Influence of Market Focus Planning Strategies on Competitiveness of Private Universities in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

In the last three decades, the republic of Kenya has witnessed a tremendous increase in the number of chartered universities and a stiff competition for students. The student enrolment base coupled with the emergence of private university education providers turned the university arena in Kenya into a student enrolment market, leading to intense competition between Public and Private Universities. The researcher realizes that, the existing studies relate competitiveness with performance. Thus, the purpose of this study was to assess the influence of market focus planning strategies on competitiveness of private universities in Nairobi County, Kenya. Resource Based Theory, Competitive Advantage Theory and Generic Framework Theory guided this study. The study applied mixed method approach and thus adopted concurrent triangulation design. Target population comprised 66 Registrar Academics, 66 Registrar Admissions and 33 Directors of Marketing all totalling to 165. Using the Central Limit Theorem, 36 Registrars of Academics, 36 Registrars of Admissions and 18 Directors of Marketing were purposively sampled. Questionnaires were used to collect data from Registrar Academic and Admissions whereas interview guide was used to gather data from Directors of Marketing. Data analysis began by identifying common themes from the respondents’ description of their experiences. Qualitative data were analyzed thematically along the objectives and were presented in narrative forms. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferentially using Chi-Square through Statistical Packages for Social Science and presented using tables. The study established that many private universities have not fully adopted market focus planning strategies to enhance their competitiveness. The study recommends that private universities design and market their academic programmes affordable to students from all socio-economic backgrounds.

Influence of Strategy Implementation on the Performance of Private Universities in Kenya. A Survey of Universities in Nairobi County, Kenya

“…(Kinyanjui & Juma, 2014;Muoki & Okibo, 2016;Waithaka, 2017;Omuse, et al, 2018) studies found that public universities suffer resource constraints and lack vital facilities to support learning. Studies by Nderitu et al, 2018;Ndichu, (2014) focused on influence strategy on performance and effect of differentiation on competitiveness. There is scanty literature on private chartered universities in Kenya.…”

“…Porter (1985) asserts that there are basic businesses strategies -differentiation, cost leadership, and focus -and a company performs best by choosing one strategy on which to concentrate. Many researchers are however of the divergent view that a combination of these strategies may offer a company the best chance to achieve a competitive advantage (Adimo, 2018;Kettunen, 2014;Nderitu et al, 2018;Wakhu & Bett, 2019).…”

“…Competences typically involve the development of specialist expertise, and firms may become locked into a trajectory that is difficult to change effectively in the short to medium-term (Hooley et al, 2001;Nderitu et al, 2018). The premises of the resource-based view is that successful firms develop distinctive capabilities on which their future competitiveness will be based; which capabilities are often idiosyncratic or unique to each firm, and may also be tacit and intangible in nature.…”

“…So providing services unique to the students will give the university an edge from its rivals (Manyeki et al, 2018). Nderitu et al, (2018) argues that differentiation can take many forms including a unique brand, technology, referral network as well as unique customer services. The study by Spencer et al, (2009) found that organizations that pursue differentiation strategies succeed in organizational performance.…”

“…Similarly, the 21 st century has brought challenges and opportunities for higher education in Kenya (Kuria, 2017). In this dynamic and competitive environment, the biggest challenges of private universities are how to increase the student's population, remain financially viable, create sustainable revenue streams, staff retention, and to provide quality service which includes the development of relevant programs, teaching, and efficiency in service delivery (Nderitu et al, 2018). The institutions need to understand their resources, capabilities and core competencies which have a direct link to the institutions' ability to achieve their strategic plans (Kinyanjui & Juma, 2014).…”