The Influence of Competitive Strategies on the Competitive Advantage of Rights-holder Pharmaceutical Distributors in Kenya

Abstract

Today’s environment depicts a picture of intense rivalry and hence a great need for organizations to develop aggressive competitive plans to achieve profitability efficiency in comparison to their competitors so as maintain and increase their market share and have a competitive advantage. Kenya's rights-holder distributors have long operated in a volatile and competitive business environment. Due to the competitive dynamics, most pharmaceutical companies have experienced a decline in their market share, competition in brand positioning, and pricing. As a result, to survive rivalry and to have a competitive advantage, they have turned to implementing strategies meant to strengthen their competitive advantage in the market. It is unexplored, however, how the competitive strategies by the competitors have influenced their competitive advantage strategies. This study endeavored to fill this gap, more precisely, the investigation aims to ascertain how the competitive strategies in the market has influenced the rights-holders distributors competitive advantage. The cross-sectional survey design will be used for the research, which will focus on all suppliers in Kenya's pharmaceutical industry who own patent rights. 236 rights-holder suppliers are registered in Kenya, according to the Pharmacies and Poisons Board. A basic random sampling approach will be employed to choose the 70 rights-holder distributors in Kenya that make up the defined size of the sample. Utilizing a structured questionnaire, quantitative primary data will be gathered for the present investigation. The primary data from the structured questionnaires will be analyzed by means of a combination of descriptive and inferential statistics. The model summary shows a high R Square value of 0.732, indicating that 73.2% of the variance in competitive advantage is explained by these strategies. It is concluded in the study that cost leadership, focus and differentiation strategies have an influence on the competitive advantage of the rights-holders distributors in Kenya. These findings align well with the study's general and specific objectives, demonstrating that a combination of these strategies is crucial for the success of rights-holder pharmaceutical distributors in Kenya. By effectively managing costs, offering unique products, and targeting specific markets.