Thesis:

Evaluation of growth strategies on the organizational performance of retail stores – a case study of quick mart supermarket stores in Nairobi, Kenya

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact of growth strategies on the organizational performance of retail stores in Nairobi with Quick Mart supermarket stores in Nairobi being used as the case study. The specific research questions guiding this research were: How does technology adoption strategy impact the organizational performance of Quick Mart supermarket stores in Nairobi County? What is the significance of diversification strategy on the organizational performance of Quick Mart supermarket stores in Nairobi County? To what extent does market development strategy influence the organizational performance of Quick Mart supermarket stores in Nairobi County? To what degree does internal processes optimization strategy impact the organizational performance of Quick Mart supermarket stores in Nairobi County? Three theories, the Porter's generic strategies theory, the blue ocean strategy theory, and the Ansoff matrix theory provided support for this investigation. A descriptive research strategy was used in this study to combine different study components. The target population for this study consisted of 125 managers who work at Quick Mart supermarket. A purposive sampling procedure was used to obtain a sample size of 95 managers. This study used both descriptive and correlational analysis as its research design. Data was gathered using structured questionnaires that were scored on a 5-point Likert scale. Prior to the actual research, a pilot study was carried out to determine areas that needed adjustment and to verify the validity and reliability of the findings. The data gathered was analyzed through descriptive analysis and is to include means, modes and standard deviation as well as the use of SPSS and presented in tables The findings indicated a Pearson correlation of 0.841 for technology adoption, 0.827 for diversification, 0.804 for market development and 0.940 for optimizing internal business processes. Regression analysis indicated a beta coefficient of 0.620 for technology adoption, 0.519 for market development, 0.536 for diversification and 0.675 for optimizing business processes. The study came to the conclusion that market development, technology adoption, diversification, and process optimization all had a highly positive and significant impact on organizational performance. The study suggested that in order to improve organizational performance, growth tactics should be adopted more widely.