kenya Tourism Board to changes in the external environment. This
research was conducted through a case study. The study utilized primary data that was
obtained from senior managers using personal interviews. The data collected was
qualitative in nature, and was analyzed using conceptual content analysis.The study
found out that the organization faced a lot of challenges from its external
environment. The most prevalent challenges came from the economic, political,
socio-cultural, ecological and technological environments. The study further
concludes that to respond to these challenges KTB had adopted various strategies
such as market development whereby additional new source markets have been
developed through aggressive marketing campaigns. KTB has also embarked on
product development and new products like horse riding, bird watching, conference
tourism, sports tourism, agro-tourism, medical tourism, camel derby and Park night
dinners. Another strategic response was diversification of tourism products like
cycling within parks and Rock climbing.KTB has employed a mixture of strategic
responses in various facets of its operations in order to ensure that it responds
strategically to changes in the external environment. Though not clearly distinct the
strategic responses adopted by KTB seem to be in line with the Pearce and
Robinson’s (1991) grand strategies of market development, product development,
innovations and diversification strategy and Porter’s (1980) generic strategy of
Market segmentation. KTB has also adopted the branding strategy to market Kenya as
the preferred tourism destination both globally and regionally. The study findings are
of significance to managers of institutions involved in tourism such as tour operators,
airlines, hoteliers, travel agents, communities as well as non-governmental
organizations as it will help them align their firms appropriatelyso as to
addressenvironmental changes affecting their organizations.The findings also provide
a basis and guidelines to Government agencies such as the department of tourism,
ministry of finance, trade and planning and researchorganizations for developing and
formulating policies. The findings will further provide abaseline to monitor the trends
in strategic responses to environmental changes whileidentifying new challenges and
recommendations. Current scholars and future researchers may also use the study as a
source of reference on strategic responses and it may act as a basis for further
research. The Board needs to do more in communicating its strategies and informing
all players in the industry. Further research also needs to be done on the other industry
players such as KTF to find out how they plan to fit their strategies to Kenya’s vision
2030. | en_US |
