The strategies adopted by Brookside Dairies limited in Kenya to gain competitive advantage

Abstract

Firms globally are facing stiff competition from other companies worldwide in this age of globalization. As a result of intense competition and other challenges faced by businesses that reduce their profit levels, business establishments are compelled to embrace new strategies in order to stay ahead of their competitors. The study's objective was to explore the strategies employed by Brookside Dairies to remain competitive. This research was guided by the Porters generic strategy model and the resource-based view. The research employed the qualitative research design. Being a case study, top management officials namely the CEO, General Manager, Head of Marketing, Head of Sales, Head of Operation and Head of Strategy who are key decision makers at Brookside Dairies were target. Five out of the six responded translating to 85.7% response rate was achieved. Data was collected using interview guides will were personally delivered by the researcher. The collected data was cleaned and subjected to content analysis to make sense, draw comparisons and make inferences. The findings revealed that all the three generic strategies had been adopted by Brookside Dairies. Cost-leadership strategy was the deployed as the core strategy will differentiation and focus strategy were the secondary generic strategies deployed by the firm. The results also reveal that the choice of strategy was majorly influenced by external forces namely competition, technology, legal and regulatory forces and the economic environment. The conclusion of the study that the company has an aggressive strategy mix which has enabled it create sustainable competitive advantage in the sector.The research recommends the firm to employ a variety of sources of competitive advantage apart from the generic strategies which complement each other to attain sustained competitive advantage in the highly competitive business environment.