Marketing strategies and the performance of small and medium enterprises in Matuu town, Machakos county, Kenya

Abstract

Marketing strategies constitute one of the key functional strategies that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) adopt to enhance performance. Organizations including Small and Medium Enterprises have realized the need to institute strategies that will help them gain an in depth understanding of the market, particularly with regards to their competitors and customers. Thus, the main objective of this study was to establish the influence of marketing strategies on the performance of small and medium enterprises in Matuu town Machakos County, Kenya. To achieve the study objectives the study used a descriptive research design and the population of interest comprised all the Small and medium enterprise in Matuu town, Machakos County. A sample of 86 SMEs was selected for the using simple random and stratified sampling methods. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire which administered to the owners and employees of the sampled SMEs. To establish the instrument reliability the Cronbach Coefficient alpha (α) was used. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). To establish the relationship between the dependent variable (performance) and the independent variable the classical linear regression model was used. The study established that customer relationship marketing strategies and technology based marketing strategies have a positive insignificant influence on the performance of SMEs in Matuu town while innovative marketing strategies have a significant negative relationship with the performance of SMEs in Matuu town. The study concluded that marketing strategies influence the performance of Small and medium enterprises and recommended that that small and medium enterprises should develop effective policies on marketing since marketing is one of the major determinants of SMEs performance.