Impact of Related Diversification Strategies on Organizational Performance among Star Rated Hotels in the Kenyan Coast

Abstract

Purpose: For any organization to succeed in the present competitive and ever-changing business environment, understanding the risks, opportunities, and strength posed by the external environment is inevitable. Organizations must exploit opportunities and avoid risks by applying relevant strategies and developing various strategic approaches that will improve their competitive edge and overall performance. One of the possible ways to improve business efficiency and performance is through diversification. The purpose of this study was to assess the applicability of a diversification strategy as a game plan to motivate and develop resilience against organizational and environmental forces in business operations to improve organizational performance in star rated hotels in the Coastal Kenya. The specific objectives was; to determine the impact of related diversification strategies on organizational performance among star rated hotels in coastal Kenya Coastal. Materials and Methods: Notably, 36 star rated hotels were selected while 419 respondents were involved which comprised; strategic managers, tactical and operational managers. This represented a response rate of 92.4% and 80.6% for the questionnaires and interviews respectively. Stratified sampling was used to select the hotels while purposive sampling was used to select the managers. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used during data collection.  Data analyze was both analyzed using both descriptive and inferential analysis. The mean for overall adoption of horizontal diversification strategies was 3.94 (std. dev=0.92) while vertical diversification strategies was 3.28 (std. dev=1.13) which was significant. The mean on overall adoption of related diversification strategies was 3.60 (std. dev=0.95), demonstrating that related diversification strategies have on overall been adopted to a large extent. Findings: The model summary results indicates that R-Square=0.598; this implies that 59.8% of performance is explained by vertical and horizontal diversification strategies. This implies that, both horizontal and vertical diversification strategies were significantly adopted in the operation and management of hotel business in the coast region of Kenya. The null hypothesis stating, “There is no significant relationship between vertical diversification strategies and performance of star rated hotels along the Kenyan Coast” was rejected. This means that horizontal and vertical diversification strategies are significant predictors of performance of star rated hotels in the Kenyan Coast. From the regression model, horizontal and vertical diversification were found to have a positive effect that was statistically significant on performance of star rated hotels in the Kenyan Coast. Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy: Policy makers should initiate policies that motivate organizations such as hotels to practice diversification to minimize negative impact on both financial and non-financial performance aspects.