Export Marketing Strategies and Performance of Large Scale Manufacturing Firms in Kenya

Abstract

Considering the significance of the manufacturing industry in Kenya's economy, its competitiveness is a top priority for the country. Whereas manufacturing companies are expected to play a critical role in Kenya's economic growth, little is known about how they use export marketing techniques to manage performance in a competitive and tough environment. The study thus sought to establish the effect of export marketing strategies on performance of large scale manufacturing firms in Kenya.The theories anchoring the study include the growth of the firm theory and market based view theory. The study undertook both the empirical and theoretical review where the concept of export marketing strategies was analyzed. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional research design. All the 118 large manufacturing firms that have internationalized operations as per Kenya Association of Manufacturers (KAM) were considered for the study. Primary data was collected using self-administered questionnaires. A response of 93 large manufacturing firms responded yielding a response of 78.8%. The data collected was edited and coded into the SPSS software version 23 to generate both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings were presented using tables. The descriptive statistics findings on the export marketing strategies recorded average means of 3.861, 3.804, 3.692 and 3.691 for product strategy, pricing strategy, promotion strategy and the distribution strategy respectively. This shows that the manufacturing firms have implemented the different export marketing strategies to a large extent. The regression analysis findings revealed a statistically significant effect of export marketing strategies on performance of large scale manufacturing firms as shown by significance level of 0.000 which is <0.05. This affirms that the model is statistically fit as an estimator of the level of performance. The coefficient of determination (R2) 0.636 value implied that 63.6% of export performance of large scale manufacturing firms in Kenya is attributed to export marketing strategies which is a significant percentage. The study recommends that the Kenyan government should develop policies that promote and attract foreign investors who will bring the needed skills and expertise for the local companies to learn from hence better performance. The government should also lower the cost of raw materials and enhance infrastructural investments or exempt taxes in some instances to reduce the cost of production hence enabling competitive pricing in foreign markets. Additionally, the there is need for the government through the embassies spread across the globe to get into alliances and agreements to facilitate the growth of Kenyan export products. This can be through facilitating tradeshows and exhibitions in foreign jurisdictions and getting into more bilateral agreements to promote export trade.