| dc.description.abstract | The objective of this study was to determine strategic alignment and competitrve
advantage of major beverage soft drink firms in Kenya. Cross sectional research design
was used in this study. The population of interest for this research was all the major
beverage firms operating in Kenya as listed in the latest edition of the Kenya Association
of Manufacturers (KAM) Directory (Kenya Association of Manufacturers, 2013) which
were seventeen firms. The study used primary data which was collected through selfadministered
questionnaires. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics
(measures of central tendency and measures of variations) and inferential statistic tools in
which multiple linear regression models were used. The findings of the study were that
competitive advantage achieved through strategic alignment included provision of
customized products and services, differentiation through price and product innovation.
Others included shorter-time to market, customer service establishment of brand image,
collection of customer data which includes demographic data, product comments and
potential demands for certain products/services. The findings further established
competitive advantage as the creation of new inter-relationships among businesses and
expanding the scope, reduced costs of obtaining, processing and transmitting information,
cost leadership promotion, firm expansion thus facilitating a firm's growth strategy,
development of geographical and global market, reduced cost of marketing, advertising,
business operations of the firm, and improved customer relationships and alliance
improvement through provision of an efficient and cheaper communication channel. The
study established that there exist relationships between IT-business strategic alignment,
and leadership, structure and process, service quality, values and beliefs, and sustainable
competitive advantage. It was recommended that executives in the information
technology/systems realm should share responsibility with senior executives in other
fields, because strategic alignment has been proven to improve organizational
performance. | en_US |
