The Role of Technology in Strategy Implementation and Performance of Manufacturing Small and Medium Firms in Thika, Kenya
Peter Kihara, Professor Henry Bwisa, Professor John Kihoro

Abstract
This study examined the relationships among technology, strategy implementation, and performance of manufacturing small and Medium (SME) firms in Thika, Kenya. The study is underpinned in the Dynamic Capabilities View of the firm (DCV), an offshoot of the Resource Based View of the firm (RBV), where technology is recognized as one of the key dynamic capabilities required by the firms in maintaining a superior performance and a competitive edge among the rival firms in the industry. A self administered questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 115 firms out of a population of 165 manufacturing SME’s from two key industrial subsectors in Thika Sub-County in Kenya. Guided by the philosophy of logical positivism, which argue that the statement is only true if it can be proven to be right or wrong, the study adopted a mixed research design which incorporated the, qualitative and quantitative designs. Pearson’s correlation’s Rho (r) was used to indicate the nature of the relationship between the dependent and independent variables while OLS linear regression analysis was used to test hypotheses proposed in this study. The study findings indicated that there is a strong positive and significant relationship between attention to technological requirements during strategy implementation process and the performance of SME manufacturing firms. The literature of strategic management has identified three main drivers in strategy implementation that is leadership styles, structure, and human resources. This study investigated whether technology can be regarded as major driver influencing strategy implementation and performance of manufacturing SME firms in a developing county’s set up like Kenya. The study found statistical evidence that alongside the three major drivers of strategy implementation, technology had the highest influence on the manufacturing SME firm’s performance. Secondly, this study confirmed that technology is indeed a vital dynamic capability required by all manufacturing firms to attain superior performance and a strong competitive advantage among the rivals. This study therefore concluded that technology is, indeed, the fourth most important drivers influencing performance in the manufacturing SME’s in Kenya. Since there is a strong positive and significant relationship between technology and performance of an SME, manufacturing firms interested in enhancing their performance and staying ahead of competition should always endeavor to maintain a fair balance between strategy implementations and the technological requirements needed to support that strategy.

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