Influence of Strategic Marketing Practices on Competitive Advantage of the Taxi Hailing Firms in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

This study was set out to achieve the following two objectives: to establish the strategic marketing practices of the taxi hailing firms in Nairobi, Kenya; and to establish the influence of strategic marketing practices on the competitive advantage of the taxi hailing firms in Nairobi, Kenya. The study was anchored in the resource-based theory, dynamic capability theory, the social exchange theory and Porter’s Theory of competitive advantage provided anchorage to the study. Relevant empirical literature was reviewed that informed the development of the conceptual framework. Descriptive cross sectional survey design was adopted targeting 43 taxi hailing firms in Nairobi and census was undertaken. Information from these participants was collected in its primary form and analyzed descriptively and inferentially. It emerged from the results on the first objective that relationship marketing was the highly adopted strategic marketing practice among the taxi hailing firms in Nairobi (M=3.90) followed by social media marketing (M=3.85), differentiation strategy (M=3.81) and lastly content marketing strategies (M=3.75) respectively. On the second objective, the study noted that content marketing strategy (β=0.401, t>1.96 & p<0.05) exerted the greatest and significant effect on competitive advantage of taxi hailing firms in Nairobi followed by relationship marketing (β=0.377, t>1.96 & p<0.05), differentiation strategy (β= .301, t>1.96 & p<0.05) and lastly social media marketing (β=0.243, t>1.96 & p<0.05). The study concludes that the taxi hailing firms in Nairobi had adopted strategic marketing practices to a great extent and these significantly predicted their competitive advantage. The study recommends that since content marketing strategies and relationship marketing strategies were seen to have greater influence on competitive advantage, the study recommends that marketing managers of the taxi hailing firms in Nairobi should make significant improvement and review of these aspects for significant realization of competitive edge. The policy makers in the taxi hailing firms in Nairobi should formulate relevant policies on strategic marketing so as to significantly impact on competitive edge of their firms.