Market Penetration Strategy and Performance of Agrochemical Companies in Nakuru County, Kenya

Abstract

The performance of the agrochemical industry in Kenya is of paramount importance to the agricultural sector because agriculture is the mainstay of Kenya’s economy. This study sought to investigate the effect of market penetration strategies on performance of agrochemical companies in Nakuru County, Kenya. The study employed a descriptive survey design. The target population was 20 agrochemical companies operating in Nakuru County. The study employed a census survey and purposive sampling was used to select 60 senior management. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data after being pretested for reliability and validity and found to meet the acceptable Cronbach’s alpha value. Data analysis included both descriptive and inferential analyses. Simple regression analysis showed that market penetration strategy had a positive and statistically significant relationship with the performance of agrochemical companies. The findings of this study are significant to managers, scholars and government. To the managers, the findings reveal market penetration strategies influence the performance of their agrochemical companies. For the government the findings reveal the need to develop policies that will support the market penetration strategy adopted by agrochemical companies because they affect their performance. For scholars, the findings contribute to further understanding of the effect of market penetration strategy on firm performance. This study concludes that market penetration strategy is the most important predictor of performance of agrochemical companies. This study finally recommends that future studies could be carried out in other counties and different industries such as banking and manufacturing to compare the findings in this study.