Order Winners and Competitive Priorities Pursued by Paint Manufacturers in Kenya

Abstract

The concept of Order winner & order qualifiers is important in business today, A firm that seeks to gain a competitive advantage in the market ought to understand the dimensions that a customer look for him to consider a firm product as a candidate for purchase(order qualifiers), further it’s also important to understand what aspects informs a customer purchase decision(order winner).Competitive priorities have been defined as the strategic capabilities/preferences that a firm chooses to compete in at the marketplace. The general objective of the study was to establish if matching of order winners & competitive priorities is essential in helping a firm gain competitive advantage. The study researched specifically on the paint industry in Kenya, Descriptive research design was used for the study, The respondents of the studycomprised of the personnel in the operation departments in all the twenty six paints manufacturing firms registered under the association of paint manufacturers in Kenya, Top paint distributors in the industry drawn from the major market region, Tier one customers and selected professional painters. Primary data was collected by use of questionnaires, In order to satisfy the research objective two questionnaires were used, the response rate for studies was at 72%, and data from questionnaires was analysed and presented using content analysis. The studies established that competitive priorities pursued by paint manufacturers in Kenya matched the order winners in the industry. The major competitive priorities pursued by players in the industry included Cost, quality and speed. These were well matched with the major order winners in the industry which included price, reliability of the product, product performance, and availability of the product in the market. The study established that matching of the order winner and competitive priorities in did help a firm gain a competitive advantage. Crown paints and Dura coat paints with a customer preference of 89% and 67% respectively were amongst two brands that the study established to be enjoying a competitive advantage as a result of matching competitive priorities and order winners in the industry. The study was limited to paint manufacturing industry in Kenya, Whereas its evident that competitive priorities and orders winners matter in other sectors, it hence essentially important that the study recommended further studies be conducted in other manufacturing sectors i.e. petroleum industry, service industry etc.