Survey of competitive strategies and performance of veterinary pharmaceuticals firms in Nairobi county

Abstract

Agriculture is the mainstay of the Kenyan economy accounting for 24% of the GDP and accounting 18% of all formal employment in the country. Agriculture includes crop husbandly and animal production. The livestock sector in Kenya accounts for 10-15 % of the GDP. Au -IBAR, Kenya livestock sector study .The sector employs about 50% of the total labor force in the agricultural sector. The sector contributes over 30% of the agricultural GDP. The livestock resource is estimated at 60 million units comprising of 29 million poultry, 13million cattle, 16 million, goats and sheep., 0.52 million donkey,O.3 \ million pigs and 0.5 million of other exotic livestock. The sector offers an opportunity for increased employment and household economy, if appropriate packages are put in place in production and marketing. Among the inputs required for effective and efficient production are vaccines, dewormers, curative medicines, acaricides and minerals which are provided in the market by veterinary pharmaceutical firms. The purpose of this study was to identify the competitive strategies used by veterinary pharmaceutical firms in Kenya to gain competitive advantage. It also evaluates the effect of the strategies on firm performance. The study was to focus on strategies and approaches employed by the various firms, to establish how this relates to competitive advantage and are manifested in performance. The main objective of the study was to establish the effect of competitive strategies on performance of veterinary pharmaceutical firms in Nairobi County. The specific objectives was be to examine the relationship between cost leadership strategies and performance, to establish the differentiation strategies and their relationship to performance, to examine focus strategies and their relationship with performance. A survey involving the entire population of 30 veterinary pharmaceutical firms was done . .Data was collected using personally administered structured questionnaires. Data collected was edited then coded. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. This was presented in be percentages, frequency distribution tables and other descriptive statistics mainly mean and standard deviation. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) was used for this analysis. This information has been displayed by use of bar charts, graphs and pie charts. The results of the data analysis were presented and conclusions drawn. From the results it has been concluded that all the three competitive strategies of focus, cost leadership and differentiation have a positive and significant relationship to performance. The study recommends that VPFs should use more of the focus strategy than the other strategies since it has the most significant relationship to performance. This will ensure competitiveness in the market and enhance performance.