Strategic Direction and Crises Preparedness in Manufacturing Firms within the Kenya Association of Manufacturers in Kenya

The global and local business environment in the twenty first century has become complex and unstable for firms’ strategic leadership, because of rapid development, continuous change, business disruptions, and man-made as well as natural calamities. The purpose of this study was to determine how strategic direction influences crises preparedness in manufacturing firms within the Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) in Kenya. The research adopted the positivism approach as the research philosophy and utilized descriptive correlational research design. The study population consisted of 783 chief executive officers from the KAM where a sample of 292 was drawn using stratified random sampling technique. Data was collected through self-administered questionnaire whereas descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used to perform data analysis. Descriptive statistics focused on relative frequency distribution, means and standard deviation. Inferential statistics included Chi-square test for test of association, Kruskal-Wallis H Test and ordinal logistic regression. The study results are presented in form of table and numerical measures with descriptions. The study established that strategic direction had a statistically significant and positive influence on crises preparedness of manufacturing firms (β = 0.345, p < 0.05). Additionally, chi-square findings showed that manufacturing businesses' crises preparedness and strategic direction were significantly associated (χ2 = 40.705, p < 0.05). A statistically significant difference in the mean rankings of crisis preparedness for the different levels of strategic direction of the firms was also found according to the findings of the Kruskal-Wallis H test (H = 18.581, p < 0.05). The study concluded that strategic direction was an essential antecedent of crises preparedness in manufacturing companies in Kenya. The study recommends to corporate leaders to continually investigate and evaluate potential key areas of crises informed by their evolving operating environment when developing their firms’ purpose, intent, vision, mission and objectives.