Influence of Strategic Leadership and Organization Culture on Strategy Execution in Shipping Companies in Kenya

A review of literature reveals that strategy execution is an important component of the strategic management process. However, it has been noted that there is a high failure rate in the execution of strategy as a result of the existence of many potential barriers to the effective execution of strategy. For successful strategy execution, an organization's various resources, systems, culture, structures and other variables must be expended. This paper evaluated how strategic leadership and organization culture influence strategy execution in shipping companies in Kenya. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey research design. The population of the research consisted of the 38 shipping companies in Kenya as at 2015. The unit of analysis were the employees in charge of strategic management matters in the shipping companies in Kenya. The study adopted purposive sampling and used primary data which was gathered using structured questionnaires which were pre-tested before being administered. The respondents comprised of the chief executive officer, chief operations officer, chief finance officer, chief information officer and the business development officer who were purposely selected due to their level involvement in strategy execution matters. Therefore the target population was 190 officers from the shipping companies in Kenya. Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used in data analysis where both descriptive and inferential statistics were applied. Regression results indicated that organization resources and organization culture was statistically significant in explaining strategy execution in shipping companies in Kenya. From the study, it is possible to conclude that the shipping companies have sound leadership practices that influence strategy execution. Further organizational culture contributes more to strategy execution than strategy leadership. The study findings led to the conclusion that the managers of these companies are committed to ensuring that strategy execution succeeds. In any business company a willing and committed leader greatly influences the results of the business processes. It was also concluded that the shipping companies under study had sound company culture practices as this was evidenced on how culture influenced strategy execution results in the study findings. The shipping companies had sound cultural practices of rewarding best performance, embracement of sound business practices and behaviour towards business operations Keywords: shipping, strategy execution practices, strategy, strategic leadership, culture