Strategies Employed by National Housing Corporation to achieve competitive advantage

Abstract

Competitive advantage is crucial for sustaining superior performance and edging out competitors. The ability of a company to achieve competitive advantage is directly related to the strategies the organization adopts and appropriate implementation of the same. The purpose of this study was to establish the strategies National Housing Corporation (NHC) has employed to achieve competitive advantage. The study also examined the challenges associated with the implementation of such strategies. A case study design was used to enable the researcher explore the matter in depth. Primary data was collected using the interview guide method. Respondents were identified from the top and middle staff levels, these being the main formulators and drivers of strategy and general organizational policies. Secondary data was obtained from NHC internal documents. Content analysis was used to extract key themes, concepts and arguments from the collected qualitative data. Analysis and presentation of data was done based on the two objectives of this research. The study revealed that NHC successfully integrates competitive, collaborative, grand and resource based strategies in order to achieve competitive advantage. Challenges identified included heavy initial capital outlays, financial constraints, low profit margins and resistance to change among others. While NHC has formal strategy in place, some strategies appeared emergent in nature than planned. It is therefore recommended that NHC makes deliberate efforts to identify these from the corporate strategies and pursue maximum utilization of each. The corporation also needs to scan its business environment to establish changes and competitor moves that may impact positively or negatively on its operations and consequently affect its position in the industry. The study was not without limitations. Due to time constraints, the study only focussed on the identified strategies. Some of the targeted respondents were also not available for the interviews due to busy office schedules. This being a case study, it cannot be generalized as the industry practice. For further research, a survey of the housing industry could be carried out with the view of determining the strategies that are necessary for achieving competitive advantage at the industry level.