Strategies Adopted by Davis and Shirtliff (Kenya) to Sustain Competitive Advantage

Abstract

Organizations in the present day competitive arena are faced with intense competition which in turn makes it challenging to attain and sustain superior profits. The intense competition and rapidly changing environment in which organizations operate in has shortened the time frames of competitive actions or moves adopted by the organizations. It is therefore paramount for organizations to devise and implement strategies that are aligned with their environments. Survival and success will be attained by organizations that exercise flexibility in terms of aligning strategies with the changes in their environment. This study was guided by the dynamic capabilities view which argues that organizations can sustain competitive advantage through the use of their dynamic capabilities. This requires organizations to use their unique resources and competences that is, capabilities to achieve success in a dynamic business environment. The objective of this study was to determine the strategies adopted by Davis and Shirtliff to sustain competitive advantage. The motive of the study was drawn from a curiosity as to how the company had managed to continuously stay ahead of competitors for over seventy years now and the research design adopted was a case study. Primary and secondary data was used to realize the research objective. Primary data was collected by interviewing ten departmental heads who were selected due to the critical role they play in devising and implementing strategies, secondary data was also used to support the primary data. The data collected was analysed using the content analysis method. The strategies used by D&S to achieve sustainable competitive advantage are; use of intellectual property, availability of a well stock warehouse and state-of-the art workshop, wide range of products and distribution network, highly skilled personnel, an aggressive marketing strategy, introduction of new innovative products, leveraging ICT to mine data that can be used to the company‟s advantage and the local assembly of products to customers customized requirements. The study concluded that organizations that aspire to be successful in the present day business environment should pursue a certain strategy(s) in order to achieve and sustain competitive advantage. It is recommended that D&S takes advantage of the various opportunities that exist in order to increase its market share and profitability.