Strategic and marketing planning for managers competitive advantages in selected cement manufacturing companies in Kenya
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Date
2014-09
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Publisher
Kampala International University.College of Economics and Management
Abstract
Cement production and consumption in Africa is on the upward trend. In Kenya, it
increased from estimated at about 1.2 million metric tonnes in 2003 to about 3.2
million metric tones in 2008. This has attracted new entrants form across the globe.
The three cement manufacturers in Kenya have indicated intentions to expand
production capacities to meet the growing demand in the East African region.
Challenges like power/electricity, environmental and conservancy issues, limited
research, transport cost, high cost of clinker have made the price of local cement to
be high compared to cheap import from Egypt, South Africa and Pakistan. The
mangers therefore need to strive to achieve competitive advantage to keep afloat.
The purpose of this study was establishing the strategic responses by the
management of cement manufacturing companies or firms in Kenya. The study
objectives were establishing the availability of resources, the utilization of the
resources and other factors that lead to competitive positioning as employed by
three cement companies in Kenya for competitive advantage. The study examined
the levels of effectiveness of strategic market planning and the managers
competitive advantage in selected cement manufacturing firms as well as the
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the firms under study in
relation to the interplay of the firms resources, capabilities and competencies. This
was guided by Michael E. Porter's Five Forces of Competitive Position Model. The
study was a descriptive survey of three companies. A comprehensive questionnaire
with Likert type of rating questions capturing different strategies was constructed
and used for data collection. The instrument was validated by departmental staff
while its reliability was 0.86 on Cronbach alpha. The data was analysed descriptively
using SPSS. The findings were that the resources were availed but not to the
expected level. Most resources - main plant machinery, company transport for
employees, buildings and offices for had Means of 3.00 out of 4.00. Others like -
space for workers, company academic/ learning institutions, Health center, office
furniture, sports ground - had even been given less attention with means of less
than 2.5 out of 4.00. The companies, however did well in availing the right
personnel to key departments like management, sales and marketing personnel,
engineering - in some cases doing a mean of 3.67 out of 4.00. On the extent of
utilization of availed resource, the study established that all the resources were well
utilized (mean rates of 3.67 out of 4.00). Finally several factors: the location of the
company; ultra modern state of plant; Product branding strategies, Community
support and CSR packages and multidirectional communication were considered to
leverage market advantage. The companies used ultra modern and state of art
plant and technology to gain a strategic position as a market leader in the cement
industry. The researcher recommends that the plants operate for 24 hours by
having three shifts of eight hours each, improve their market position by ensuring
that the employees are highly motivated by provided transport to all employees
regardless of the position in the company.
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Keywords
Marketing, Planning, Managers, Kenya