Competitive Strategies and Performance of Liaison Group Insurance Brokers, Kenya LTD

Abstract

The insurance industry in Kenya is faced with low penetration and low literacy levels in terms of the knowledge of the importance of taking up insurance policies as a cushion in case of losses. In addition the players in the industry are faced with the challenge of penetrating the market and achieving a high market share while still remaining competitive. Organizations have therefore opted to formulate and implement strategies that ensure that they have a competitive advantage and remain successful. The objective of the study was to establish the influence of competitive strategies on the performance of Liaison Group Insurance Brokers. A case study research design was used to carry out this research and the study involved both primary and secondary data. Data collection was done using an interview guide. Content analysis was used to analyze the data which was qualitative in nature. The study established that Liaison Group Insurance Brokers adopts different competitive strategies like differentiation, focus strategy, globalization, strategic alliances and diversification to remain competitive and attain their set performance goals. The study established that for Liaison Group Insurance Brokers, the adoption of the right strategies and proper implementation has led to their high performance. Liaison Group has adopted the differentiation strategy where it has ensured that their customers receive outstanding service, tailor-made products and services as well as ensure they continuously re-engineer their business processes to keep up with the trends. Liaison Group focuses on a particular market segment which is the corporate customers and more specifically the parastatal corporations that have a more organized organizational structure and are considered relatively easier to penetrate due to the fact that they publicly advertise their tenders. The firm measures its performance using the based on the perspectives of the balanced score card which include: The financial perspective, the customer perspective, the internal process perspective and the learning and growth perspective The study recommends that Liaison Group sets up better control and monitoring systems to ensure that the strategies adopted are monitored to boost organizational performance and that any mistakes are corrected on time. This is essentially important now due to the rapid growth it has encountered in the past year in terms of human resources and physical assets. It is also important that the company invests more in R & D to ensure that the organization has better market intelligence and is better prepared to face and beat its rivals. The study concludes that for organizations to remain competitive, they must continuously scan the environment and adopt competitive strategies that enable them meet the obligations of their stakeholders as well as maintain a competitive advantage. Further, for firms to attain high performance there is need for them to adopt and properly implement these competitive strategies.