Abstract
In order to thrive amidst globalization, corporations and enterprises have to compete with each other on the global scale. Competition for market share has become turbulent and most likely, only the most efficient and effective companies will thrive and win out. The Postal Corporation of Kenya is one such corporation that has been caught out by global and regional competition threatening its survival. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of porter’s generic strategies in determining competitive advantage of postal corporation of Kenya courier services. The study was anchored in the Porter’s generic strategies. The study was undertaken using a descriptive cross-sectional survey research design. The target population comprised of forty five senior staff of Postal Corporation of Kenya which included one general manager, eleven departmental heads and thirty three branch managers. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. A Cronbach coefficient of 0.88 was achieved for the study variables. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, which comprised of frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation. Chi-Square test and analysis was used to assess the possible association and relationship between strategies adopted by postal corporation of Kenya and competitiveness in the courier services. The study found Porter’s generic strategies had association with Competitive advantage of Postal Corporation of Kenya. The study concluded that Porter’s generic strategies are important strategic determinants of competitive advantage in the postal corporation of Kenya courier services. The study recommended that Postal Corporation of Kenya should focus on cost leadership and differentiation in order to enhance competitiveness in the market as the long term strategies for survival.
Highlights
1.1 Background of the Study Competition is the rivalry between companies selling similar products and services with the goal of achieving revenue, profit, and market share growth (Short et al, 2010)
This included 1 general manager, 11 departmental heads and 33 branch managers. These persons were selected because they formed the top level management team which is responsible for strategy formulation and implementation. They were resourceful persons on issues relating to strategies adopted by postal corporation of Kenya to gain competitive advantage in the courier services
The finding is in agreement with Justinian (2015) who confirmed that there is no significant relationship between the Porter strategies and firm performance taking customer satisfaction as an indicator
Summary
1.1 Background of the Study Competition is the rivalry between companies selling similar products and services with the goal of achieving revenue, profit, and market share growth (Short et al, 2010). A competitive advantage is an attribute that allows a company to outperform its competitors. A cost advantage is a firm that can produce a particular product or service at a lower cost than the competitor. Successful differentiation creates a competitive advantage for a company. This leads to increased brand loyalty, which means more sales and allows the company to sell its products at a higher price, if it chooses to do so (Fainshmidt et al, 2019). Porter (1980) explains that competitive advantage exists when the firm is able to deliver the same benefits as competitors but at a lower cost (cost advantage) or deliver benefits that exceed those of competing products (differentiation advantage)
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