CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY STRATEGIES AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF COMMERCIAL BANKS IN KENYA: CASE OF EQUITY BANK KENYA LIMITED
Quresh Maalim Muhumed - Master of Business Administration (Strategic Management), Kenyatta University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
Corporate social duty assumes an undeniably vital part in business obligation today. Financial, political, and social elements are forming CSR techniques around the globe. Socially mindful corporate execution can be related with a progression of main concern benefits like improved brand image, innovation and reputation in spite of the fact that much of the time, it appears that the time period of the expenses and benefits can be askew where the expenses are quick, and the benefits are not regularly acknowledged quarterly. The execution of business organizations is influenced by their techniques and operations in market and non - market situations. One develop that may catch a noteworthy component of these non-advertise techniques is corporate social obligation. The objectives of the study include; determining the influence of education programs, environmental programs, enterprise development programs and staff welfare programs on competitive gain of Equity bank Kenya Limited. The study was anchored on stakeholder’s theory, strategic leadership theory and resource based view theory. The study used descriptive research design. The target population of this study was composed of all top management staff of equity bank in Kenya drawn from the head office in Nairobi who total to 145. Simple random sampling was used to choose the sample size of 44 which is 30 percent of the total study population. The examination utilized both essential and auxiliary information. Essential information was gathered using semi organized questionnaires directed to staff using pick and drop technique and through email delivery. The instrument was verified for validity by the university supervisor and cronbach alpha was used to test reliability. Quantitative data collected was analysed by the use of statistical Package for Social sciences and excel. Findings were presented by use of tables, frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation. From the findings, there is strong positive relation between education programs and competitive advantage of magnitude 0.853; this relationship is statistically significant p=0.000<0.05; there is a strong positive relationship between environmental protection and competitive advantage of magnitude 0.629; the relationship is statistically significant p=0.000<0.05; there is a moderate positive correlation between enterprise development and competitive advantage whose magnitude is 0.436; this relationship is significant p=0.002<0.05 and there exists a strong positive relationship between staff welfare programs and competitive advantage with magnitude of 0.782; this relationship is statically significant. The study concludes that CSR led to good relations with the key stakeholders especially the customers; the bank balanced the need to adding shareholders value and good corporate citizens; CSR conservation initiatives led to enhanced customer loyalty; the bank sensitized the community on the need to conserve the environment; the bank educated SMEs on basic financial management skills. Entrepreneurship development empowered families who in turn remained loyal to the firm, CSR staff benefits leading to positive organization image. Employees got monetary benefits periodically. The study recommends that all the top management of all commercial banks in Kenya should enhance their growth through Master-Card; Commercial banks should cooperate with the ministry of sports in order to participate in SOCCA and sports through funding of sporting activities in Kenya; the management of team of commercial banks and all organizations in Kenya should aim at enhancing customer satisfaction. Commercial banks ought to sponsor their employees in advancing their careers.
