Influence of Dynamic Competitive Capability on Strategic Performance of Classified Tourism Enterprises in Nakuru County, Kenya

The hotel industry environment has become more complex due to increased competition, innovations and rapid advances in technology. The hotel industry in Kenya contributes substantially to the GDP of the country. The industry players have faced several challenges including stiff competition, unfavourable government regulation, shortage of qualified staff, poor infrastructure, insecurity, lack of strategic planning and poor organizational processes among others. These factors have affected the performance of classified tourism enterprises and the hotel industry at large. As result, some tourism enterprises have resorted to developing various competitive capabilities to enhance their strategic performance. It is in this view that this study assessed the influence of dynamic competitive capabilities on strategic performance of classified tourism enterprises in Nakuru County. The study involved a representative sample of the said enterprises selected randomly using a simple random sampling method. The study was based on three theories, knowledge based theory of the firm, agency theory and diffusion of innovations theory. In addition, the study used a descriptive research design with a population consisting of 52 employees from classified tourism enterprises out of which a sample of 33 respondents was drawn. The researcher used structured questionnaires and did a pilot study prior to the actual data collection in order to test the validity and reliability of the measuring instrument. The actual research data was then collected cleaned for completeness and then analyzed using SPSS version 20. The researcher conducted both a descriptive analysis and an inferential analysis to explain the relationships between the independent variables and the dependent variable. Also, a linear regression analysis and a Pearson correlation analysis were done and the findings presented in tables. The findings of the study were important to classified tourism enterprises, hotel managers, management consultants and the academia as it provides important literature on leveraging competitive dynamic capabilities to enhance strategic performance of tourism enterprises.