Agile Project Management Practices and Competitive Advantage in The Real Estate Industry in Kenya: Case of Centum Investment Company

Abstract

Despite persistent inefficiencies in Kenya’s real estate sector, such as cost overruns, project delays, and stakeholder dissatisfaction, most firms continued to rely on rigid, traditional project management approaches. Agile Project Management (APM), though widely adopted globally, remained underutilized and under-researched in this context. This research investigated how Agile Project Management (APM) practices impacted on the competitive advantage of the real estate industry in Kenya, using Centum Investment Company as the case study. The study was inspired by the fact that organizations needed to ensure that they embrace flexible and responsive managerial practices that would increase performance and responsiveness in a volatile market. Agile Project Management offers a methodology that focuses on teamwork, customer orientation, iterative planning and ongoing enhancement, which are very essential in making an organization competitive. The research design used in the study was a descriptive research design and a sample population of the study was 76 project management professionals in Centum Investment Company. The methodology employed was the census method and the structured questionnaire was utilized to collect data. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used, such as regression analysis, to analyze the connection between APM practices and competitive advantage. Before data collection, reliability as well as validity of the instrument was tested. The findings revealed that Agile Planning, Collaboration, and Continuous Feedback recorded mean scores above 4.0, showing that these practices are consistently applied at Centum. Correlation results indicated a strong positive relationship between APM practices and competitive advantage (r = 0.45–0.62), while regression analysis confirmed that APM significantly predicts competitive advantage (R² = 0.56, p < 0.001). Among the predictors, Stakeholder Engagement (β = 0.375, p < 0.001) and Agile Planning (β = 0.291, p < 0.01) had the strongest influence. Organizational policy also positively moderated this relationship (β = 0.167, p < 0.05), meaning that supportive policies strengthened the impact of Agile practices on performance outcomes. The results obtained showed that Agile planning, collaboration, and continuous feedback had an overall and large impact on competitive advantage. The practices improved efficiency, innovation, customer satisfaction and market adaptability. The paper has concluded that organizations that incorporate Agile practices in project management procedures have high chances of maintaining high performance and competitiveness. The study suggests that real estate companies should use ongoing learning, stakeholder participation, and adaptable project scheduling to align the strategy and execution. Future research may examine how the organizational culture moderates the relationship between APM and competitive advantage.