Critical Analysis of Competitive Strategies on Performance and Market Positioning: A Case Study of Middle Level Colleges, in Mombasa County.

Abstract

Today, service organizations are shifting their focus from “transactional exchange” to “relational exchange” for developing mutually satisfying relationship with customers. Extended relationships are reported to have a significant impact on transaction cost and profitability, and customer lifetime value. Serving the customers, in true sense, is the need of the hour as the customer was, is and will remain the central focus of all organizational activities. An institution’s competitive behavior is an important area for any manager, director, principal, and policy makers. Among the explanations of firms' behavior is Michael Porter's Generic model. The researcher has presented this model in comparison with Porter’s five competitive forces of the industry. In the researchers’ comparative discussion, the use of Porter's model to evaluate firms' competitive behavior is supported. The major aims of the study was to identify and analyze the competitive strategies adopted by the Middle Level Colleges in Mombasa County, and whether they enhance performance and help in attaining market position. And lastly to determine the challenges faced by these colleges when implementing competitive strategies. In this study the target population encompassed colleges located in Mombasa County amounting to 33% of the total population of 62 MLCs The focus has been on 6 public and 14 private colleges that offer both university and non university courses. A semi-structured questionnaire consisting of closed and open-ended questions was used to collect data using the drop and pick method. The data collected was processed by first editing, coding, classifying and tabulation. The researcher analyzed the data processing with the aid of Microsoft excel 2007-integrated package and the SPSS software. Some recommendations that the study made includes the imposition of manager’s originality and creativity. Constant improvement, what the Japanese call Kaizen, is the only way a firm would sustain its long term competitive advantage and success. It is necessary for managers/ directors to develop strategies having unique details and deviations from the studied approaches to obtain superior performance.

Keywords: Competitive behavior, Competitive strategies, Generic models.