Factors Affecting Choice of Growth Strategies by Private Universities in Kenya: A Case of United States International University – Africa (USIU-A)

A Research Project Report by Fulgence Mbithuka Ndilo Submitted to Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for the Degree of Masters in Business Administration (MBA).The purpose of the study was to establish the factors affecting choice of growth strategy by the private universities in Kenya: A case of the United States International University – Africa (USIU-A). The study was guided by the following research questions: To what extent does organizational culture impact on the choice of growth strategies by private universities in Kenya? To what extent does top management team impact on the choice of growth strategies by private universities in Kenya? And finally to what extent does technology impact on the choice of growth strategies by the private universities in Kenya? The study adopted a census technique. A population of 97 managers (middle and Top level) from the USIU AFRICA were approached and asked to fill the questionnaires. This technique was used, because it gave all the respondents in the population a chance to participate in the study. The technique was also the most appropriate for this study because the population of the study was small. The tool that was used for data collection were questionnaires. Both open ended and closed ended questions were used in the questionnaires. Closed ended questionnaires limited the responses from diverging from the researcher’s objective whereas closed ended questions gave freedom for any aspect not captured by the researcher to be included. To ensure effective and efficient data analysis process, the data was coded, sorted and analyzed using descriptive analysis where frequencies, percentages and correlation tables were generated and interpreted. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used for analysis. Presentation of data was in form of tables and figures. A descriptive research design was adopted in the study. Questionnaires were used for data collection. The research questions was used to design the questionnaires. The researcher carried a pilot study on seven respondents to ascertain the suitability of the questionnaires. Reliability test carried out the questionnaires using through Cronbach Alpha. A value of 0.7 was considered good for this study. The study established a Cronbach Alpha value of 8.12. The study collected data from the management of United States International University-Africa. On relationship between organizational culture and company’s strategy, the majority of the respondents believed that organizational culture plays a great role in the formulation and development of growth strategies in the organization. On the relationship between top management team and the choice of growth strategies, the vast majority of respondents considered top level management encourages and maintain trust for their followers act wisely, organizational internal factors determine the quality of strategies developed and creativity of the top level management determines the quality of strategies formulated as the highly significant factors. Finally on the relationship between technology and the choice of growth strategies, the study established that: technology has been employed as a strategy for employee motivation, technology play a crucial role in the choice and development of strategies, entrenched technologies have acquired advantages in the competition with new ones and finally the university has adopted technology for marketing were the highly significant factors. A positive significant correlation was obtained among the factors sought in this section. The study recommends that the management of these Kenyan private universities should ensure that organizational culture of their institution is deeply rooted to each and every member of the organization. It is also the study’s recommendations that the top level management of these Kenyan private universities to be enlightened on the importance of sound strategies on the success of their institutions and finally the study recommends that private universities should invest more in technologies so as to capitalize on the benefits that come along with adoption of technologies. This study recommends that further studies be carried out on the same topic but with different case studies. The study also recommends that further studies be carried out on the implications of top level management of the types of strategy formulation in Kenyan private universities