Generic strategies employed by food and beverage firms in Kenya and their effects on sustainable competitive advantage
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Date
2015-02-02
Authors
Minja, David
Mutunga, Stephen Laititi
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
European Centre for Research Training and Development UK (www.eajournals.org)
Abstract
The focus of this study was on competitive strategies that firms adopt in the Kenya
beverage industry in order to create above average performance. The fundamental basis of
above industry performance is sustainable competitive advantage which is either created by low
cost or differentiation strategy. The study aimed at establishing the generic strategies food and
beverage firms in Kenya employ for sustainable competitive advantage. This research entailed a
descriptive study design. Descriptive design uses a set of scientific methods to collect raw data
and create data structures that are used to describe the existing characteristics of a defined
target population. This study sought to do that among the F & B firms in Kenya. The study
population consisted of 138 food and beverage manufacturing firms in Kenya registered with the
Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) by 2011. The data was tested for central tendency
and dispersion after confirmation of normal distribution by appropriate tests of normality. Since
the sample size was 32 (over the minimum 30 required for statistical analysis), regression
analysis was carried out and interpretation of results of tests of hypothesis done. The research
showed that 56.2 percent of the firms embrace duo strategies of cost leadership and
differentiation simultaneously while 25 percent were exclusively on cost leadership and 18.8
percent were exclusively using differentiation. The use of dual strategies is a company survival
tactic in terms of diversification of risks especially in very competitive environments like that of
the Kenyan F&B industry. Results from Pearson’s rank correlation coefficient between the
dependent variable Y and the independent variables X1 and X2 gave coefficients of 0.653 and
0.279 respectively which was an indication of positive correlation.
Description
Keywords
Generic Strategies, Competitive Advantage, Cost Leadership, Differentiation
Citation
International Journal of Business and Management Review Vol.2,No.6,pp.1-15, November 2014