Strategies adopted by real estate firms in Kenya to gain competitive advantage

Abstract

Strategy of an organization is the roadmap towards attainment of its long term goals and objectives. Competitive strategies consist of all those moves and approaches that a firm has and is taking to attract buyers, withstand competitive pressure and improve its market position. Competitive strategies are employed by firms within a particular Industry. In today’s hypercompetitive environment, business organizations are constantly required to review their strategies. According to Heywood (2008), organization’s competitiveness has been a feature in general and strategic management literature as an explanation for organization success. This study is about strategies adopted by real estate firms in Kenya to gain competitive advantage. It was guided by the following objectives: (i) To establish the challenges of competition faced by real estate firms in Kenya (ii) To determine the strategies adopted in Kenya to gain competitive advantage. A review of the relevant literature was done in order to provide a clear understanding of existing knowledge base in problem area. The literature review is based on authoritative, recent and original sources such as journals, books, thesis and dissertations. The research adopted the survey design which was most appropriate in attaining the objectives of the study. The sample of the study comprised of 38 real estate firms operating in Nairobi. Respondents were subjected to the study through a semi-structured questionnaire which collected primary data. Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) was used as an aid in the analysis. The study found out that the real estate firms had adopted various sources of competitive advantages which include; Generic competitive strategies, product-matrix, growth matrix, pricing strategy and cost leadership .The findings also showed a positive influence of the sources of competitive advantage adopted by real estate firms in Kenya to gain competitive advantage with respect to profitability, sales growth, customer satisfaction, market share, employees competencies and innovations to products and services. Recommendations have been made for managerial policy, theory and practice for the real estate firms. The limitations of the study were that it focused on one sector i.e. real estate and the conclusions drawn may not be generalized to other sectors. Also, some of the respondents were cautious about giving away too much information on their sources of competitive advantage. Suggestions for further research include replication of the study on sources of competitive advantage and their influence on other sectors of the economy and conducting empirical studies on the role of company strategy, size and structure on the relationship between core competencies and competitive advantage.