Sharon Jemimah Kapto
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology
KENYA    
Dr. Agnes Njeru
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology
KENYA

CITATION: Kapto, J. S & Njeru, A. (2014). Strategies Adopted By Mobile Phone Companies In Kenya To Gain Competitive Advantage. European Journal of Business Management, 2 (1), 352-367.

ABSTRACT

By August 2008 there was four mobile companies controlled by CCK namely, Safaricom Ltd, Airtel Kenya Ltd, Essar (YU) and Telkom Kenya, which are currently competing to get customers in the highly competitive industry. According to Cartwright (2002), competition is the main driving force leading marketers to search for areas of competitive advantage that will lead to greater financial success. For each of the four companies to survive in the market from challenges like, volatile customer demands, technological changes and globalization they need to continuously assess the environment, trace the root of competition and adopt strategies that will earn them a competitive advantage over the rivals. The purpose of this study was to determine the strategies adopted by mobile phone companies in Kenya to gain competitive advantage. This study will be significant to CCK in regulating competition in the telecommunication sector. This study will establish the root of competition and   how strategies like cost leadership, differentiation strategy and focus strategy are used gain competitive advantage. The data was collected from the four mobile companies in Kenya namely Safaricom Ltd, Airtel Kenya Ltd, Essar (YU) and Telkom Kenya. The sample size was 80 top managers from 10 departments of each of the four companies using non-probability sampling technique. Data was collected using close ended and open ended questionnaires, and data was analyzed through descriptive statistics on quantitative data and content analysis on qualitative data. The study found out that there existed a strong relationship between strategies adopted by the mobile phone companies to gain competitive advantage, cost leadership, differentiation and focus also positively affected competitiveness. Therefore the purpose of adopting competitive strategies is to enable institutions promote healthy competition.

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