Analysis of Growth Strategy Choice and the Performance Insurance Firms: A Study of Nairobi Central Business District

Abstract

The insurance industry is a lucrative field with vast opportunities to explore. There has been a growth of insurance business in Kenya, with 2017 reports from AKI for instance showing an increase of about 43.8% of insurance agents from the year 2016. Previous studies have shown individuals and entities go without taking insurance covers to safe guard their entities. Regulators have been seen to put mandatory adoption of insurance services such as in the public service vehicles sector. There has been a failure in the management of the firms to understand the elements enabling growth of the firms may be detrimental. Information is lacking as to whether factors in strategy selection impacts on the performance insurance firms. This study sought to establish the choice of growth strategies and the effects on performance of the insurance firms. The specific objectives included; to establish the influence of management competence on the performance of insurance firms, to assess the effect of resource capacity on the performance of insurance firms, and to determine the influence of organizational culture on the performance of insurance firms. The study used a correlational research design and the target population comprised of 52 AKI registered insurance firms. The study adopted a census sampling method due to the minimal number of population elements. A sample size of 52 respondents was selected where each firm provided one respondent on a purposive basis. The data was collected using questionnaires accompanied by semi-structured interviews. Quantitative data was coded and analyzed using frequencies and descriptive techniques aided by computer software. The findings of the study were; the competency of management in selecting growth strategies at an average mean of 1.53 with standard deviations falling between ±2 at 0.62, the uniqueness and the cost effectiveness of resources on performance of insurance firms at a mean of 3.31 and at standard deviation of 0.89, and corporate culture of the firm influences performance at a mean of 1.41 and standard deviation of 0.62. Conclusively, there exist a relationship between the selection of a given strategy that is influenced by the level of management competency, the kind of resources at disposal, and the prevailing corporate culture, towards a desired level of performance of insurance firms. It is therefore recommended that; insurance firms need to invest greatly in developing its personnel academically to improve their education levels, to adopt resource management models to enabling proper resource utilization, and keenly looking into the existing corporate cultures portrayed by management personnel to fit the set strategies. Further research should be done on the implementation part and the effect towards performance. This report contributes greatly and is of importance to scholars, business people and policy makers within the insurance sector.