Influence of Strategic Innovation on Corporate Reputation Management in Microfinance Institutions (MFI’S) In Machakos County

Abstract

The objective of this research was to investigate the influence of product innovation on corporate reputation management in Machakos County microfinance institutions. This is important in order to understand and evaluate strategic innovation which can be understood as reinventing or redesigning an organization’s corporate strategy in order to promote company growth, provide value for the customer and the company, and achieve a competitive advantage. .n order to achieve the study's purpose, the descriptive sampling technique has been used in a research study. Population target of the study comprised of all the Microfinance Institutions (MFI’s) licensed by the Association of Microfinance Institutions of

Kenya (AMFI-K) as at 31st December 2019. There are (15) fifteen licensed MFI’s by AMFI- K. All the selected MFI’s were included in the study with the respondents being all the

selected Branch managers, team leaders and operations officers. The total respondents therefore were forty-five (45). The main methodologies were questionnaires, which were self-administered by the researcher and yielded an 82.2 per cent response rate. The research showed that product innovation and corporate reputation management had a good and significant association. The study also indicated that process innovation and corporate reputation management had a favorable and substantial (P-Value=0.000) association. Furthermore, the findings demonstrated that market innovation and corporate reputation management had a favorable and substantial (P-Value=0.000) link. Finally, resource

innovation and corporate reputation management had a favorable and substantial (P- Value=0.000) association. The study therefore concluded that Product Innovation, Process

Innovation, Market Innovation, and Resource Innovation all have a positive and significant impact on company reputation management based on the findings. This study recommended the need to improve on marketing innovation strategies for marketing officers of the MFI’s and to ensure that a product innovative approaches are implemented