Strategies Adopted by Ndetika Rural Sacco Society Ltd to Gain Competitive Advantage During Covid-19 Pandemic in Kiambu County Kenya

Abstract

Organizations rely on the environment in order to survive, however the environment keeps on changing and so the firms need to adjust by developing competitive strategies to help keep up, stay relevant and continue registering excellent performance better than close rivals in the industry. Saccos measures success in terms of liquidity level, surplus level, total revenue, total assets and loan book; just like another sector, Saccos too were greatly affected by the pandemic. The aim of the study was to investigate how strategy affected Ndetika Rural Sacco Limited to gain competitive advantage during covid 19 pandemic. The study used case study research design and interview guide was used to collect data from the targeted respondent who included departmental heads because they are involved in developing strategies who were accountant, marketing manager, credit manager, ICT manager and five branch managers. Data was also collected from secondary sources such as audited financial statements, published journal and strategic plan source, data was analyzed using content analysis method. The findings of the study reviled that covid 19 pandemic had a negative effect on the performance of NRS Sacco, this forced the management to rethink of new ways of doing business which resulted to adopting strategies to help stay relevant and gain competitive edge in the financial industry. The strategies adopted were cost leadership through reducing interest which reduced monthly repayment, differentiation strategy, focus strategy by opening new branch in untapped and unbanked market, mobile banking strategy and coming up with alternative sources of income through non-interest incomes since interest from loans which forms about 70% of total revenue was not forthcoming due to low loans uptake. The study concludes that changes in the external have negative impact on the Saccos’ performance and so the study recommends that Ndetika Rural Sacco Limited management should adopt strategies to help in dealing with shocks in the surrounding like covid 19. Data collection method was limited to case study and some of the respondents were too busy since they are in the top management level and could not show up for the interview exercise. The research also recommends that the regulator, SASRA to come up with strategies of helping Saccos get back to their feet by through trainings and closely monitoring their performance. Government should also come up with strategies of regulating taxes and levies by reducing through the installment tax, corporate tax and excise duty rates to help Sacco grow. The study set basis for future research in investigating relationship between strategy, competitive advantage and performance in non- deposit taking Saccos.