| dc.description.abstract | It is argued that competitive strategies cultivate a competitive advantage that propels a
firm to excellent superior performance. This study focused on competitive strategies
influencing performance in public secondary schools in Hamisi District, Vihiga
County, Kenya. The study is anchored on game theory, strategic conflicts theory,
resource based view and industrial organization theory and it sought to determine the
correlation between competitive strategies and performance. The competitive
strategies which were the independent variable included low cost, differentiation,
focus, market penetration, market development, product development and
diversification. Performance as a dependent variable included enrolment and
retention, KCSE mean, revenue growth, assets’ growth, business processes, staff
development, quality services and overall firm performance. A cross sectional
descriptive survey design was utilized for the study. The population studied
comprised the 47 public secondary schools in Hamisi Sub-County in Vihiga County,
in which a census was taken. Data was captured by a structured questionnaire, and
analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics to establish the linear relationship
between the variables. The study revealed that Product development, differentiation
and low cost influenced performance to a greater extent. Market development and
diversification strategies affected performance to some extent, and market penetration
and focus to the least extent. It was concluded that schools should adopt competitive
strategies for improved performance. The recommendations for policy action
highlighted on offering staff training and development on competitive strategies in the
education sector and conducting further studies countrywide for credible
generalizations. Based on the limitations of the study, areas for further research have
been pointed out | en_US |
