Financial Innovation as a Competitive Strategy: The Kenyan Financial Sector

Abstract

The world business environment is rapidly changing and becoming intensely competitive. In this context, most organizations are realizing that knowledge is the most important resource in creating sustainable competitive advantage. Knowledge management (KM) as a discipline is designed to provide strategy, process, and technology to increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness. The survival and success of a firm are dependent on the capacity of management to generate new ideas. One such a topical idea is financial innovations. Economies and businesses across the world have embraced creativity and innovation to circumvent market imperfections. Kenya as an economy has been hailed as a regional financial hub. This paper is a narrative review seeking to establish the extent of financial innovation in Kenya and how this enhances competitiveness. The research finds out that the Kenyan financial sector has made some remarkable strides towards financial innovations. However, it is noted that there is still enormous untapped potential that can enhance Kenya’s economy further. Keywords: knowledge management (KM), financial innovations, market imperfections