Effects Of Response Strategies On Competitiveness Of Oil Marketing Companies In Kenya

Abstract

The oil marketing industry in Kenya has undergone major changes in the recent years. One of the major changes has been an upsurge of competition in the sector; this has been attributed to the high entry levels of private investors into the sector. Competition in the provision of this service is cut throat, with this the operators have been forced to adopt response strategies to survive. This is what inspired this study, to look at the effect of response strategies on competitiveness of oil marketing companies. The objectives of the study were to determine the response strategies adopted by oil marketing Companies in Kenya, and to establish the effects of the response strategies on the competitiveness of the oil marketing firms. The study adopted a descriptive cross sectional survey design. The target population of the study comprised all 36 oil marketing companies in Kenya. Data was collected using questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study established that the oil marketing companies adopted differentiation and diversification strategies to a greater extent. It was also established that these response strategies had an effect on the competitiveness of the marketing firm to a great extent. Differentiation strategy posed a challenge during the implementation process due to the exorbitant implementation cost of the strategy and the ever changing customer needs. From the regression analysis, the response strategies affected competitiveness of the companies greatly to 67%. Therefore there is need for a study to be conducted on the factors influencing competitiveness of Oil Marketing Companies in Kenya. This study will be of significant in identifying the effectiveness of the response strategies on competitiveness. v