Influence of Temporal Factors on Consumer Buying Behavior in Chain Supermarkets in Kenya (original) (raw)

RISK FACTORS AFFECTING IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC PLANS IN SUPERMARKETS IN NYERI COUNTY, KENYA

Strategic planning is a management tool designed to help an organization to improve on its performance by ensuring that its employees and stakeholders are working towards common goals and by continuously adjusting organizational direction to the changing environment on the basis of the results obtained. Supermarkets are faced with a myriad of risks that pose threats to their businesses. Supermarkets have developed formal strategic plans aimed at improving their strategic performance. Methodology: The study adopted a descriptive research design. The study's population was drawn from the 37 supermarkets operating in Nyeri County with a total of 1,079 employees. Stratified random sampling was used to select 111 respondents comprising of 37 top management, 37 middle-level managers and 37 line supervisors. Findings: The study established that: resource risk, operational risk, competitive risk and supply risk explained 72.7% of variations in implementation of strategic plans in supermarkets; each risk variable correlated positively with all other risk variables with the highest correlation existing between resource risk and operational risk (0.771); positive correlation existed between all risk variables and strategy implementation with the highest correlation existing between resource risk and strategy implementation (0.735); resource risk, operational risk, competitive risk and supply risk at 0.05 significant level significantly predict implementation of strategic plans; resource risk factors with p=0.000 at 0.05 significant level with t-value of 4.820 were the most statistically significant factors affecting strategy implementation in supermarkets. 1. An Overview of the Retail Industry and Supermarkets Supermarkets offer a wide range of grocery retail products at relatively cheaper prices given the economies of scale and global sourcing strategies, compared to local, independent retailers in many countries. Over and above this, supermarkets have extended their offering to include a suite of financial and cellular products and services, as well as serving as payment and purchase points for utilities, amongst a range of other diverse services. Supermarkets therefore offer consumers the supplementary service of arranging a wide assortment of products selling concurrently in a convenient setting and location with a focus on quality, service, " one-stop " shopping, and an overall shopping experience (Weatherspoon & Reardon, 2003).