Kisato, Jacqueline2015-01-162015-01-162014http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/11932Doctor of philosophy of Kenyatta University, 182P. October, 2014Utilisation of E-Marketing tools has been challenging for fashion enterprises because both scientific research and experiences indicate that there is limited knowledge in this industry. There is also paucity of data on how utilisation of E-Marketing affects the enterprise’s performance. The purpose of the study was to investigate the utilisation of E-Marketing tools and influencing forces on the performance of MSEs’ in the fashion industry in Nairobi County, Kenya. The objectives of the study were to investigate the utilisation of E-Marketing tools in Fashion MSEs and how entrepreneurial orientation (EO), internal and external forces influenced utilisation of E-Marketing. This study also analyzed the effect of utilisation of E-Marketing tools on the performance of these enterprises. This study used a cross section analytical survey research method. A validated questionnaire was used to collect data from 156 fashion enterprises that had an online presence by December 30th 2012. A sample size of 170 enterprises was selected from a population of 226 enterprises. The response rate was 91.7%, represented by156 fashion enterprises. The respondents were selected by a simple random sampling method. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 19.0. Descriptive statistics was generated and frequency distributions were used to describe the demographics of the respondents, characteristics of the enterprises, utilisation of E-Marketing tools and effects EO, internal and external forces on the MSEs’ performance. Regression analysis and one way ANOVA were used to examine the linear relationships between the independent and the dependent variables. The main findings of the study were that mobile telephony and Facebook marketing were the most utilized E-Marketing tools. Online banners and search engine optimization (SEO) were the least popular tools. To test the study hypothesis, the study revealed that, there was a statistically significant relationship between internal forces and performance: return on investment (RoI): (F=6.962, p=0.00, R2=0.30) and customer retention rate: (F=2.691, p=0.006, R2=0.142). External forces had a statistically significant relationship on performance (RoI: F=6.600, p=0.000, R2=0.264), customer conversion (F=2.853, p=0.006, R2=0.134) and customer retention rate (F=3.295, p=0.002, R2=0.152). EO had a statistically significant relationship on performance: RoI: (F=5.492, p=0.000, R2=0.253), and customer retention rate: (F=3.738, p=0.000, R2=0.137). There was a statistically significant relationship between utilisation of E-Marketing and performance: RoI (F=2.156, p=0.024, R2=0.129), Net profit: (F=2.812, p=0.03, R2=0.162), customer conversion (F=3.431, p=0.000, R2=0.191) and customer retention rate (F=3.879, p=0.00, R2=0.211). The four study hypotheses were therefore rejected. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the relationships between utilisation of E-Marketing tools and the fashion enterprise’s performance. The significance of the study was that, it provided new knowledge on utilisation of E-Marketing in Fashion MSEs and insight on utilisation E-Marketing tools and the forces that affected performance in Fashion MSEs in Nairobi County, Kenya. The study recommended that more fashion entrepreneurs should be innovatively use the E-Marketing tools and increase their market share. The study also recommended that, fashion entrepreneurs and marketers should also keep abreast with developments in the e-Business environment, so as to fully benefit from the E-Marketing tools available for their enterprises.enThesis