Influence of Marketing Innovations on the Performance of Soapstone Small and Medium Enterprises in Kisii County

Abstract

The ability of a firm to proactively respond to the market place changes arising out of the customer demands, changes policies and regulations will determine its capacity to survive. Marketing innovation is one of the strategies that a firm operating in a competitive business environment can adopt to remain competitive due to its ability to facilitate the generation of new ideas, bringing them to life and eventually creating new customer value. The objective of the study was to determine the influence of marketing innovation on the performance of soapstone small and medium enterprises in Kisii, County. The specific objectives of the study is to establish the contribution of marketing innovation in achieving superior performance among the SMEs and also to determine the extent to which SMEs in the sector are responsive to changes in the target market. The study adopted a cross sectional descriptive survey design whereby all the 46 registered Soapstone SMEs in Kisii County were targeted. Data was collected through the use of a semi-structured questionnaire and the data collected was analysed using descriptive measures. The findings of the study are that the marketing innovation principles took the form of collaboration with firms in their distribution line and among themselves, continuous ideation of new ideas, value creation and implementation of the marketing ideas. The influence of marketing innovation on the SMEs performance was manifested in terms of increase development of products that are perceived by customers as more reliable than competitors’ products, increased product range and revenue generated. From the regression equation, the coefficient of independent variables is positive, and this implies that the adoption of marketing innovations by the soapstone SMEs has positively affected their performance. In line with the findings of the study, the researcher concluded that for effective implementation of marketing innovation principles, there is need for the SMEs to appreciate and incorporate these principles, set aside requisite resources to support policy and related strategies. There is need to incorporate both the County and National Governments for policy formulation targeting the SMEs as well as for support in infrastructural development and coordination through established agencies with requisite skills capable of supporting them in capacity building, protection of patents and intellectual property, marketing, gathering information on market trends and policy formulation. Consequently, it is recommended that Kisii County Government recognizes this invaluable resource, develop policies to support the sub-sector and invest in infrastructure for proper harnessing and marketing of the products owing to potential it holds in job creation and wealth generation for both traders and revenue generation for the County. The study was limited to enterprises in the soapstone industry whose findings cannot be generalized to other firms outside this subsector and indeed other SMEs in other sectors in the county and the Country. The researcher proposes that further research be undertaken to establish why there is a decline in the sector’s popularity with many youths opting to motor cycle business which assures them instant cash each day. Additionally, an investigation can be carried out on the rise of the granite stone for many functions that soapstone formally performed as well as the propensity of some of the soapstone SMEs to diversify into hardware business