| dc.description.abstract | The strategy that leads the organization to the blue ocean is not the traditional strategies
such as infiltration in other areas of business and services, cost reduction and assignment,
but also innovations of value making as a strategy whose adoption has led to cost
reduction and at the same time added more value to the organization stakeholders. The
research objective of this study was to find out if the application of value innovation as
the basis for blue ocean strategy at Safaricom Limited. The research design for the study
was a case study. The data collection tool that was used for the study was an interview
guide to obtain data from primary sources. The study was conducted in Safaricom Kenya
Limited and was specifically conducted at the company’s headquarter in Westlands, due
to its expansive size and location, hence making it cost and time effective. According to
the Safaricom Report (2012), the head office in Westlands has 24 senior managers and
these were the study’s key respondents. Content analysis technique was used to analyze
the data. The study found out that Safaricom has in this respect incorporated abroad range
of promotional activities in its marketing programs. Safaricom Limited management has
clearly defined its product concept as an objective in customer’s terms in order to deliver
the expected value. The study also recommends that the companies should also strive to
ensure product range extension, product replacement, product improvement, product
repositioning and new product introduction to enable the company be more productive,
grow faster, invest more and also perform better. The investigative nature of the study
sparked misplaced suspicion. Respondents feared that the study intends to implicate
individuals in a negative way. To this end, this suspicion offered resistance and lack of
cooperation. The researcher however eliminated this paranoia by clarifying the objectives
of the study. There was reluctance by some of the respondents to be interviewed while
others declined to be interviewed at all. Even though the researcher made an effort to
explain to the respondents about the potential benefits of the study, the response was still
low. The study therefore recommends that a research be conducted with an aim of
investigating the application of value innovation as the basis for blue ocean strategy by mobile telephone service providers in Kenya. | en |
