Influence Of Competitive Intelligence Activities On Performance Of Indigenous Banks In Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

Indigenous banks in Kenya are facing intense competition in the Kenyan market and as such there is a concurrent need for competitive intelligence which is both a process and product, in their operation to guide in decision making and strategy formulation. The banks endeavor to address threats to the triple bottom line and in the same breath required to overpower the uncertainty presented by the host business atmosphere, technological advancement and economic changes as well as pandemics such as Covid-19 for their own survival. The indigenous banks are alive to the fact that local stakeholders’ desires may affect their functioning adversely and therefore, they are required to examine their functions by adopting competitive intelligence activities in order to respond to their needs faster. The study therefore purposed to establish the influence that competitive intelligence subsets have on the performance of indigenous banks in Nairobi, Kenya. The research was done through the survey approach by distribution of questionnaires with Likert scale using the drop and pick later method and it targeted the senior staff at the managerial level in the six indigenous banks in Nairobi, Kenya. The sample size of the study was 90 respondents of which only 81 of them were retrieved and the primary data collected was analyzed using statistical package for Social sciences (SPSS) software. Figures and tables were used to summarize the data collected for additional analysis and comparison. Multiple regression was utilized with an intention of evaluating the aggregate effect and relationship between the independent variables and performance as a dependent variable. The findings of the study concluded that competitive intelligence subsets contributed towards the performance of the indigenous banks in Kenya. Results from the univariate analysis showed that product intelligence activities had a statistically significance influence on an individual basis of 30% on the performance of indigenous banks in Kenya, (p<0.001) this influential ability was also the case when combined with other variables, Organization intelligence individually would statistically significantly influence the performance of indigenous banks in Kenya at 25% (p<0.001) while market intelligence will influence at 14%, p=0.001 but when combined with others it had minimal influence on performance of indigenous banks. On the other hand, technological intelligence activities would have an individual effect of 3% on the performance of indigenous banks in Kenya, however this effect would not be significant (p=0.106). Jointly with others technology intelligence practice was found to result to an insignificant decrease in performance of indigenous banks in Nairobi, Kenya. That return on Return on Investment (ROI), customer retention and satisfaction among others were some of the results identified in regards to the impact of competitive intelligence on performance. The outcome concluded that there is a positive relationship between technological, product, organizational and marketing intelligences with the indigenous banks performance. Based on this therefore, the indigenous banks are encouraged to further deepen competitive intelligence activities and adopt them as part and parcel of their operational strategy by creating a competitive intelligence department in order to have a competitive edge.