GENERIC COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES AND FIRM PERFORMANCE IN GRAIN MILLING COMPANIES IN MOMBASA COUNTY, KENYA
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of generic competitive strategies on performance of grain milling firms in Mombasa County, Kenya. Specifically, the study sought to investigate the effect of cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy, cost focus and differentiation focus strategy on performance of grain milling firms. The study used a descriptive research design. This study targeted three different line managers which are branch managers, operations managers and departmental managers in these grain milling firms in Mombasa County. Stratified random sampling technique was used to choose a sample of 73 respondents. The study used primary and secondary data. Descriptive and inferential statistics was used to analyze information generated from respondents. Descriptive statistics analysis included mean and standard deviation while inferential statistics included correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis by use of Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 25. Analyzed data was presented in frequency and descriptive tables.The study findings revealed that the grain milling firms’ commodity pricings are competitive in the market hence affordable to the customers. It was concluded that in order to offer competitive pricings, the grain milling firms develop cost control strategies to enable success in price controls. The grain milling firms have weak cross-departmental coordination and this weakness is rampant in the vital department of Research and Development. The study concluded that the grain millers frequently conduct targeted reduction of commodity prices with a view to meet specific customer costing needs. It is concluded that firms in the grain milling sector carry out market focused planning.The firms have a keen eye on operations and production overheads so as to minimize the costs. In addition, the firms reported to practice resource sharing with a mission of keeping operational costs at minimum. The study concluded that the firms choose mass production so as to minimize costs through economies of scale. The study recommended that the firms in the grain milling sector should develop strategies to offer competitive prices for the products to the market. This could be realized by developing cost control strategies in the production and operations processes. The study recommended that the firms should produce a wide array of high quality products so as to offer customers with a wide range of choices to make.
Key Terms: Competitive strategy, Cost-leadership strategy, Differentiation strategy, Focus strategy, Strategy
CITATION: Suleiman, A. A. O., & Kising’u, T. (2022). Generic competitive strategies and firm performance in grain milling companies in Mombasa County, Kenya. The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 9 (3), 463 - 481.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.61426/sjbcm.v9i3.2380
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