Browsing by Author "Kimiti, Paul G."
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Item Cost Leadership Strategy, Competitive Advantage, and Performance: A Cross-Sectional Study in the Context of Milk Processing Firms in Kenya(GIAP Journals, 2020) Kimiti, Paul G.; Muathe, Stephen M. A.; Murigi, Elishiba M.Purpose of the study: Cost leadership strategy is driven by economies of scale, economies of scope, and operational efficiency is a remedy to a performance where firms are facing high costs. This study sought to investigate the influence of cost leadership strategy on the performance of milk processing firms in Kenya through the lens of competitive advantage as a mediator. Methodology: The study adopted descriptive and explanatory non-experimental research designs. It was a census of all 29 milk processing firms registered with Kenya Dairy Board as of June 2019. Sampling was done using proportionate stratified random sampling technique and data was collected using self-administered semi-structured questionnaires. The analysis was done using means, standard deviations, and regression. Main Findings: The findings showed that a cost leadership strategy had a positive and significant effect on the performance of milk processing firms in Kenya with a competitive advantage partially mediating the relationship. The constituent measures of cost leadership strategy namely economies of scale, economies of scope, and operational efficiency accounted for 40.1% of the variation in firm performance. Applications of this study: This study provides suggestions for firms to manage costs and therefore improve performance. This is by increasing the size of operations, expanding into related business areas, and improving operational processes. Novelty/originality of this study: The study examines the influence of cost leadership strategy in a new context of milk processing firms in Kenya. It also incorporates a competitive advantage as a significant variable affecting the relationship between costs and performance.Item Gender of Respondents and Performance of Functional Areas of Milk Processing Firms in Kenya(International Journal of Economics, Commerce & Management, 2020) Kimiti, Paul G.; Muathe, Stephen M.A.; Murigi, Elishiba M.Milk processing firms have significant economic and nutritional contribution to the economy. The industry’s performance is however impended by high costs resulting in low profitability, declining output as well collapse and retarded growth of some firms. Firms in the industry have resorted to cost leadership strategy to address performance challenges through adoption of economies of scale, economies of scope and operational efficiency. Studies done in other sectors suggest a correlation between cost leadership strategy and firm performance. Resource Based View theory posits that decisions on strategic orientation are made by the firm’s human resources of which gender is an important aspect. This study therefore was an investigation of whether gender is associated with the functional areas involved in making decisions on costs among milk processing firms in Kenya. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from the firms and analysis done using contingency tables and Chi-square test. The study concluded that males were a majority in most of the functional areas but the association was not statistically significant. The study thus recommends that milk processing firms exercise liberty in employing males or females subject to other factors like legislation on workforce gender distribution.Item Implementation of Kenya’s Environmental Diplomacy Pillar in Mitigating Air Pollution(Kenyatta University, 2024-06) Kimiti, Paul G.Environmental challenges notably air pollution have attracted wide international attention for decades. Individual states have thus sought to address these challenges through different policy frameworks. Kenya promulgated its first ever foreign policy document in 2014 where among others, environmental diplomacy was given prominence by setting up a diplomatic pillar to address matters relating to the environment. Despite such high-level engagement, air pollution continues in the country threatening the achievement of global environmental objectives set forth in multilateral agreements. This study thus sought to evaluate the implementation of Kenya’s environmental diplomacy pillar in its earnest to address air pollution challenge as a contribution to tackling global environmental problems. The specific objectives were to examine the envisioned implementation of Kenya’s environmental diplomacy pillar under the existing environmental laws in Kenya, to assess the degree of environmental awareness and its impact in countering challenges of air pollution in Kenya and to examine the extent of research under Kenya’s environmental diplomacy pillar and its contribution to addressing air pollution in Kenya. This study was anchored on sustainable development theory supported by institutionalism theory. Sustainable development theory calls for implementation and enforcement of relevant policies to address and reverse negative environmental impacts. Institutionalism theory encourages cooperative environmental behavior among states through domestic environmental actions that align with international regimes. This study employed exploratory research design which is ideal in less studied fields. It focused on Kenya which had a relatively new foreign policy pillar on environmental diplomacy. Respondents were drawn from the headquarters of key ministries and other institutions dealing with environmental matters and environmental diplomacy in the Kenyan capital city, Nairobi. The target population comprised of 130 key informants drawn from institutions concerned with environmental matters from which a sample of 30% was selected. The study used both primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected using self-administered semi-structured questionnaires while secondary data was obtained through review of relevant documents. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and conceptual content analysis aligned to the study objectives. The findings were presented in a narrative supported by tables. The study found that Kenya’s environmental diplomacy pillar had not been fully implemented to synergize environmental actions and a clear implementation framework for the pillar was lacking. Institutions dealing with environmental policies implementation also suffered from inadequate capacity and resources. It was further established that the level of awareness about the environment and air pollution was moderate and there were no coherent environmental awareness creation structures. The study also found that research on air pollution and related issues was low. These findings expanded the existing body of knowledge on Kenya’s environmental diplomacy pillar, established the progress made in its implementation and provided a basis for remedial measures to fully exploit the potential of the pillar. Further, this study generated new empirical evidence that could be useful in theory building and refinement. The study recommended formulation of a detailed implementation framework for the environmental diplomacy pillar, adequately resourcing implementing institutions, establishment of formal structures for environmental and air pollution awareness creation and enhancement of environmental research.Item Nexus between Cost Leadership Strategy and Performance: Fact or Fallacy in Milk Processing Firms in Kenya(The Canadian Center of Science and Education, 2020) Kimiti, Paul G.; Muathe, Stephen M.A.; Murigi, Elishiba M.Milk processing firms as a constituent of the food processing sector play a crucial function both economically and nutritionally. However, performance in the industry continues to be impended by high costs leading to low profitability margins, decline in output and collapse of some firms while others show stunted growth. It is hypothesized that this situation can be remedied by pursuing cost leadership strategy through economies of scale, economies of scope and operational efficiency. Extant literature however is scanty on how this strategy is employed by milk processing firms in Kenya with studies done failing to focus on how the firms manage costs as a driver for better performance. This has made it difficult to determine whether the hypothesized effect is a fact or fallacy. This study thus was an investigation of the effect of cost leadership strategy on performance of milk processing firms in Kenya. It was anchored on the balanced scorecard model complemented by the resource based view and capability based view theories. The study empirically examined the relationship using data from milk processing firms in Kenya obtained from a sample of 168 key respondents. The findings showed that cost leadership strategy had a positive and significant effect on performance of milk processing firms in Kenya. The study recommends that milk processors improve their performance by cutting costs through measures to increase their scale of operations, expand into related business areas and improve operational processes. The government and other the regulatory bodies should implement corresponding supportive policies and reforms.Item Organizational Resources, Industry Velocity, Attention Focus and Firm’s Performance: A Review of Literature(Canadian Center of Science and Education, 2018) Kimiti, Paul G.; Kilika, James M.The study addressed the diverse views on the role of organizational resources in firm performance in high velocity industry context. It adopted a multidisciplinary approach to examine the linkage among organizational resources, industry velocity, attention focus and firm performance. It found that resource based advantages are rather transient in highly dynamic environments hence need to constantly adapt the internal factors through firm capabilities. The influence of the external environment on resource application decisions is however partial as only a portion of the environment is actually perceived and interpreted by strategic decision makers through the selective cognitive process of attention focus. These findings have implications for a better understanding of the constructs and how they are related as contained in the proposed theoretical framework. The paper proposes that future studies be based on wider multidisciplinary approaches and the proposed theoretical framework be applied in guiding empirical research in high velocity industries.