Product Innovation Strategies Among Banks In Eldoret Municipality, Kenya

Author(s)

Odoyo Fredrick S. and Omwono Gideon A.

Affiliations

The Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Kenya

Abstract

The study aimed at assessing the product innovation strategies adopted by banking industry in Eldoret, Kenya. The study was guided by the following two objectives; to assess product innovation strategies employed by banks in Eldoret, to establish the relationship between product innovation and growth of banks and to find out the challenges of product innovation strategies implementation and improvement. The study employed a survey research design of 25 banks within Eldoret municipality and targeted the branch managers and the employees in the banks who are 578. A total sample size of 191 respondents was therefore employed in the study. The study employed purposive sampling in selecting the branch managers and stratified sampling in selecting the employees. A questionnaire was used as the main data collection instrument. Descriptive and inferential statistics were both used to analyse and interpret the data. The study found out that market surveys and customer’s feedbacks had effect on product innovation strategies. The study concluded that to a large extent banks innovate new products leading to new customers (new markets). The study recommended that apart from continuous improvement of existing products, it is the responsibility of the banks to come up with new products and services to suit their target market rather than being an adopter of innovation.

Keywords

Product Innovation, Bank, Strategy, Eldoret Municipality

References

1. Aoki, M. (2008) Information, incentives and bargaining in the Japanese economy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. Baldridge, J.V. and Burnham, R.A. (2005). ‘Product innovation: Individual, Organizational, and Environmental Impacts’. Administrative Science Quarterly, 20/2:165-176.
3. Chandler, A.D. (2002) Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the American Industrial Enterprise. Cambridge, M.A.: MIT Press.
4. Dwivedi, (2006). Data collection instruments in research: quantitative and qualitative approaches. Nairobi: Acts Press.
5. Edquist, C. and Johnson, B. (2007).’Institutions and Organizations in Systems of Product innovation’, in C. Edquist (ed.), Systems of Product innovation: Technologies, Institutions and Organizations. London: Pinter, 41-63.
6. Galunic, D.C. and Eisenhardt, K.M. (2001).’Architectural Product innovation and Modular Corporate Forms’, Academy of Management Journal, 44/6: 1229-1249
7. Glynn, M.A. (2006). ‘Innovative Genius: A Framework for Relating Individual and Organizational Intelligence to Product innovation’. Academy of Management Review, 21/4: 1081-1111.
8. Greve, H. R. and Taylor, A. (2000). ‘Product innovations as Catalysts for Venture growth: Shifts in Organizational Cognition and Change’. Administrative Science Quarterly, 45:54-80.
9. Hedlund, G. (2004). ‘A Model of Knowledge Management and the N-Form Corporation’, Strategic Management Journal, 15: 73-90
10. Henderson, R.M. and Clark, R.B. (2000). ‘Architectural Product innovation: The Reconfiguration of Existing Product Technologies and the Failure of Established Firms’. Administrative Science Quarterly, 29: 26- 42.
11. Kimberly, J.R. and Evanisko, M.J. (2001). ‘Product innovation: The Influence of Individual, Organizational, and Contextual Factors on Hospital Adoption of Technological and Administrative Product innovations’. The Academy of Management Journal, 24/4: 689-713.
12. Kodama, M. (2003). ‘Strategic Product innovation in Traditional Big Business: Case Studies of Two Japanese Companies’. Organization Studies, 24/2: 235-268.
13. Kombo, D. K and Tromp, D. L. (2006). Research methods: quantitative and qualitative approaches. Nairobi: Acts Press.
14. Kothari, C.R, (2008). Research Methodology: Methods and Technique. Nairobi, Kenya, Maxwell Publishers
15. Mintzberg, H. (2009). The Structuring of Organization. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: PrenticeHall.
16. Mugenda, Olive M. and Abel G. Mugenda, (2003). Research Methods: Quantitative & QualitativeApproaches,Nairobi, Kenya, PBL Publishers.
17. Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi, H.(2005). The Knowledge Creating Company. New York