dc.description.abstract | In the global market and developing economies like Kenya, competition among firms
grows quickly while market share gets narrower by the day. In order to gain new
markets and retain existing ones, firms strategize to gain superiority over their rivals
by positioning their products, services and their brands aimed at consumer behaviour
and perceptions. Positioning is therefore regarded as the development of the image of
a product or service in the minds of clients directly against that offered by
competitors. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between
strategic positioning and performance among insurance firms in Kenya. The study
used cross sectional descriptive survey design. The population of the study was all the
41 registered insurance companies in Kenya. Positioning strategies have several
benefits to the insurance companies key among them being; providing the framework
upon which to build and coordinate the elements of the marketing mix, facilitate fine
tuning of strategy due to experience gained by being close to the customers, helps the
company to know where to confront competition from and where to avoid it and it
also provides the company with a unique image in the market place. Additionally ,
companies competes for consumers‟ involvement in its daily operations, competes for
the customers‟ willingness to deal with the technical complexity found in the
corresponding need for services, competes for the customers‟ effort and time in the
buying process, shift its positioning frequently and that they competes for the funds
consumers are willing to spend in acquiring a service. The study also sought to
establish from the insurance firms the importance attached to their positioning
strategies in relation to their performance goals, 92% of the respondents indicated that
the insurance firms attached high level of importance on strategic positioning while
only 8% indicated that the firms attached a moderate level of importance to
positioning. It further established that well positioned firms were perceived to be
closely aligned to the needs of their target segments, both current and emerging. The
effect of positioning strategies on performance is that it leads to improvement on
market share, customer brand loyalty, customer satisfaction, profitability
improvement and growth in customer base. Strategic positioning was also reported to
influence customer‟s perceptions, the expectations, the benefits and the value which
they are prepared to pay for. The study also sought to relate strategic positioning and
performance and the results of the correlation analysis indicated that strategic
positioning was positively related performance. | en_US |