| dc.description.abstract | The international money transfer industry faces a lot of dynamic changes and uncertainity in the environment they operate in. Organizations like Western Union money transfer service must therefore understand the competitive environment they operate in both in terms of opportunities and barriers. In order to be successful in the turbulent environment, they have to exploit and take advantage of the opportunities and at the same time defend themselves against threats and barriers or make them work in their favor.
The research had one objective which was to determine the competitive strategies adopted by Western Union money transfer service to cope with competition in the international money transfer industry in the Kenya. The research design was a case study, interview guides were used to collect the primary data. The use of the guides helped gather valid and reliable data that was relevant to the research question and objective. Since the interviews were done face to face, it provided the researcher with an opportunity· for clarification of issues with the interviewee. Secondary data was gotten from internal reports like annual reports, existing or previous strategic plans and newsletters and were used mainly to support the primary data.
The findings of the study were that the Western Union money transfer service in Kenya has put in place several competitive strategies to cope with competition the in the international money transfer industry. The strategies include cost leadership whereby the company reviews its transaction charges from time to time, differentiation through branding, using the latest technology of money transfer, offering quality customer service, having a wide agent network and focusing on meeting customer needs.
The challenges of the money transfer service faces in the Kenyan market include the market entrance of cheaper money transfer services that may eat into their market share, changes in customer needs, liberalization of the international money transfer market, their partners collaborating with competitors and maintaining reasonably low charges. The company has however adopted competitive strategies that have enabled it to successfully cope with competition in the international money transfer industry in Kenya. | en_US |
