COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES AND PERFORMANCE OF FIRMS IN THE TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY IN KENYA
Keywords:
Focus Strategy, Innovation, Competitive Strategies, Performance , Firms in the Telecommunication IndustryAbstract
The telephony sector played a critical role in communication, contributed to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), created economic opportunities through mobile money agents, facilitated economic activities, and provided mobile money and internet services. The firm performances of the telecommunication companies were thus important in Kenya's context. The study sought to explore the competitive strategies and performance of firms in the telecommunication industry in Kenya. The objectives of the study were as follows: focus strategyand innovation on the performance of firms in the telecommunication industry in Kenya. To achieve the set objectives, the study developed research hypotheses and statistically tested them at α = 0.05. The study was hinged on theories such as Porter’s Competitive Business Strategy Typology and Miles and Snow typology. It adopted a descriptive research design and used both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The study examined a population of six telecommunication companies in Kenya, employing simple random sampling to select 384 employees in these firms who were directly involved with competitive strategies and the performance of firms in the telecommunication industry in Kenya. The research employed both qualitative and quantitative analytical methods. Qualitatively, the study utilized regression analysis, while quantitative data underwent analysis involving percentages, frequencies, means, and standard deviations, with the assistance of SPSS software. Regression analysis was also applied to establish the relationships between variables. Regarding focus strategy, the study found that focus strategy is statistically significant in explaining performance of firms in the telecommunication industry in Kenya (β = 1.466, P = 0.000). This indicates that focus strategy positively and significantly relates with performance of firms in the telecommunication industry in Kenya. The findings also suggest that improvement in focus strategy would lead to an increase in performance of firms in the telecommunication industry in Kenya by 1.466 units. Finally, the study found that innovation is statistically significant in explaining performance of firms in the telecommunication industry in Kenya (β = 1.058, P = 0.000). This indicates that innovation positively and significantly relates with performance of firms in the telecommunication industry in Kenya.
Key Words: Focus Strategy, Innovation, Competitive Strategies and Performance of Firms in the Telecommunication Industry
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