Jane Wanjira NjugunaMuiruri, Eric Gathiru2023-08-112023-08-112023http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/26810A Research Project Submitted to the School of Business, Economics, and Tourism in Partial Fulfilment for the Requirement of the Award of a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (Strategic Management Option) from Kenyatta University, June 2023.It is imperative that organizations compete for clients, revenue, and market share today by coming up with products that meet the requirements of their customers in a constantly evolving economic and commercial environment. The insurance industry in South Sudan is currently facing the challenge of rising cost, which leads to shrunk bottom lines. The stiff competition existing amongst insurance firms in the country is because majority of the firms in the insurance sector sell similar products and offer similar services meaning that the firms are competing for a limited market share. The broad objective was to assess the impact of response strategies on UAPSS’ competitive advantage in South Sudan. Specific objectives studied were to assess the impact of product development, market development, information technology and the management of knowledge on UAPSS’ competitive advantage. This research was anchored to the Competitive Advantage Theory by Porter, Disruptive Innovation Theory, and Technology Acceptance Model. Descriptive research design served as the study's primary research framework. All 60 UAPSS personnel were the demographic for this census research. Primary data was gathered through Semistructured questionnaires, while financial records, archival library materials, and South Sudan Insurance publications were used to get secondary data on revenues, expenses, and market share. To verify the questionnaire's dependability, a reliability test utilizing Cronbach Alpha’s index threshold, the response strategies had reliability coefficients for Product development, Market development, Information technology and Knowledge management respectively, therefore deemed reliable. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze quantitative data, frequency distribution tables, percentages and frequencies were used. To conduct inferential statistics, the use of multiple regression analysis was utilized to check impacts of independent factors on dependent ones. The study's results showed that product development, market development, information technology, and knowledge management all significantly impacted UAPSS’ competitive advantage. According to the study's findings, UAPSS’ competitive advantage is positively impacted by its response strategies of product development, market development, information technology, and knowledge management. Consequently, the study proposes the following recommendations for UAPSS management moving forward, as they have all been proven to enhance competitive advantage. The management should prioritize the utilization of market development, information technology, and product development, as these three strategies have shown significant potential in predicting competitive advantage. Moreover, it is advisable for the management to assess how other response strategies not examined in this study, such as organizational structure, new processes, new services, restructuring, marketing, leadership, and culture change, could complement the four studied response strategies and contribute to an improved competitive advantage for the company. To establish a more comprehensive understanding, it is recommended to conduct a broader study incorporating additional response strategies and involving other insurance companies. This will allow for greater generalizability of the findings, considering that the current study only focused on UAPSS, as well as on market development, information technology, product development, and knowledge management response strategies.enResponse StrategiesCompetitive AdvantageUAP Insurance LimitedSouth SudanThesis