| dc.description.abstract | In the recent past, especially in the last two years, the business environment has
experienced an upsurge in competition. Investors across Industry have taken advantage of
a liberalized environment to move the competitive scales higher thereby increasing the
number of business participants in the market arena.
The soft drinks industry which has hitherto enjoyed a near monopoly especially by coca
cola has not been spared. Many players have invaded this industry including EABL’s
Alvaro and Kuguru’s softa thus in the Carbonated Soft Drinks (CSD) category. Kisii
Bottlers Limited (KBL), therefore as one of coca cola’s franchises has already lost its
monopoly in the soft drinks industry in the area it serves. This firm must come out not
only to defend its survival but also create a sustainable competitive advantage for itself.
In its quest to remain competitive, KBL has diversified its product portfolio to include
Dasani and the juices such as five alive and sunfill. However, even in this category the
number of players is growing by each passing day.
Given the above, there is therefore an urgent need for KBL to come up with the desired
response strategies, thus the need for this study.
This study was conducted in the period between May and October, 2008 with the
objective of establishing the responses by KBL to competition. The research was a case
study and the data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire sent to the section
managers of the firm.
From this study, it was found out that the company uses more of extensive distribution
strategy than other strategies but a combination of Porter’s Generic strategies together
with operational strategies like restructuring are more pronounced in the company. The
major challenges facing the implementation of the responses were found to be the
escalating fuel prices, the poor state of the roads and hiring and retaining of a competent
workforce. The results of this research will be invaluable to the company, researchers and
investors, among others. | en |
