Competitve Strategies Adopted by Local Advertising Firms to Gain Competitive Advantage in the Industry

Abstract

A central objective of any organization in the present century is to establish sustainable competitive advantage. This requires a building of resources, internal strengths and capabilities; The firm must be able to cope up with external challenges as well as capitalize on emerging opportunities. Capabilities are critical for realizing the present and future goals of the company. The capabilities and strengths do not constitute a stable or static state of system viability, a turbulent and intensely competitive global market environment requires firms to cope up with new and sudden changes in a continuous manner. This calls for flexibility adaptability and efficiency. The study main objective was to investigate on how competitive strategies enhance competitiveness of the firm in the local advertising in Kenya. The target population all firms in the advertising industry in Kenya. The results of the study were both qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative data collected using a questionnaire and presented through percentages, means, standard deviations and frequencies. The information was also represented by use of bar charts, graphs and pie charts and in prose-form. This was done by tallying up responses, computing percentages of variations in response as well as describing and interpreting the data in line with the study objectives. In assessing competitive forces and the context within which a company operates, choice of strategy can indeed seem like a search for a myriad forces pushing and pulling an organization to change and little by way of established principles to determine what the choice should be. The research findings were quite universal in nature, it was noted that the firm in the industry adopted quite similar strategies relative to differentiation focus and cost leadership. The rules and regulations of the industry also dictate use of other strategic options. The findings revealed the adoption of modern techniques of advertising replacing or in supplement with the traditional methods. The study also examines various constraints impending on successful strategy implementation. The study recommended various options in terms of managerial applications, it advocated for strategic alliances formations to enable them complete as one block it also recommended the wide use of technology in respective target audiences