Effect of sustainable relationships on the growth of technology hubs in Kenya

Abstract

The number of technology hubs coming up in Africa has been on the rise in the recent past, as depicted by several studies herein. However, despite the upsurge in the number of hubs, there is limited expansion and advancements in most of them, hence prompting the need to examine factors affecting their growth. Past studies have established that sustainable relationships influence growth in organizations. The studies have also singled out collaboration, coopetition, and differentiation aspects in sustainable relationships. The current study sought to establish the effect of collaboration, coopetition, and differentiation on the growth of technology hubs in Kenya. The study was grounded on the resource-based view theory and the firm growth theory. The study design was a descriptive research with the unit of analysis being 40 Technology Hubs in Kenya, with two managers each, being considered. The study sampled the 80 respondents drawn from the 40 Tech Hubs. The study relied on quantitative data using a structured research questionnaire. The study adopted a drop and pick and online google forms in the data collection process. The collected research data were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential techniques. The analyzed data was presented graphically. The study was able to obtain a response rate of 91% of the sample participants. The study indicates that 49% of the Tech Hubs were involved in coopetition, 43% in collaboration, and 8% had undertaken differentiation. The study concludes that collaboration, coopetition, differentiation, and business environment are positively related to the growth of Tech Hubs in Kenya. The research recommends that management of Tech Hubs embrace collaborative and coopetitive efforts as these will be critical to their growth. The study further recommends that they develop alliances with other regional Tech Hubs for service focused development. The study also recommends that the government should create awareness within the public on the benefits that can be achieved by embracing digitalization within the various economic sectors.