Challenges faced by life insurance companies in implemention of marketing strategies to gain competitive advantage in kenya

Abstract

A marketing strategy should be centered on the key concept that customer satisfaction is the main goal. Companies respond to environmental factors and one of the environmental influences to a business arises from competition. Firms therefore focus on gaining a competitive advantage to enable them respond to, and compete effectively in the market. By identifying their core strengths, firms are able to concentrate on areas that give them a lead over competitors, and provide a competitive advantage. Therefore this study will seek to determine challenges faced by life insurance companies in implementation of marketing strategies. It will be guided by the following objectives, to establish the challenges faced by the insurance companies in implementation of marketing strategies and to establish whether life insurance companies have a control and feedback system to assess the effectiveness of the implementation process. The study employed a survey design. The survey was appropriate as it sought to ascertain the challenges faced by life insurance companies in implementation of strategy in Kenya. The population of the study comprised all Life insurance companies in Kenya. There are an estimated 23 life insurance service providers in Kenya. The study used a combination of various techniques of data analysis. The questionnaires were coded and edited for completeness using SPSS statistical package. Descriptive statistical measures were also used. These measures included the mean, mode and median. Graphs, tables and charts were used exclusively to display the findings. The findings indicate that the majority of the life insurance companies had a relatively long experience having operated in Kenya for over 31 years, the companies were therefore well established in country. The study findings indicate that organizations face various challenges and threats in their pursuit to implement marketing strategies. However, there are elements of organizational operations that have a correlation with the strategies. According to the study, the elements are; Recruitment of staff, Training, Motivation, Compensation of clients and Communication. The study findings indicate that competition in the insurance industry was driven by various elements which included; Profitability, Market share, Customer Satisfaction, competitive position and other in-house strategies. The study concluded that marketing strategies are important in helping an organization improve their performance and competitive edge. However, it seems like many life insurance companies are not keen on adoption of marketing strategies. The main challenge faced was the administration of the questionnaires. This study recommended for a more generalized conclusion to be made on the challenges of marketing strategy implementation for the entire insurance industry