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Whether strategic leadership retains real value for firm performance has long been contested, and the debate has often outrun the evidence in sectors far from the manufacturing and service settings where the construct was first tested. This study revisits Upper Echelons Theory and asks whether strategic leadership matters for the performance of poultry firms in an emerging economy. It examined the nineteen registered poultry firms in Nairobi City County, Kenya, a value chain marked by declining output, rising import competition and volatile input costs. Anchored on Upper Echelons Theory, and complemented by Strategic Leadership Theory and the Resource-Based View, the study measured strategic leadership as an integrated four-dimension construct comprising setting strategic direction, building core competencies, building organizational culture and networking, and examined the association between each dimension and firm performance. All nineteen firms were taken as a census, and a proportionate stratified random sample of 209 managers was drawn from their top echelon and business unit ranks; 200 returned usable questionnaires, a response rate of 95.69%, with Cronbach's alpha clearing the 0.7 threshold on every scale (0.761 to 0.902). The firms reported a high level of strategic leadership practice (M=3.99; SD=1.088) and a slightly lower level of performance (M=3.83; SD=0.779). Multiple linear regression showed that the four dimensions jointly explained 72.5% of the variance in managers' reported firm performance (Adjusted R²=.725; F significant at p < .001). Each dimension contributed a positive and significant effect: networking (B=.282), setting strategic direction (B=.246), building core competencies (B=.243) and building organizational culture (B=.204), all at p≤0.05. The results indicate that, far from being overwhelmed by a turbulent agribusiness environment, strategic leadership practices are strongly and consistently associated with performance in it. The study extends an upper-echelons perspective to emerging-economy agribusiness, demonstrates the value of measuring strategic leadership as a consolidated four-dimension whole, and advises boards and managers of poultry firms to treat clear strategic direction, competence renewal, adaptive culture and value chain networks as investments that shape revenue rather than as overhead.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed deep vulnerabilities in the livelihoods of hospitality sector employees worldwide, with particularly severe consequences in developing country contexts characterized by limited social protection and high employment precarity. Kenya's hospitality sector, a vital source of employment and foreign exchange, suffered widespread operational disruptions, workforce downsizing, and prolonged income instability, yet employees' experiences of these crises remain underexplored in the literature. Drawing on a comprehensive review of global, African, and Kenyan empirical literature, this paper examines the institutional lessons that the COVID-19 crisis offers for sustaining employee livelihoods in Kenya's hospitality sector. The paper is theoretically grounded in African Socialism Theory, the Capability Approach, and Social Constructivism, which together provide an ethical, human-centered, and interpretive framework for analyzing the relationships among institutional responses, employee resilience, and livelihood sustainability. The review demonstrates that employee resilience during crises is not solely an individual psychological attribute but is significantly shaped by organizational practices, leadership quality, communication transparency, and access to welfare support. Evidence further reveals that institutional responses in the Kenyan hospitality sector prioritized business continuity over employee welfare, leaving many workers, especially those on casual and non-permanent contracts, without adequate protection. The paper argues that sustainable employee livelihoods require proactive institutional frameworks that integrate crisis preparedness, ethical employment practices, and targeted welfare mechanisms. Lessons from comparative contexts, including South Korea, Germany, and South Africa, are drawn upon to propose strategies for strengthening organizational and policy responses in Kenya's hospitality sector. The findings contribute to emerging research on ethical organizational leadership, sustainable employment, and crisis management in the Global South.

This study examined the effect of deposit diversification on the financial performance of Deposit-Taking Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (DT-SACCOs) in Kenya and evaluated the moderating effect of corporate governance on this relationship.  The study adopted a positivist research philosophy and a causal research design. The target population comprised 176 SASRA-licensed DT-SACCOs in Kenya, from which 122 SACCOs with complete financial records for the period 2015–2024 were selected using simple random sampling. Panel data techniques, including fixed-effects and random-effects regression models, were employed to estimate the direct and moderating effects, while hierarchical regression was used to test the moderation hypothesis. The findings revealed that non-withdrawable deposits significantly and positively influenced both surplus and dividend payout after introducing lags, whereas withdrawable deposits had no significant effect on financial performance. The results further established that corporate governance had a positive and significant direct effect on financial performance and significantly strengthened the relationship between deposit diversification and financial performance. The findings provide practical guidance for DT-SACCO managers and policymakers to strengthen stable deposit mobilization and corporate governance as mechanisms for enhancing financial sustainability and institutional performance.

