TITLE:
Operations Strategy in Kenya’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Sector
AUTHORS:
Michael Mwangi, Michael Wainaina Githii, Thomas Ogoro Ombati, Catherine W. Ngahu
KEYWORDS:
Operations Strategy, Operations Performance Objective, Survey, MSME, Exploratory Factor Analysis
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.14 No.5,
September
2,
2026
ABSTRACT: Survey explores operations strategy content from a sector perspective, focusing on Kenya’s Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector. Study focused on six operations strategy contents: cost, innovation, quality, flexibility, customer service and delivery. Study operationalized target constructs using multiple items from literature. Data collection relied on structured questionnaire. 216 firms (54% response rate) from 23 economic sub-sectors participated in the survey. Convergent validity was evaluated using principal component analysis loading, while Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and Intraclass correlation coefficients evaluated internal reliability and multidimensional properties of input variable items. Exploratory Factor Analysis and descriptive statistics were used to extract and profile operations strategy contents. Study findings supported selected operations strategy contents other than cost. Characterization of extracted operations performance objectives operations supports multidimensional properties and fluidity of their theoretical and empirical items. Study offers insights to policy makers as to plausible focus areas for MSMEs’ growth and competitiveness. In view of increasing mixed results for operations strategy content in the MSME context, replication and comparative evaluation of findings with existing empirical literature from other regions and subsectors is encouraged.