An Investigation on the causes of the financial downturn of OK Zimbabwe.

Abstract

This study investigates the causes of the financial downturn of OK Zimbabwe limited, one of Zimbabwe’s old and most established retail chains. OK Zimbabwe recorded a significant operational loses across financial year 2021 to FY 2025, including a net loss of USD 25 million. A Quantitative research design was adopted, guided by a positivist research philosophy. Primary data was collected through structured questionnaires of 30 distributed questions achieving a response rate of 100%. Secondary data were drawn from OK Zimbabwe’s published annual reports for the period of 2021-2025, supplemented by data from the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, ZIMSTAT and African financials. Multiple linear regression analysis was performed using SPSS Version 20 to examine the relationships between the independent variables and the dependent variables. The results confirmed that currency exchange rate volatility emerged as the most dominant and statistically significant predictor of financial performance. Supply chain disruption yielding a non-significant coefficient partly because supply chain challenges were themselves driven by exchange rate instability. The study concludes that currency exchange rate volatility is the primary driver of OK Zimbabwe’s deterioration. The study recommends that OK Zimbabwe adopts a competitive hedging strategy against currency exposure.