Differentiation Strategy and Service Delivery among Selected Insurance Firms in Nairobi City County, Kenya
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Date
2021
Authors
Kiprono, Benadette Kemboi
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
The current level of service delivery coupled with market penetration is a clear illustration that there exist innumerable market opportunities available for insurance service providers; thus, necessitating the need for identifying avenues of increasing profitability and service delivery for insurance firms. To remain competitive and meet the growing demands of clients, insurance firms are bombarded with the need to foster good service delivery, yet this has not happened. Further, it‘s also emerging that most of the insurance service providers have not yet embraced differentiation strategies to improve their service delivery and performance. The study‘s general objective was investigating relationship amongst differentiation strategy and service delivery in Jubilee Insurance Limited in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study‘s specific objectives included: determining effects of product differentiation, image differentiation, channel distribution and people differentiation on service delivery in Jubilee Insurance Limited in Nairobi City County, Kenya. Michael Porter‘s Competitive Forces, Marketing Orientation Theory, Dissonance theory and Service Quality Model were the theories in which the study was based on. The descriptive design was adopted. Study‘s target population comprised of the employees of Jubilee Insurance Limited, APA Insurance Company and GA Insurance Company. The total unit of population was 338, whereby stratified sampling design was used to arrive at a sample size of 100 respondents. The collection of research data was done using structured questionnaire. Quantitative data were analyzed using statistical software for social science to get inferential and descriptive statistics. The presentation of the results was done through figures, tables and graphs. Findings established product differentiation had statistically significant effect on service delivery (r =0.471, p =0.000); image differentiation affects service delivery (r = 0.746, p = 0.000); channel differentiation has a positive influence on service delivery (r = 0.818, p = 0.000) and that people differentiation has a direct relationship to the service delivery of the firm (r=0.756, p=0.000). The study concluded that all the differentiation strategies, namely, product differentiation, image differentiation, channel differentiation and people differentiation significantly affected service delivery among selected insurance firms in Nairobi City County, Kenya. Given the positive correlation between product differentiation and service delivery, recommendations were made that the management of insurance firms should invest more in product differentiation activities that would consequently yield more desirable service delivery. More efforts should be put in place to ensure value is constantly added to the products to enhance lasting and positive brand image on clients. Market survey should be done continuously and upgrades on product made to keep clients satisfied and introduced to new trends. Efforts should also be made to make sure they keep in touch with client‘s perception of them, by conducting regular surveys and encouraging client feedback, as this would enable them make necessary adjustments to improve how clients perceive them. Investments should be made to improve the advertising efforts to demonstrate the services offered. More should be done to keep up with the ever-changing trends in distribution like the use of digital platforms to ensure clients get connected with the services offered by the insurance companies. Companies should also try and shorten the distribution channel. Other than that, efforts should be made to keep track of the distribution process. Finally, Insurance firms should conduct periodic training on their employees to keep them on toes and up to date with market changes and trends. Managers should also introduce skill development by enrolling their staff to workshops, conferences and short courses.
Description
A Research Project Submitted to the School of Business in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of Master of Business Administration (Strategic Management Option) of Kenyatta University, October, 2021
Keywords
Differentiation Strategy, Service Delivery, Selected Insurance Firms, Nairobi City County, Kenya