A survey of competitiveness in the passenger road transport sector in Nairobi, Kenya
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Date
2012-08-14Author
Nzuve, Stephen N
Mbugua, Simon
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
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The purpose of the study was to identify the key competitive dimensions employed by players
in the low cost, mass market commuter road transport sector in Nairobi, Kenya. The
theoretical framework for this study was Michael Porter’s Industry Analysis model. This
model assumes five competitive forces, which determine the attractiveness of a given
industry. These forces are: the barriers of entry into the industry, threat of substitute products,
bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers and industry rivalry. The Porter’s
Five Forces Industry Analysis model is a strategy tool that is used to make an analysis of the
attractiveness (value) of an industry structure.
The study used a survey design. The population of the study consisted of all public service
vehicle owners operating in Nairobi and registered under the Public Service Vehicle Owners
Welfare Association of Kenya; the City buses namely, Citi Hoppa, Express Connections,
KBS, and other formal and informal public commuter transport providers. The sample of the
study was restricted only to the motorized providers of low unit cost mass-market public
passenger road transportation. These include public service vehicle owners registered under
the Public Service Vehicle Owners Welfare Association of Kenya and city buses. Data was
collected by means of a questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive
statistics.
The key finding of the study was that there was a lot of activity in the PSV sector that has
influenced the industry’s competitiveness. The threat from other competing means of
transportation had the lowest levels of activity and it was determined from the low mean
values on all the parameters used as proxies to the threat. The sector was also seen to be very
active in employing marketing strategies to enhance competitiveness. The study
recommended that the passenger transport sector increase innovative use of alternative means
of transport.
URI
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2129063http://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/29005
Citation
Nzuve, Stephen and Mbugua, Simon, A Survey of Competitiveness in the Passenger Road Transport Sector in Nairobi-Kenya (August 14, 2012). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2129063 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2129063Publisher
School of Business, University of Nairobi
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