An Exploration of Managerial Views on Positioning Services in Ghana

Coffie, Stanley

doi:10.1080/15228916.2016.1185878

Cited by 9 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…This shows that the competitive activities of indigenous and foreign firms both serve the purpose of reaching the broader market and, consequently, achieving greater market share. The results also reveal how local retailers have embraced branding, further attesting to the changing and competitive nature of the Ghanaian marketplace (Acheampong & Dana, ; Coffie, ). Further evidence of this competition is seen in the case of LR3, an indigenous firm, which is the only retailer specifically targeting the middle class.…”

Section: Discussion and Congruence In Positioning Deliberationsmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…The current sub‐Saharan business environment, especially Ghana, is very different from that of over 20 years ago (Acheampong & Dana, ; Coffie, ; World Bank, ). Therefore, determining how retailers pursue positioning strategies constitutes an important and opportune research task.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The determination of strategy follows an inductive reasoning approach (Maxwell, ) as elaborated by Dubois and Gadde (), de Chernatony and Cottam (), Poulis et al (), and Diwan (). Our approach has precedence as evidenced in Arnott's () and Coffie's (, ) research into management's employment of positioning strategies in the services industry.…”

Section: Discussion and Congruence In Positioning Deliberationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Responding to maturing markets and stiff competition in their home countries, international retailers are showing interest in international marketplaces (Coffie, ; Gripsrud & Benito, ), especially in fast‐expanding markets. Teagarden () defines fast‐expanding markets (FEMs) as lucrative markets that are growing and outperforming traditional predictors of growth.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The scant knowledge on the positioning activities of retailers in Ghana is particularly critical for international business research (Coffie, ; Coffie & Owusu‐Frimpong, ). More importantly, the contemporary landscape of sub‐Saharan Africa, and the Ghanaian business environment in particular, are very different from the landscape of over 20 years ago, as countries' liberalized and open economies are expanding and are paving the way for unprecedented competition among firms, including retailers of both foreign and indigenous origins (Acheampong & Dana, ; Coffie, ). In Ghana, for example, Acheampong and Dana (, p. 54) find that the increasing income capability of the population is significant to the extent that businesses are taking advantage of new opportunities by investing in new products and services, and increasing their marketing and branding activities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Positioning strategies and congruence in the positioning of high‐end indigenous and foreign retailers in sub‐Saharan Africa: An illustration from Ghana

Blankson

Nkrumah

Opare

et al. 2018

Thunderbird Intl Bus Rev

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This article examines the employment of positioning strategies through the lens of international retailing for assessing congruence in the positioning of both indigenous and foreign retailers in Ghana. Six retailers-three indigenous and three foreign-are examined in a triangulated method, each through an in-depth case study. The results show that the dominant positioning strategies consistently pursued by both indigenous and foreign retailers in Ghana are "service," "reliability," and "attractiveness." Although indigenous retailers (relative to their foreign counterparts) employ more strategies, the majority of foreign retailers exhibit close-to-ideal congruence among managers' intentions, actual practice, and customers' perceptions. The findings show that foreign and indigenous retailers pursue varying positioning strategies in the marketplace, further complementing the utility of Western-developed typologies of positioning strategies in a sub-Saharan African marketplace. Moreover, the results reveal how indigenous retailers have embraced branding, further attesting to the changing and competitive nature of the Ghanaian marketplace. K E Y W O R D S positioning strategies, congruence, retailers, sub-Saharan Africa, Ghana

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Section: Discussion and Congruence In Positioning Deliberationsmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%