Marketing capability and firm performance: an empirical analysis of food processing firms in Nairobi city county, Kenya

Abstract

One of the key drivers of economic growth in Kenya is the Food Processing sector and hence the Kenyan government has provided and implemented key logistics systems to support this important segment of the manufacturing sector. However, despite all this, existing body of contextual literature shows declining performance in this sector for the last three years. Therefore, this study sought to establish the effect of marketing capability on performance of food processing firms in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study targeted 102 registered Food Processing Firms within Nairobi City County in Kenya and was anchored on dynamic capability theory and resource based view where positivism research philosophy and both explanatory and descriptive research designs were adopted. Multistage probability sampling technique was used to select 31 firms and 155 respondents where unit of analysis was the food processing firms and unit of observation the heads of functional areas in those firms. Collection of Primary data was by use of semistructured questionnaires where drop and pick technique was used to administer the questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse Quantitative data and content analysis used to analyse qualitative data. The study revealed that marketing capability has a positive effect on performance. The study recommended for management of food processing firms to ensure that adequate resources are acquired and provided for advertising activities. An appropriate policy should be developed to inform investment decisions and practises in relation to advertising.