Value chain management practices and competitive advantage of seafood firms in Mombasa county in Kenya

Abstract

In today’s dynamic and competitive business world, firms must develop strategies that are sustainable. Firms that have a competitive edge over its rivals do so by utilizing several strategic tools that help them identify suitable strategies. One the tool is the value chain model. The value chain model allows managers to distinguish activities in an organization that are critical in organizational value chain. These activities can be linked strategically to create a competitive advantage. In this study, the value chain model was adopted to help investigate the influence of value chain management practices on competitive advantage of seafood firms in Mombasa County. This was achieved through cross-sectional survey by collecting a census of all seafood firms located in Mombasa County. Ten major firms found and six of them participated in the research. The researcher used a questionnaire to collect views, opinions and experiences of seafood firms from a pool of managers involved in strategic decision making. The data obtained was analyzed using descriptive statistics and a regression analysis that was presented in form of figures and tables. The findings indicated that the most influential value chain activities were availability of finance, availability of raw materials, storage facilities and availability of human capital. A regression analysis showed that there was positive relationship between revenue and firm infrastructure and procurement of resources but had a negative relationship with technology development and customer service. In conclusion, value chain management practices were found to have influence on the competitive advantage of seafood firms in Mombasa County. Therefore, it is important for actors in the industry to focus their attention on enabling firm access finances, reduce operational cost and create a synergistic coordination relationship among various industry actors.