ABSTRACT
A firm‟s performance is a function of how well managers build the organizations around the resources and capabilities within their reach. Resource Based View regards a firm‟s specific resources as the fundamental source of superior performance. Resources must be valuable, rare, inimitable, and lack of substitutes to give competitive advantage and hence superior performance. Empirical studies indicate that the mobile phone companies have been dominated by one player for the last six years. Despite strategies and effort of other players such as lowering tariffs, coming up with cheaper money transfer, other attractive offers like free calls and messages, they have not managed to get a competitive edge leading to one company continuing to dominate the market. For this reason, homogeneity in performance for the companies operating in similar competitive conditions and industrial environment has not been explained. This study examined the effect of organizational resources on performance of mobile phone companies in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study included; determining how human capital affect performance in mobile phone companies, establishing how technology competencies affect performance in mobile phone companies, assessing the moderating effect of environmental factors on the relationship between organizational resources and performance of mobile phone companies in Kenya and to assess the mediating effect of competitive advantage on the relationship between organizational resources and performance of mobile phone companies in Kenya.To achieve the objectives, the study used a combination of explanatory design and descriptive survey research design, specifically cross sectional design. The target population consisted of 381 respondents and the sample size was 170 respondents from the four mobile phone companies in Kenya. The research adopted stratified random sampling technique. The study used mainly primary data which was collected using self-administered questionnaires. Reliability of the instrument was tested using cronbach‟s alpha reliability coefficient of
0.7 which was considered acceptable, hence the instrument was reliable. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize data while inferential statistics, specifically multiple linear regression was used to test hypotheses. The analysis used stata statistical package version 11.0 to aid data analysis. The results were presented using tables. The findings indicated that human capital had a positive significant effect on performance of mobile phone companies. Technology was found to be significant in explaining the variation of performance of mobile phone companies. Competitive advantage had a partial mediating effect on the influence of organizational resources on performance. Environmental factor had a moderating effect on the influence of organizational resources on performance. The study recommends that human capital is a key player in establishing performance therefore, managers should introduce more training to improve human capital skills. The study concluded that there is need for the companies to invest more in modern technology to cope with the changes that are necessary to enhance performance. Finally, the study recommended that further research be done by replicating the same study in other companies or industries like banks.
