Strategic Responses to Changes in Business Environment: Case Study of Britam Insurance Company in Kenya.

The purpose of this study was to establish the strategic responses to changes in the business environment by Britam Insurance Companies in Kenya. The study was guided by the following research question: What are the markets based strategies used by Britam Insurance Company in response to the changing business environment? What are the products based strategies used by Britam insurance company in responding to changes in the business environment? What are the operational based strategies used by Britam insurance Company in response to the changing external business environment? This study adopted a descriptive research design to find out the strategic responses to changes in the business environment by Britam Insurance Companies in Kenya, this involved mean, standard deviation and percentages of the variables under study. The target population for this study was 579 employees of Britam insurance in Kenya. A simple random sampling technique was employed while data collection was conducted with the help of a questionnaire. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results were then presented in tables and figures. The study revealed that there was a positive significant relationship between market based strategies and responsiveness to the changes in business environment. Implying that the response to changing environment is influenced market based strategies such as clearly defined market segment for all its products, appropriate promotional channels, different distribution channels, Shares information with other players in the insurance, benefit of the community, as well as carefully selecting suppliers and developing strategies to align its operations to the changing market conditions. The study also revealed a positive relationship between product based strategies and responsiveness to the changes in business environment. This findings imply that the firm’s responsiveness to changing business environment and its performance is influenced by product based strategies such as differentiated insurance products, new product development, technology incorporation, extension of benefits of existing products, developing unique insurance products, and investment in product research. Furthermore, the study revealed that operational based strategies significantly positively impacted on the responsiveness to the changing business environment. This findings imply that the responsiveness to the changing environment and firm performance is influenced by operational based factors such as automation of majority of its operations, diversified communication media among staff, improved the level of efficiency, training of employees from time to time, a well-organized job orientation for new staff, well defined job descriptions for all staff, and offering employees enlarged duties to build their capacities. The study concludes that market based strategies, product based strategies and operational based strategies, affect the responsiveness to the changing environment among insurance companies in Nairobi Kenya. The study recommends that insurance firms need to devise aggressive market based strategies that could help counter the impact of today’s market uncertainties and dynamics such as; defining clear market segments for all their products, utilizing appropriate channels in their promotional activities, different distribution channels, sharing information with other players in the insurance, as well as supporting the community to build a strong competitive image in the market through CSR. It also recommends that the insurance firms need to invest in research and innovation in order to generate new products in the market. Additionally, the Human Resource Management departments need to be equipped with necessary resources and facilities to develop capabilities of manpower. Finally the study recommends that further research be carried out on the same topic but focusing on other variables such as leadership styles in insurance industry