Influence of Strategic Firm Capabilities on Systemic Performance of Vendor Managed Retail Medium and Large Supermarkets in the Nairobi City County in Kenya

Abstract

The general objective of this study was to establish the influence of strategic firm capabilities on the systemic performance of vendor managed retail medium and large supermarkets in Nairobi County, Kenya. The specific objectives were: To establish the extent to which strategic innovation adoption capability contributes to performance of the vendor managed retail firms; to determine the extent to which strategic technical knowledge capability contributes to performance of the vendor managed retail firms; to investigate the extent to which strategic quality service capability contributes to performance of the vendor managed retail firms; and to establish the extent to which strategic learning culture capability contributes to performance of the vendor managed retail firms. To achieve these objectives the study adopted a descriptive survey. The target population comprised of five senior managers in the 58 medium and large supermarkets the Nairobi City County. Simple random sampling technique was used to select two (2) management staff from those firms making up a sample size of 116 respondents. Secondary data was obtained from firm records, reports, publications, magazines and books among other reference materials. Primary Data was collected from the sample using a self-administered questionnaire. The collected Data was analyzed by descriptive statistics that included frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations. IBM SPSS Statistics Version 20 was used to aid in data analysis and the results were presented in form of tables which were used to summarize responses for further analysis and comparison. A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to establish levels of correlation of the independent variables with the dependent variable. The four independent variables were found to be significant and positively affecting performance of the vendor managed retail firms. The studies therefore recommended for enhanced firm development, adoption and infusion of these strategic capabilities in the vendor managed medium and large supermarkets’ operations in order to realize and sustain superior system-wide performance.