| dc.description.abstract | This study was conducted with the main objective of establishing the positioning
strategies, used by Health Maintenance Organisations in Kenya. The study
considered the whole population of the HMOs in the county since they were only 15
firms: Primary data was collected using a questionnaire that had both closed and
open ended question and a greater extend used likert scale. The questionnaires
were distributed to top marketing executives interested with marketing decisions in
the firm. The response rate was 80%. The data was analysed using the statistical
package for social sciences (spss).
The study revealed that all the HMOs appreciate the various strategies of
positioning. It was also established that most of the HMOs use similar competitive
strategies in their product design, benefits sought, distribution, personnel, physical
evidence and process. From the research, it can be concluded that HMOs have
appreciated use of various position strategies to distinguish themselves from the
traditional health care providers and mainstream insurance. They have used these
variables to a very small extent to distinguish themselves from each other.
Their limited use of elaborate promotion programmes was also shown by the large
dependence on word of mouth advertising. This was seen as a possible explanation
of the customer ignorance sighted by most of the HMOs as a major challenge in
positioning. It was recommended that each of these firms adopt positioning
strategies that would clearly distinguish it from the competitors. Further more it was
recommended that a clear government policy be put in place in order for these firms
to carry out proper marketing programming for their services. The study was limited
to only positioning strategies used by HMOs. The collapse of several HMOs in the
recent passed made data collection difficult. Further studies were suggested in the
area of risk management as these firms depend on pooling of risks in health
maintenance and financial stability. It was also suggested that a study be carried out
on other service sub sectors to determine their positioning strategies. | en |
