Differentiation strategy of phamaceutical companies manufacturing human medicine in Kenya

Abstract

Pharmaceutical industry in Kenya consists of manufacturers, distributors and retailers. Strategy is the direction and scope of the organization over the long term, which achieves advantage for the organization through its configuration of resources within a changing environment to meet the needs of markets and to fulfill stakeholder expectations. Differentiation is a strategy whereby firms attempt to gain a competitive advantage by increasing the perceived value of their products and services. The objective of the study was to determine the differentiation strategies adopted by the Pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Kenya. The research design was a descriptive survey. The population of the study was the 26 licensed Pharmaceutical Companies Manufacturing Human Medicine in Kenya. Data was collected using a standardized questionnaire with drop and pick method. The study found out that that majority of the companies use selling and promoting standardize products, provide to all with customer made products, go direct to the end user and select advertising media as promotion strategies. Introducing multiple brands to meet unique needs of a given market, introducing a product to people as well as introducing a brand to meet specific needs of a given market; are the marketing strategies used by majority of the Pharmaceutical manufacturing Companies in Kenya. From the findings, providing packages that are easier to handle was used as a production strategy. The study further found out that majority of the companies provides delivery services to customers as a service strategy; while strong sales team to sell products to customers; employing a highly qualified sales team is used as a personnel strategy. In recommendation, there is a need for the companies to strengthen other marketing strategies like introducing a brand to meet specific needs of a given market and introducing a product to people, to have a proper and reliable market as well as adopting the strategy of producing original drugs for competitiveness in the market