Knowledge management as source of sustainable competitive advantage
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Date
2010-04-05Author
Magutu, Peterson Obara
Kipchumba, Simeon Kibet
Chepkuto, K. Samuel
Nyaoga, Richard Bitange
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Creation and sustenance of competitive advantage continues to be the central agenda in strategic research and
practice. Farms strive to survive and succeed in competition by pursuing strategies that enable them to perform
better than their competitors. Therefore, the study seeks to assess knowledge management as source of
sustainable competitive advantage and its impact on the performance of Egerton University farms. Performance
was analyzed in terms of productivity and profitability. The productivity was assessed as mean yields per acre
for crops such as wheat, barley and maize. The Dairy sector assessment looked at average milk productivity per
cow per day. Profitability was analyzed using Net Farm Income and Rate of Return on Assets (ROA). The farm
business is a function of land, capital, labuor and management particularly that of knowledge. In addition, it is
subject to variability of prices, costs, yields and seasons. This study was necessary because the farm businesses
are currently operating under a lot of competition, and thus the expected outcomes of effective knowledge
management led to improved organizational effectiveness, improved productivity, a way to capture best
practices, improved decision making, a more innovative organization, source of competitiveness and improved
performance. The objectives were achieved by use of both secondary data obtained from the farm accounts and
other productivity records while primary data was collected by the use of structured and semi-structured
questionnaire from people who have had experience with or associated with the running of Egerton University
farms. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with assistance of SPSS
software. The hypotheses were tested using Mann-Whitney U test and Chi-Square test. The study came out with
the following major findings; first the study established that the private farms were more profitable than
Egerton University farms. Secondly, the study established that private Farms were more productive in both
crops and milk productivity. Third, the study found out that the private farms were more aware why they
acquired the information compared to Egerton University farms, a scenario which will make the private farms
be more competitive than the university farms which were not clear on their reasons for acquiring information.
Fourth, the private farms acquired, stored and shared information for their competitive advantage from various
sources compared to Egerton University farms, a situation which made the private farms be more competitive
than the university.
Citation
African Journal of Business & Management (AJBUMA) http://www.aibuma.org/journal/index.htm Vol. 1 (2010), 14 pagesPublisher
AIBUMA Publishing School of Business, University of Nairobi
Description
Knowledge management as source of sustainable competitive advantage