| dc.description.abstract | Branding is a long – term strategy adopted by enterprises to develop a successful brand in
order to achieve specific goals. Branding as a strategy aims at defining a company’s core
values and beliefs. In this respect, branding enables companies to communicate the
benefits and values that a product or service offers which in the long run forms the
foundation of enterprise’s very identity, or brand. While branding is concerned with
creating a brand identity, rebranding is recreating that identity. Based on this review; there
is no known study in Kenya that has investigated the effect of rebranding on performance.
Therefore this study seeks to fill this information gap by investigating effects of
rebranding strategy on performance of SACCOS in Kenya by carrying out a survey of
SACCOs in Meru County. The objective of the research is to investigate the effect of
rebranding strategy on performance of SACCOs in Meru County, Kenya. The survey
incorporated both branded and non branded SACCOs in Meru County. 75% of SACCOs
in Meru were selected using Stratified random sampling which was necessitate by the fact
that SACCOs in Meru were divided into seven categories based on the location ( districts).
This ensured that SACCOs from all areas within Meru County were part of the study
which gives the study an all inclusive report as pertains to SACCOs in Meru County.
In particular, the effect of rebranding on membership, customer satisfaction and corporate
identity was evaluated. Data was gathered using a closed ended Likert scaled
questionnaire which incorporated various factors which could be used to evaluate the
desired variable. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 20. 1. Cross-tabulations
and Pearson correlation was used for analysis of the data. Confidence interval was set at
95%. Data was presented using graphs and tables. According to the results obtained
SACCOs rebrand for various reasons including: to improve competitiveness, improve
diversity and SACCO’s relevance. Re-branded SACOOs in Meru county noted
rebranding had been necessitated by SASRA regulations that required all deposit-taking
SACCOs to have a core capital of not less than 10 million shillings; which forced
SACCOs to find alternative ways of expanding the common bond, respondents from
rebranded SACCOs felt that branding can have an effect on brand equity greatly by
improving brand loyalty, customer attitude, and perception of quality and brand
awareness. They also noted that branding can have a positive effect on SACCO
membership via enhanced membership retention, increase in membership and increases in
shareholding and savings. Putting the results into perspective, it can be asserted that
rebranding is a viable alternative for SACCOS seeking to project a new image and
improve its market share. However, further data are needed to more definitely clarify the
specifics of rebranding and its effect on SACCO’s membership and image among others.
Such studies should evaluate a large number of SACCOs and should preferably be
longitudinal. More studies on rebranding and performance should be carried out even in
other sectors of the economy. | en_US |
