Competitive Strategies and Performance of Airtel Franchisers in Nairobi City, Kenya

Abstract

The performance of a given organization can be influenced by adopting the right competitive strategies. However, not all strategies are effective for organizations, especially considering the current turbulent environment. This has compelled many organizations to implement unique competitive strategies to improve their performance. Despite Airtel Kenya’s growth in customer base, it faces daunting challenges in its franchise arrangements including customer service issues, gaps in network strength, and the dominating competitor in the sector. The aim of this work was to establish how competitive strategies impacted on the performance of Airtel Franchisers in Nairobi City. The researcher anchored the work on the Strategic Signaling Theory along with Game theory. The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional survey design and involved all 152 Airtel Franchisers located within Nairobi City as its population. Quantitative primary data were gathered by means of a self-administered questionnaire. The data were subsequently synthesized statistically with both descriptive and inferential statistics. Study revelations were cost leadership, strategies of differentiation, and market focus strategies posed a positive and significant impact towards the performance of Airtel Franchisers in Nairobi City. In contrast, operational excellence negatively and significantly affected the performance of Airtel Franchisers in Nairobi City. The study concluded that Airtel Franchisers in Nairobi City employ cost leadership, differentiation, market focus strategies, and operational efficiencies in their competition with rivals. However, the research was constrained by limitations in concepts, context, and study methods. Therefore, it is suggested that further research should explore additional or different constructs, be conducted in contexts beyond Nairobi City, and utilize alternative methods or additional approaches not employed in the current study, ideally with a slightly larger sample size.