Competitive intelligence practices adopted by Safaricom Limited in Kenya

Abstract

The study sought to establish the competitive intelligence practices adopted by Safaricom Limited in Kenya. Competitive intelligence is the action of gathering, analyzing, and applying information about products, domain constituents, customers, and competitors for the short term and long term planning needs of an organization (Fleisher, 2003). Competitive Intelligence (CI) is both a process and a product. The study used an interview guide to collect primary data. The interview guide included structured and unstructured questions and which were administered through drop and pick method to respondents in the top, middle and low level management in the organization. This study sought to identify the link between best practices of competitive intelligence and performance for greater profitability of Safaricom Limited in Kenya, a descriptive research design is deemed the best design to fulfill the objectives of the study. The study found out that Safaricom limited in Kenya employs new market intelligence as a competitive intelligence practice. It was also established that the new market intelligence applied in the firm concentrated on the 4Ps (price, place promotion and product). From the earlier findings, the study also established that New Market intelligence (NMI) is industry-targeted intelligence that is developed on real-time (dynamic) aspects of competitive events taking place among the 4Ps of the marketing mix (pricing, place, promotion, and product) in the product or service marketplace in order to better understand the attractiveness of the market. This study concludes that the product differentiation strategies adopted by Safaricom limited in Kenya to increase profitability include involvement of customers in product development through focused group discussions, aligning products with customer needs and the environment in which they are being offered to ensure customers can identify themselves with. This study recommends that adoption of competitive intelligence practices in the telecommunication sector would be highly recommended.