| dc.description.abstract | Whether an organization remains competitive or not, largely depends on the quality
ofdecisions made by its executives (Myerson, 1991). This is partly because the present
daycompetitive marketing patterns enable the competitors to come to reality with the factthat
future marketing will be highly influenced by how an organization plays its cards.Generally,
successful businesses rely on a strategy based aspect, which in turn maynecessitate use of
appropriate decision tools that enhance its competitive advantage. Sustainable competitive
advantage in any organization is achieved when the competition cannotmatch the
organization‟s ability to sustain its lead in the market, through its strategies.Insurance
industry is equally competitive and Insuranceplayers have taken upseveral strategies that have
had considerable effect on the companies‟ efficiency,productivity change, market structure
and performance in the insurance industry. Thestudy set out to determine the competitive
strategies adopted by insurance companies in Kenya and to establish the influence of these
strategies on sustainable competitiveadvantage. It adopted a methodology that embraced both
primary and secondary data in order to achieve these objectives. The secondary data was
collected by use of desk searchtechniques from published companies‟ publications. Primary
data, on the other hand, wascollected using questionnairesgiven to respondents of Insurance
companies. The research targeted fifty respondents in senior and executive positionswithin
insurance companies in Kenya, as well as a few staff in lower management cadres at
thecompany. From the fifty interviews that were initially projected, forty were successful and
ten did not respond. On successful completion,the study identified these strategies as
comprising Nearness to customers; Competitive premiums; Low labour costs; Minimal
operation costs; Network coverage; Research and development skills; Creativity and
innovation skills; Marketing skills, communication and Market segmentation. Of all these
strategies, the study has found that competitive premiums, low labour cost, minimal
operational cost, marketing skills and effective communication skills were the most popular
effective strategies adopted by the companies to counter competition in the industry. In
conclusion,quality and convenient customer service,marketingskills, market segmentation,
communication, creativity and innovation skills and resources and huge capital base are the
commonly used strategies by insurance companies to sustain their competitiveness. The
study came up with contributions to knowledge, theory, managerial policy and managerial
practice. The study recommendsto policy makers in the insurance industry to make use of
these findings in order to make use of these findings in order to come up with structures and
policies to assist the insurance industry grow. | en_US |
