Influence of Corporate Entrepreneurship on the Performance of State Corporations in Kenya

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the influence of corporate entrepreneurship on performance of state corporations in Kenya. The study was guided by five specific objectives which are: to establish the effect of proactiveness on performance of state corporations in Kenya, to determine the influence of risk taking on performance of state corporations in Kenya, to evaluate the effect of innovativeness on performance of state corporations in Kenya, to establish the influence of competitive aggressiveness on performance of state corporations in Kenya and to determine the effect of organization factors on the performance of state corporations in Kenya. The study adopted an explanatory research design. The population of the research consists of the 187 state corporations in Kenya as at 2013. A purposive sample of 55 commercial state corporations was included in the study. The study used primary data gathered using questionnaires. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used in the analysis of data. The data was analyzed by use of descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics produced frequencies, trends, means and percentages while inferential statistics produced regression and correlation results which showed the causal relationship among the variables. The study findings indicated that there was improved firm performance which was linked to corporate entrepreneurship. Results showed that companies initiated actions to which competitors responded to, the firms had a tendency to be ahead of other competitors in introducing novel ideas or products and the companies strived in identifying new markets to sell products. Results indicated that risk taking, innovativeness, competitive aggressiveness and organizational factors were key determinants of firm performance for commercial state corporations in Kenya. The study concludes that the intensive usage of corporate entrepreneurship in the enterprises generally increases the efficiency of doing business by creating new products and services, shortening the time to get to the market, reducing the costs, decreasing the prices and more efficiently answering on the moves of the competitors and market changes. Therefore the strategic intention of managers of these enterprises should be a creation of new organizational climate based on the tighter cooperation between the individuals with the aim of achieving the synergic effects in internal entrepreneurial activities. Results also led to the conclusion that corporate entrepreneurship improves performance by increasing company’s proactivity and willingness to take risks by pioneering the development of new products, processes and services. The study recommends to the management of firms that corporate entrepreneurship should be pursued as a competitive and performance improvement strategy by all firms regardless of size. For corporate entrepreneurship to thrive, firms need to put in place an environment with support systems, structures and resources that encourage employees to behave entrepreneurially. The management should therefore ensure that they engage all the employees as they embrace corporate entrepreneurship to ensure that all staff are working towards achieving the same objective and company goal. The study is a justification of the fact that an organization with competitive innovativeness skills has a deep understanding of the business enterprises which catapults their growth to a large extent.