Strategies adopted by professional examination bodies in Kenya to gain competitive advantage

Abstract

In the formulation an organization corporate strategy, researchers have emphasized the importance of fitting or aligning the organization's strategy with an appraisal of the firm’s internal and external assessment of environmental opportunities and threats. The objective of the study was to determine the strategies adopted by professional examination bodies in Kenya to gain competitive advantage. The study adopted descriptive and cross sectional research design. The population of the study was all the ten professional bodies in the Kenya. Primary data was collected using a structured questionnaire. The data was analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics to summarize and relate variables which were attained from the administered questionnaires. A multiple regression model was developed to describe the relationship between the strategies adopted and level of competitive advantage by professional body. The findings of the study were that resource based strategy, pricing strategy, focus strategy, cost leadership strategy and differentiation strategy was used to achieve competitive advantage. The study found out that the examination bodies achieve competitive advantage through superior quality of examination, examination diversity, speed of releasing examination results, differentiation strategy, cost leadership strategy, pricing strategy, unique resources, institutions’ protection policy (in terms of patents, copyrights, trademarks), unique corporate culture and examination flexibility. Firms combine their resources (core competencies and capabilities) to develop a strategic path highlighting the interaction between the industry and the firm, having the foresight to identify which resources or capabilities, as processes, would lead to superior resources and capabilities.