Competitive strategies adopted by small and medium handcrafts exporters in kenya

Abstract

To grow and thrive in today’s competitive environment, organizations must deal with several major challenges that have been caused by increased competition in their industries. In order to survive in the competitive environment therefore, it becomes necessary for small and medium handicrafts exporters to be aggressive in their search and development of strategies that provide competitive advantage as they step up defensive strategies to protect their competitive advantage. The main objective of the study was to determine competitive strategies adopted by small and medium handcrafts exporters in Kenya. To attain this objective the study was guided by the following specific objectives; to establish factors influencing competition among small and medium handcrafts exporters in Kenya and to determine competitive strategies adopted by small and medium handcrafts exporters in Kenya. Cross-sectional survey was used in this study to obtain comparative data from a cross section of small and medium handcrafts exporters registered under the Export Promotion Council. The population of the study was all the small and medium handcraft exporters registered under the Export Promotion Council located in various part of the country. The study employed simple random sampling method. The data collected was analyzed using the descriptive statistics tools like percentages, standard deviation, frequency tables among others. The findings indicated that differentiation strategy is the widely practiced competitive strategy by small and medium handcrafts exporters in Kenya followed by focus strategy. Besides Porter’s generic competitive strategies, adoption of modern technology such as e-marketing was also identified as another key strategy adopted.