Effect of strategic management practices on organizational performance at Naivas supermarkets in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Strategic management practices have become increasingly critical in shaping internal performance outcomes, particularly within highly competitive and rapidly evolving retail environments. In Kenya, the supermarket sector has experienced significant expansion and intensified competition, necessitating effective strategic planning, execution, and evaluation to sustain local branch alignment and operational market position. Despite this, empirical evidence on how specific strategic management practices influence localized administrative performance variance within large retail chains remains limited. The main objective of this study was to examine the predictive association of strategic management practices on internal performance outcomes at Naivas Supermarket in Nairobi County, Kenya. Specifically, the study assessed the effects of strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategy evaluation on manager-perceived, non-financial performance indicators. The study was anchored on Competitive Advantage Theory, Agency Theory, and Strategic Fit Theory to explain the linkage between strategic practices and localized administrative performance. The study adopted a positivist research philosophy and an explanatory cross-sectional research design, utilizing primary data collected from 150 managers across 51 Naivas branches in Nairobi County through structured questionnaires. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and multiple linear regression, supported by diagnostic tests to ensure model validity and reliability. The findings revealed that all three strategic management practices had positive and statistically significant predictive associations with internal performance outcomes. Strategy implementation emerged as the strongest predictor, indicating that effective localized execution of strategic plans plays a more critical role than formulation alone. Strategy formulation was also found to significantly influence perceived performance by enhancing strategic direction and alignment, while strategy evaluation contributed to outcomes through continuous monitoring and adaptive improvement. Collectively, the three practices explained 64.8% of the variation in the branch-level non-financial performance metrics, underscoring their substantial combined influence within this specific corporate sample. The study concluded that localized administrative performance variance in large retail enterprises is primarily determined by the execution consistency and internal alignment of strategic management processes, with shop-floor execution being the most critical component. The study recommended that retail organizations should prioritize strengthening internal implementation mechanisms, enhance participatory strategy formulation, and institutionalize robust evaluation and feedback systems to support continuous improvement. These findings provide practical internal insights for store managers and corporate stakeholders seeking to enhance operational performance consistency within a multi-branch network, while also contributing to strategic management literature by offering context-specific empirical patterns from a large retail organization in an emerging economy.