Corporate Strategy for Medium Scale Manufacturing Enterprises in Kenya

Evans Mwasiaji
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引用次数: 1

Abstract

Sustainable Development Goals and Africa Agenda 2063 acknowledges Small and Medium Enterprises as critical in promoting sustainable global economic development. However, most studies on corporate strategy in Kenya have mainly examined micro, small and large enterprises creating a missing middle with inadequate empirical data on medium scale enterprises, including those in the manufacturing sector. Moreover, Kenya’s big four agenda proposes support to the manufacturing sector so as to raise its GDP share to 15 percent by 2022 in support of the realization of Vision 2030. Unfortunately, growth in the manufacturing sector has stagnated at about USD 5 billion for over a decade and continues to lose market share and competitiveness internationally. This study therefore investigated corporate strategy and competitiveness of medium scale manufacturing enterprises in Kenya. Data was collected from 56 senior management staff. Mean responses received in a Likert scale of 1 – 5 for each of the tested item was calculated by summing up all the codes and getting the average of the 56 respondents. This study established MSMEs which are within the SME sector are on average performing below par on issues to do with business strategy. The results show that in 56.1% of the MSMEs, there is a clearly written business unit mission statement (mean response of 4.3). In 54.5% of the firms, the business unit strategy is not adequate in light of competitive pressure (mean response 2.5) and the business unit strategy is not appropriate for exploiting opportunities in the future. In 48.5% of the firms, the business unit strategy is not formulated carefully by all levels of management (mean response 2.7) and there is no clearly developed long term business unit strategy (mean response 2.9). In 39.4% of these firms, the business unit strategy does not adequately reflect the strengths of the business unit (mean response 2.8). The study concluded that lack of an effective business strategy to direct the efforts of human resources in the desired direction would result in inability to realize the set organizational objectives. This means these MSMEs are struggling to operate, manage and improve their businesses efficiency and effectiveness in order to deliver quality products and services consistently and on time. This has a negative effect on MSMEs performance as it implies internal inefficiencies, ineffectiveness and negative bottom line, reduced job opportunities and low contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) in Kenya. The study recommended that the MSMEs should organise strategic focus workshops and use a combination of Porter’s five force model components to plan, organise and formulate their business strategy mechanism after a comprehensive SWOT analysis. The MSMEs should periodically review their strategy in line with the prevailing competitive pressures using the following criteria to identify crucial strategic issues: (a) The impact they could have on their enterprises, (b) the likelihood that the identified issues would materialize, and (c) the time frame over which they could develop. The number of these issues needs to be limited to a manageable number (three to nine) to enhance the chances of securing the commitment and resources necessary to effectively act on them. The expected study output would be enhanced competitiveness of MSME and realization of Kenya’s vision 2030.
肯尼亚中型制造企业的企业战略
可持续发展目标和《2063年非洲议程》承认中小企业对促进全球经济可持续发展至关重要。然而,大多数关于肯尼亚企业战略的研究主要考察了微型、小型和大型企业,造成了中间缺失,关于中型企业(包括制造业企业)的经验数据不足。肯尼亚“四大议程”提出支持制造业发展,力争到2022年将制造业在肯尼亚国内生产总值中所占比重提高到15%,助力肯尼亚实现“2030年愿景”。不幸的是,十多年来,制造业的增长一直停滞在50亿美元左右,并继续失去市场份额和国际竞争力。因此,本研究考察了肯尼亚中型制造企业的企业战略与竞争力。数据收集自56名高级管理人员。每个测试项目的平均反应在1 - 5的李克特量表中得到,通过汇总所有代码并获得56名受访者的平均值来计算。本研究确定了中小企业部门内的中小微企业在商业战略问题上的平均表现低于平均水平。结果显示,56.1%的中小微企业有明确的业务单位使命陈述(平均响应率为4.3)。在54.5%的公司中,由于竞争压力(平均响应2.5),业务单元战略不充分,业务单元战略不适合利用未来的机会。在48.5%的公司中,各级管理层没有仔细制定业务部门战略(平均反应为2.7),没有明确制定长期业务部门战略(平均反应为2.9)。在39.4%的公司中,业务部门战略没有充分反映业务部门的优势(平均回答2.8)。研究得出的结论是,缺乏有效的商业战略来指导人力资源的努力,将导致无法实现既定的组织目标。这意味着这些中小微企业正在努力经营,管理和提高他们的业务效率和有效性,以便始终如一地按时提供高质量的产品和服务。这对中小微企业的表现产生了负面影响,因为这意味着内部效率低下、无效和负底线,减少了就业机会,对肯尼亚国内生产总值(GDP)的贡献也很低。研究建议中小微企业应组织战略聚焦研讨会,并结合波特五力模型的组成部分,通过全面的SWOT分析,规划、组织和制定企业战略机制。中小微企业应根据目前的竞争压力,使用下列标准,定期审查其战略,以确定关键战略问题:(a)这些问题对其企业可能产生的影响,(b)确定的问题成为现实的可能性,以及(c)这些问题可能发展的时间框架。这些问题的数目必须限制在一个可管理的数目(3至9个),以增加获得对这些问题采取有效行动所需的承诺和资源的机会。预计研究成果将提高中小微企业的竞争力,实现肯尼亚2030年愿景。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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