This paper examines the Resource-Based View (RBV) and the Theory of Firm Heterogeneity to clarify their theoretical boundaries and enhance their explanatory power. It addresses key limitations of RBV, including endogeneity, tautological reasoning, and limited attention to contextual influences, and examines how digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) reshape strategic resources and firm heterogeneity. The study employs a systematic review of the strategic management literature. It synthesises the core assumptions of RBV with insights from firm heterogeneity, evolutionary theory, and capability-based perspectives to assess how internal resources, contextual factors, and technological capabilities shape competitive advantage. The review indicates that RBV and the Theory of Firm Heterogeneity provide complementary explanations of persistent performance differences among firms. Competitive advantage depends not only on heterogeneous resources but also on firms' ability to adapt, integrate, and deploy these resources in response to changing environmental and institutional conditions. Digital transformation and AI further amplify firm heterogeneity by creating differences in technological capabilities and innovation capacity. The paper advances the strategic management literature by integrating RBV with the Theory of Firm Heterogeneity, offering a more comprehensive explanation of sustained competitive advantage. It demonstrates how digital technologies and AI reshape strategic resources and identifies future research opportunities in contextual influences, capability development, and technology-driven competitive advantage.

Despite the significant economic contribution of the jua kali enterprises, the industry is beset by fundamental financial issues that limit their firm performance. Consequently, many of these enterprises fail soon after they open for operation; 50% to 95% fail during the first five years. The development of seed capital is one of the main issues affecting the firm performance of Jua Kali enterprises. This research assessed the effects of seed capital on firm performance of Jua Kali enterprises in Kamukunji, Nairobi City County, Kenya. The specific objectives were to; establish the effect of angel investors, equity financing and crowdfunding on firm performance of Jua Kali enterprises in Kamukunji, Nairobi City County, Kenya. The anchor theory was the Resource-Based View, Pecking Order Theory, and Information Asymmetry Theory. The study used quantitative methods, applying positivism paradigms. Both explanatory and descriptive research designs was used in this study. The target population was the 4763 Jua Kal enterprises in Kamukunji, Nairobi City County, Kenya and unit of enquiry their managers/owners. Using, a formula, the study obtained a sample size of 367 respondents. The study used stratified proportionate sampling and simple random sampling to obtain respondents from the associations. Construct validity was used to examine the questionnaire's validity and Cronbach's alpha at the 0.7 level was used to test its reliability.  Data was analysed to produce descriptive and inferential statistics. The results from the analysis were presented on frequency tables.  The study found that each of angel investors, equity financing and crowdfunding, has significant effect on firm performance of Jua Kali enterprises in Kamukunji, Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study recommends for angel investors to be active not only in providing finance but also in strategic mentorship and networking, and advisory services. For entrepreneurs, internal equity financing should come first while the potential of crowdfunding can be harnessed by training business owners. More so, entrepreneurs should build management skills, financial literacy, and strategic abilities while the government and regulatory bodies should streamline policies and clarify compliance requirements with supportive tax incentives.

Whether strategic leadership retains real value for firm performance has long been contested, and the debate has often outrun the evidence in sectors far from the manufacturing and service settings where the construct was first tested. This study revisits Upper Echelons Theory and asks whether strategic leadership matters for the performance of poultry firms in an emerging economy. It examined the nineteen registered poultry firms in Nairobi City County, Kenya, a value chain marked by declining output, rising import competition and volatile input costs. Anchored on Upper Echelons Theory, and complemented by Strategic Leadership Theory and the Resource-Based View, the study measured strategic leadership as an integrated four-dimension construct comprising setting strategic direction, building core competencies, building organizational culture and networking, and examined the association between each dimension and firm performance. All nineteen firms were taken as a census, and a proportionate stratified random sample of 209 managers was drawn from their top echelon and business unit ranks; 200 returned usable questionnaires, a response rate of 95.69%, with Cronbach's alpha clearing the 0.7 threshold on every scale (0.761 to 0.902). The firms reported a high level of strategic leadership practice (M=3.99; SD=1.088) and a slightly lower level of performance (M=3.83; SD=0.779). Multiple linear regression showed that the four dimensions jointly explained 72.5% of the variance in managers' reported firm performance (Adjusted R²=.725; F significant at p < .001). Each dimension contributed a positive and significant effect: networking (B=.282), setting strategic direction (B=.246), building core competencies (B=.243) and building organizational culture (B=.204), all at p≤0.05. The results indicate that, far from being overwhelmed by a turbulent agribusiness environment, strategic leadership practices are strongly and consistently associated with performance in it. The study extends an upper-echelons perspective to emerging-economy agribusiness, demonstrates the value of measuring strategic leadership as a consolidated four-dimension whole, and advises boards and managers of poultry firms to treat clear strategic direction, competence renewal, adaptive culture and value chain networks as investments that shape revenue rather than as overhead.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed deep vulnerabilities in the livelihoods of hospitality sector employees worldwide, with particularly severe consequences in developing country contexts characterized by limited social protection and high employment precarity. Kenya's hospitality sector, a vital source of employment and foreign exchange, suffered widespread operational disruptions, workforce downsizing, and prolonged income instability, yet employees' experiences of these crises remain underexplored in the literature. Drawing on a comprehensive review of global, African, and Kenyan empirical literature, this paper examines the institutional lessons that the COVID-19 crisis offers for sustaining employee livelihoods in Kenya's hospitality sector. The paper is theoretically grounded in African Socialism Theory, the Capability Approach, and Social Constructivism, which together provide an ethical, human-centered, and interpretive framework for analyzing the relationships among institutional responses, employee resilience, and livelihood sustainability. The review demonstrates that employee resilience during crises is not solely an individual psychological attribute but is significantly shaped by organizational practices, leadership quality, communication transparency, and access to welfare support. Evidence further reveals that institutional responses in the Kenyan hospitality sector prioritized business continuity over employee welfare, leaving many workers, especially those on casual and non-permanent contracts, without adequate protection. The paper argues that sustainable employee livelihoods require proactive institutional frameworks that integrate crisis preparedness, ethical employment practices, and targeted welfare mechanisms. Lessons from comparative contexts, including South Korea, Germany, and South Africa, are drawn upon to propose strategies for strengthening organizational and policy responses in Kenya's hospitality sector. The findings contribute to emerging research on ethical organizational leadership, sustainable employment, and crisis management in the Global South.

