Strategic Management Practices and Performance of Selected Commercial State Corporations in Nairobi County, Kenya
Abstract
Commercial state corporations play an important role in the provision of public goods and services and in Kenya’s socioeconomic development. However, persistent performance challenges have raised concerns about the strategic management practices used within these entities. This study examined the relationship between resource allocation, management style, organizational culture, and the performance of selected commercial state corporations in Nairobi County, Kenya. The study was guided by the Resource-Based View, Transformational Leadership Theory, and Schein’s Organizational Culture Framework. A descriptive quantitative research design was adopted. The target population comprised 300 managers from 20 commercial state corporations, from whom 107 top-, middle-, and lower-level managers were sampled. Data were collected using questionnaires, following a pilot study involving 20 respondents who were excluded from the main survey. Seventy-nine usable questionnaires were returned, representing a response rate of 73.8%. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, analysis of variance, and multiple linear regression. Resource allocation had the strongest bivariate association with performance (r = 0.72, p < 0.001). The regression model was statistically significant, F(3, 75) = 39.10, p < 0.001, and explained 61.0% of the variance in performance (R² = 0.610). Resource allocation had the largest estimated regression coefficient (B = 0.421), followed by management style (B = 0.218) and organizational culture (B = 0.173). The findings indicate that effective resource deployment, supportive management practices, and an enabling organizational culture are important predictors of performance in the selected corporations. The study recommends strengthening human-resource capability, infrastructure and organizational systems, management capacity, and collaborative workplace cultures.
Keywords: Strategic Management, Resource Allocation, Management Style, Organizational Culture, Organizational Performance, Commercial State Corporations
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