Competitive Strategies on Organizational Growth of Manufacturing Firms in Kenya
Authors: Peter Morris Kasyoka , Okello Antony Sije 
Published: November 2023

The hypothesis that there is a connection between manufacturing companies' competitive tactics and their organizational development has gained acceptance on a worldwide scale. Manufacturing companies in Japan have gained more success in the global manufacturing industry owing to their capacity to employ a variety of competitive tactics, which has helped them create and maintain a sustainable competitive advantage. Nevertheless, Kenya's manufacturing sector has been in a state of decline throughout the course of the previous five years. Kenya's manufacturing industry contributed KES 118,134 million to the country's GDP in the first quarter of 2016, down from KES 113,460 million in the second quarter of the same year. Therefore, this study set out to look at how competitive strategies affect the growth of Kenya's manufacturing businesses. The purpose of this research was to compare and contrast the effects of four key organizational development strategies common among Kenyan manufacturers: cost leadership, differentiation, focus, and product innovation. The study's other goals included looking at how different types of organizational focus and product innovation strategies affected the development of manufacturing enterprises in Kenya. The study's theoretical foundations were laid in generic strategy theory, competitive advantage theory, resource-based perspective theory, open systems theory, and organizational development theory. This study used a survey research approach with a stratified sample of 189 firms. They were picked from among the 12 key industrial sub-sectors' 454 manufacturing enterprises. The study used a stratified sampling strategy. In the first scenario, 12 different types of businesses are separated using stratified sampling. Then, using a technique called simple random sampling, a representative subset of each stratum was picked. Questions were used to glean information. There were findings of a descriptive and an inferential nature. While descriptive statistics centered on frequency and percentages, inferential statistics made use of multiple linear regression. The relationship between the dependent and independent variables was shown by using multiple linear regressions. The feasibility and accuracy of the questionnaire were tested in a pilot study. The questionnaire adopted in this study was verified and trustworthy by collecting answers from 10% of the entire population. Participants from the preliminary research were included in the final tally to cut down on survey fatigue. The majority of participants backed the study's primary result that Kenyan firms are using cost-cutting techniques. Differentiation and cost leadership were two of the most common tactics used. According to the findings, a cost leadership mindset may significantly improve a company's bottom line. The research confirms the importance of the differentiation strategy to the company's growth. Regression analysis shows that the differentiation approach significantly contributed to the firm's expansion. The study showed that if one part of the business improved its product innovation approach, the whole organization would benefit. This is one of the reasons why the research found that a strategy of narrowing down on a certain area helped businesses expand. The product innovation approach was proved to have greatly contributed to the company's growth via statistical analysis. Cost leadership, distinctiveness, focus, and product innovation were all shown to have a significant influence on the company's performance, as were the other independent characteristics included in the research. Based on their results, the researchers reasoned that manufacturing companies could do well to adopt a differentiation strategy. Managers should focus on reducing costs and maximizing productivity to increase competitiveness.