This study examined the effect of deposit diversification on the financial performance of Deposit-Taking Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies (DT-SACCOs) in Kenya and evaluated the moderating effect of corporate governance on this relationship.  The study adopted a positivist research philosophy and a causal research design. The target population comprised 176 SASRA-licensed DT-SACCOs in Kenya, from which 122 SACCOs with complete financial records for the period 2015–2024 were selected using simple random sampling. Panel data techniques, including fixed-effects and random-effects regression models, were employed to estimate the direct and moderating effects, while hierarchical regression was used to test the moderation hypothesis. The findings revealed that non-withdrawable deposits significantly and positively influenced both surplus and dividend payout after introducing lags, whereas withdrawable deposits had no significant effect on financial performance. The results further established that corporate governance had a positive and significant direct effect on financial performance and significantly strengthened the relationship between deposit diversification and financial performance. The findings provide practical guidance for DT-SACCO managers and policymakers to strengthen stable deposit mobilization and corporate governance as mechanisms for enhancing financial sustainability and institutional performance.

This paper examines the Resource-Based View (RBV) and the Theory of Firm Heterogeneity to clarify their theoretical boundaries and enhance their explanatory power. It addresses key limitations of RBV, including endogeneity, tautological reasoning, and limited attention to contextual influences, and examines how digital technologies and artificial intelligence (AI) reshape strategic resources and firm heterogeneity. The study employs a systematic review of the strategic management literature. It synthesises the core assumptions of RBV with insights from firm heterogeneity, evolutionary theory, and capability-based perspectives to assess how internal resources, contextual factors, and technological capabilities shape competitive advantage. The review indicates that RBV and the Theory of Firm Heterogeneity provide complementary explanations of persistent performance differences among firms. Competitive advantage depends not only on heterogeneous resources but also on firms' ability to adapt, integrate, and deploy these resources in response to changing environmental and institutional conditions. Digital transformation and AI further amplify firm heterogeneity by creating differences in technological capabilities and innovation capacity. The paper advances the strategic management literature by integrating RBV with the Theory of Firm Heterogeneity, offering a more comprehensive explanation of sustained competitive advantage. It demonstrates how digital technologies and AI reshape strategic resources and identifies future research opportunities in contextual influences, capability development, and technology-driven competitive advantage.

Despite the significant economic contribution of the jua kali enterprises, the industry is beset by fundamental financial issues that limit their firm performance. Consequently, many of these enterprises fail soon after they open for operation; 50% to 95% fail during the first five years. The development of seed capital is one of the main issues affecting the firm performance of Jua Kali enterprises. This research assessed the effects of seed capital on firm performance of Jua Kali enterprises in Kamukunji, Nairobi City County, Kenya. The specific objectives were to; establish the effect of angel investors, equity financing and crowdfunding on firm performance of Jua Kali enterprises in Kamukunji, Nairobi City County, Kenya. The anchor theory was the Resource-Based View, Pecking Order Theory, and Information Asymmetry Theory. The study used quantitative methods, applying positivism paradigms. Both explanatory and descriptive research designs was used in this study. The target population was the 4763 Jua Kal enterprises in Kamukunji, Nairobi City County, Kenya and unit of enquiry their managers/owners. Using, a formula, the study obtained a sample size of 367 respondents. The study used stratified proportionate sampling and simple random sampling to obtain respondents from the associations. Construct validity was used to examine the questionnaire's validity and Cronbach's alpha at the 0.7 level was used to test its reliability.  Data was analysed to produce descriptive and inferential statistics. The results from the analysis were presented on frequency tables.  The study found that each of angel investors, equity financing and crowdfunding, has significant effect on firm performance of Jua Kali enterprises in Kamukunji, Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study recommends for angel investors to be active not only in providing finance but also in strategic mentorship and networking, and advisory services. For entrepreneurs, internal equity financing should come first while the potential of crowdfunding can be harnessed by training business owners. More so, entrepreneurs should build management skills, financial literacy, and strategic abilities while the government and regulatory bodies should streamline policies and clarify compliance requirements with supportive tax incentives.