dc.description.abstract | This research study was on the various competitive strategies adopted by large
supermarket chains in Nairobi City County. The study had one objective. It seeked to
establish influence of competitive strategies on performance of large supermarket
chains in Nairobi City County as well as determine the challenges encountered by the
large supermarket chains in implementing competitive strategies. The study used a
descriptive research design. Primary data was collected from 5 large supermarket
chains in Nairobi County using questionnaires. The drop and pick method was used to
collect data from the respondents. Descriptive statistics was used to summarize the
data. These include percentages, frequencies, pie charts, tabulations and narratives.
The study concluded that most of large supermarket chains in Nairobi City County
had already adopted competitive strategies to respond to ever changing customer
needs and competitive marketing nature whereby differentiation strategy, cost
leadership strategy were the key competitive strategies adopted by most large
supermarket chains which were surveyed with practices such as pricing products
below that of competitors, strategic location of supermarkets to customers, offering
unique customer service which is not easily imitated, continuously cutting cost across
retail value chain, outsourcing and increased automation. The other competitive
strategy also employed to little extent includes, focus strategy. Further the study
concluded that there were various challenges faced by large supermarket chains in
Nairobi County in applying the competitive strategies. Management style, interfunctional
conflicts, need for compliance by Competition Authority of Kenya,
resistance to change, poor communication and inappropriate strategy were established
as the challenges facing large supermarket chains when implementing competitive
strategies. | en_US |