Entrepreneurial Innovations and Financial Performance of Hospitality Consultancy Firms in Nairobi County

Abstract

Hospitality consultancy firms have been facing turbulent times because of the ever changing business environment resulting to reduction in the profitability of the hospitality consultancy firms. The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between entrepreneurial innovations and financial performance of hospitality consultancy firms. The specific objectives are to; determine the effect of service innovation, market innovation, product innovation and process innovation on financial performance of hospitality consultancy firms. The study adopted descriptive research design. The study population was 51 hospitality consultancy firms comprising 19 large sized and 32 small sized in Nairobi City County Kenya. Structured questionnaire was employed to collect data and analyzed using SPSS software version 23.0. Service innovation, market innovation, product innovation and process innovation explain 68.1% of performance of hospitality consultancy firms. The coefficient of service innovation (?=.370, p=0.005<0.05), the coefficient of market innovation (?=.199, p=0.037<0.05), coefficient of product innovation (?=.261, p=0.016<0.05) and coefficient of process innovation (?=.226, p=0.000<0.05) have positive and significant effect on the performance of hospitality consultancy firms. The study concludes that service innovations among the entrepreneurial innovations play the most significant role in enhancing performance hospitality consultancy firms. The study further concludes that product innovation was found to be the second most important entrepreneurial innovation for the hospitality consultancy firms. Conclusion can be made further that marketing innovations is essential in maintain market visibility of the hospitality consultancy firms and that process innovation enhances the operation efficiency of the hospitality consultancy firms. The study recommends for the need of the hospitality consultancy firms to continuously participate in research and development with hospitality training institutions to continuously introduce other innovative services that suit the changing business environment. The study recommends for the need of the hospitality consultancy firms to develop innovative products based on customer desire and preferences. The study recommends that marketing approaches of the hospitality firms have to be directed at meeting customers’ needs. Keywords: Entrepreneurial Innovations, Financial Performance, Hospitality Consultancy Firms, Nairobi County