Influence of Competitive Strategies on Performance of Rusinga Schools in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

Private international schools in Kenya implement competitive strategies in an effort to achieve the performance objective. Rusinga Schools, which is an example of private international schools, has executed strategic alliances, innovation strategies, focus and differentiation strategies amongst other strategies to achieve high performance. The surge in demand is coupled with the growth of Kenya in the past five years. Despite the adoption of competitive strategies in Rusinga Schools, there is no empirical evidence on the extent to which competitive strategies influences its performance. The study deployed a case study research design. The choice of case study is appropriate as it enabled the study to collect data that required an in-depth analysis and understanding of the effect of competitive strategies on the performance of the school. The study used primary and secondary data collected using an interview schedule. Content analysis technique was used to analyze the data.The study found that the school had adopted cost leadership, differentiation, market focus and collaboration strategies to a large extent. The study revealed that it adopted competitive strategies to improve on performance. From the results, the study concluded that the lower school fees compared to competitors increases the number of students, the revenue and improves on efficiency in provision of education, promotion of quality services in teaching and the improvement as well as the development of the schools. Differentiation strategies were deployed through offering unique courses to different learners in different level of education systems, as well as offering different extra-curriculum activities. Learning focused on social and personal development which resulted into increased number of learners. Results also led to conclusion that market focus strategies such as targeting the Christian segment as well as the international community by offering international studies contributed to better performance as the schools. This led to an increase in its market share, number of learners’ enrollment and an increase in the school’s revenue.The study also concluded that Rusinga Schools adopted collaborative strategies to enhance discipline amongst students, increase satisfaction of the stakeholders and the school’s academic performance. This makes the school experience competitive advantage over the other schools in the market. The study recommends that private internationals schools should deploy competitive strategies to improve on schools’ performance.