The Effects Of Corporate Entrepreneurship And Strategic Management On Performance Of Insurance Companies In Nairobi, Kenya

The insurance industry in Kenya has been growing in leaps and bounds in the \nrecent past. There are many factors that have contributed to this this growth this \nresearch sought to establish how corporate entrepreneurship and strategic \nmanagement affect the way insurance companies in Nairobi, Kenya perform. \nThis study used descriptive survey design. A questionnaire was used to collect \nprimary data. The questionnaire was executed using the drop and pick method to \nsenior executives and managers of all the 49 registered insurance firms in \nNairobi. Data was analysed using descriptive analysis to summarise the data and \npresented the findings using tables. Data was interpreted using frequencies, \npercentages and mean score and presented in form of frequency tables. The \nresults indicated that insurance companies use rewards to motivate proactive and \ninnovative employees. Insurance companies also use management support and \norganisational boundaries to set precise explanations of outcomes expected from \norganizational work and development of mechanisms for evaluating, selecting, \nand using innovations exists within the organization. The insurance companies \nare not open to risk taking as a strategy to encourage entrepreneurship and as \nsuch they do not offer employees work autonomy or time to come up with these \ninnovative ideas. It is evident that new products have been the reason behind \nhigh organisational performance among insurance companies. The study \nconcludes that though corporate entrepreneurship is a new concept in the field of \nresearch, insurance companies in Kenya are well aware of the concept and they \nare incorporating that in their strategy. Also, through rewarding employees and \noffering them the necessary support, they can continuously provide innovative \nproducts to the market which will then lead to higher firm performance. \nHowever, it is also important for the insurance companies to carry out research \nbefore they bring a new product in the market. The study recommends that \ncompanies should leverage internal resources, especially the employees, to help \nthem gain competitive advantage. The researcher also recommends that this \nstrategy be used in conjunction with others because there is no one way to \nsuccess in strategy.