dc.description.abstract | To grow and thrive in today's competitive environment, organizations must deal with several
major challenges that have been caused by increased competition in their industries. For these
organizations to survive the dynamic environment, it is necessary for them to: Measure the
intensity of competition, assess the causes of decline and Single out a viable strategy for
gaining competitive advantage. As markets have become more crowded and customers more
discerning and varied in their demands and expectations, the targeting decisions facing
companies have become more critical. Competitive positioning decisions embrace the
identification of the target market(s) and the competitive advantage that will be pursued in
serving the target(s).
This study was undertaken on Safaricom mobile phone airtime dealers in Nairobi central
business district. The study was aimed at accessing application of competitive strategies to the
challenges of increased competition faced by Safaricom mobile phone airtime dealers in
Nairobi central business district. To determine the challenges of increased competition in the
airtime business The Five (5) forces Framework by Porter was adopted which states that the
industry forces take the form of competitive rivalry, barriers to entry, threat of substitutes, buyer
power, and supplier power. In this study 40 mobile phone airtime dealers were picked using
random sampling technique from a total of 78 to form the sample. The study used both primary
and secondary data. Primary data was collected though self administered questionnaire.
Secondary data was collected from safaricom option magazine.
" The data collected was analyzed using the descriptive statistics tools like percentages,
standard deviation, frequency tables among others. The mobile phone airtime dealers in
Nairobi central business district have witnessed an increase in competition. This is due to an
increase in the number of players in this business who are mainly attracted by the rapid growth
in the mobile phones industry in Kenya. The challenges greatly experienced by the
respondents were identified to be mainly rivalry among competitors and the easy of new
entrants. Competition from sub dealers was also an issue of great concern to the safaricom
airtime dealers. From the research findings of the study it was identified that the most popular
types of competitive strategies were on the basis on expanding branch network, offering
differentiated services targeting the entire class of customers and Diversification. | en |