Effects of Centralised Textbooks Procurement on Marketing Strategies of Kenya Literature Bureau

Abstract

The government of Kenya has adopted the centralized textbook procurement of textbooks for schools in order to achieve recommended student to textbook ratio. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of centralized textbooks procurement on marketing strategies of textbook Publishers in Kenya a case of Kenya Literature Bureau. The study was anchored on marketing mix theory which encompasses careful selection of seven P’s in order for business organization achieve its objectives and the Ansoff Product-Market growth matrix theory which involves varying product growth and market growth for marketing forecasting process. The research was a case study since the unit of analysis was a single entity that had respondents from heads of departments of the organization that is, Business Development, Sales and Marketing, Finance and Administration, Procurement and Customer Relations departments were interviewed for the study. Primary data was utilized by the researcher, which was obtained by way of interview guide. Content analysis was used since data collected was qualitative in nature. The results in this study showed that effects of centralized textbook procurement within the Kenyan publishing industry are directed by government a direction which in turn changes market response thus the affecting marketing strategies of players .Proper communication, dissemination of market information, intensive market research among others are very key during external business environment change.