Competitive priorities by mobile telephony firms and customer preferences in selection of mobile telephony service provider in Kenya

Abstract

Competitive priorities have always played a key role in survival of companies in any sector. The mobile telephony sector in Kenya has not been spared as it has been characterized by stiff competition which has seen drastic drop in Call, SMS, Data rates. This research project sought to carry out a survey to establish how firms in this sector rank competitive priorities, what are customer preferences in selecting a mobile service provider and whether there is any significant difference in the way customers and firms rank competitive priorities. A structured questionnaire was used to correct the necessary data. Part one of the questionnaire collected general information and part two collected information regarding competitive priorities. The data was then analysed through non parametric tests, namely Wilcoxon matched pairs sign ranked which tested difference in ranking of competitive priorities. Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare the differences in ranking between firms and customers. The test results indicated significance difference in the way customers rank competitive priorities and hence the null hypothesis was rejected. This was the same case with the firms ranking of competitive priorities. On comparing whether any significance difference exist in the way customers and firm rank competitive priorities the null hypothesis was accepted an indication that there exist no significance difference in the way firms and customers rank competitive priorities. The study recommended that firms adopt other means of competition apart from what they are currently employing. Further studies should be carried out to include other competitive priorities and a larger sample comprising of all parts of the country should be considered.