Effect of Strategic Market Orientation on Performance of Tour Firms in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

Firms seeking to remain competitive and achieve superior firm performance have to anticipate what their customers want and at the same time determine if they are satisfied with the firm’s products and services. Given the complexities of the market place, increased competition, globalization, changing customer needs and wants, firms require a strong market orientation and innovative marketing practices to remain competitive. They should therefore manage their target markets more efficiently and effectively than their competitors. This requires them to be market oriented. This means that business entities adjust their operations continuously so as to capture the opportunities that arise as well as vend of any business challenges that will affect the business strategies. Therefore, the capacity of a firm to re-orientation has a strong and positive impact on performance. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of strategic market orientation on performance of tour firms in Nairobi, Kenya. The research design used was descriptive cross sectional survey design. The population of the study consisted of all the 267 tour firms operating in Nairobi. The study adopted stratified sampling and simple random sampling techniques in selection of respondents for the study. The study used primary data that was collected through self-administered questionnaires containing both open ended and closed questions. The data was analyzed by the use of descriptive statistics. The regression analysis was used to assess the effect of strategic market orientation on performance of tour firms in Nairobi, Kenya. The study found out that customer orientation enabled the tour firms to have strong commitment to their customers, be better off if the market department worked a bit harder, evaluate the customer needs and ensure customer satisfaction in order t create value for customers. The tour firms were found to be using competitor orientation to collect data on their competitors in order to enable the firms to come up with strategies that would counter competitors’ actions in order to achieve competitive advantage over competitors. Inter-functional coordination was being used by tour firms throughout the departments in order to increase customer value and build business plans to meet the needs of prospective and current customers. The performance of the tour firm is affected by strategic marketing orientation as they play a key role in the firms’ profits, employee and customer satisfaction, market share and financial viability. The regression analysis showed that customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter-functional coordination jointly influence performance of tour firms in Nairobi. The study recommends that the management of the tour firms has to ensure that the strategic market orientation was being taken seriously as they play a critical role in determining firm performance. The study further recommends that there is need for strategic and operational government interventions as the country endeavours to be a globally competitive and prosperous nation.