COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES AND ACHIEVEMENT OF COMPETITIVE EDGE AMONG ACCOUNTING FIRMS IN KENYA

RONO GABRIEL KIRUI

Abstract


The dynamics in rapid changing of economic environment and market for accounting services in Kenya has continued to pose  major challenges on the operation of the small and medium sized practices (SMPs) accounting firms in Kenya. A few of accounting firms continues to dominate the market space resulting to oligopoly situations and SMPs suffocation hence poor national economic growth. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effect of competitive strategies on achievement of competitive edge among accounting firms in Kenya. The study  specific objectives  included: To establish the effect of differentiation strategy on achievement of competitive edge among the accounting firms and to determining the effect of diversification  strategy on achievement of competitive edge among accounting firms in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive survey study design. The study target population comprised of a total of 200 persons who are employees and in supervisory positions drawn from 20 top accounting firms in Kenya; Purposive Stratified random sampling technique was used which enabled the researcher to draw a sample size for the study. The sample size of the study constituted 20% of each of the twenty study targeted top accounting firms ‘stratum; thus making it a total of 40 respondents of which the study collected data from by use of questionnaire respectively. Data was analyzed and presented by use of descriptive statistics. The results of the study showed that the majority of the study top target accounting firms had adopted, differentiation and diversification strategies and these strategies were core lead strategies that has made them to achieve a competitive edge hence assuming a huge market dominancy resulting to oligopoly which in turn has negatively affected the small and medium accounting firms in Kenya.

Key Words; differentiation strategy, diversification strategy, achievement, competitive edge


Full Text:

PDF

References


Adam, E.E.J. (1992). Quality improvement as an operations strategy. Industrial Management and Data Systems, 92(4), 3-12.

Berlyne, D. E. (1962). Uncertainty and Epistemic Curiosity. British Journal ofPsychology 53, 27-34.

Biehl, M. (2007). Success factors for implementing global information systems. Communications of the ACM, 50(1), 53-8.Brown, J. S. (2001).The Invisible Future. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Crosby, P.B. (1979), Quality is Free: The Art of Making Quality Certain, New York: McGraw-Hill.

Decamps, J. P. &Nayak, P. R.(2008). Product Juggernauts, New York: Harvard Business School Press.

Deming, W.E. (1982), Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA: Center for Advanced Engineering Study.

Frankelius, P. (2009)."Questioning two myths in innovation literature". Journal of High Technology Management Research. 20(1), 40–51.

Gathoga, H. (2011). Competitive strategies by commercial banks in Kenya. Unpublished MBA Project, Nairobi: University of Nairobi.

Githae P. (2004) Crisis of Confidence, the Accountant journal of Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya April- June

Gloria L.G. & Ding, D.Z.(2005). Competitive Strategy and Firm Performance: AnEmpirical Study of Chinese Firms. Journal of Global Marketing, 18(3/4

Harrington, H.J. (1987), Poor-quality Cost, Milwaukee, WI: ASQC Quality Press.

Hayes, R.H. and Pisano, G. (1988), Beyond world-class: the new manufacturing strategy, Harvard Business Review, 72(1), 77-87.

Hill, C.W.L. (1988), Differentiation versus low cost or differentiation and low cost: a contingency framework, Academy of Management Review, 13(3), 401-12.

Huang, S.M., Chang, I.C., Li, S.H. and Lin, M.T. (2004), Assessing risk in ERPprojects: identify and prioritize the factors, Industrial Management &Data Systems, 104(8), 681-8.

Kimari, G. N. (2010). Sources of Sustainable Competitive Edgein the Mobile Telephony Sector in Kenya. Unpublished MBA Project, Nairobi: University of Nairobi.

Kimotho,T. (2012). Impact of Competitive Strategies On The Financial Performance Of Cfc Stanbic Bank Limited. Unpublished MBA thesis. Nairobi: University of Nairobi,

Maani, K.E., Putterill, M.S. &Sluti, D.G. (1994),Empirical analysis of quality improvement in manufacturing, International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, 11(7), 19-37.

Mandal, P. (2000), Inter-functional spread of quality in manufacturing, Industrial Management & Data Systems, 100(3), 135-40.

Mintzberg, H. (1994), The fall and rise of strategic planning, Harvard Business Review,72(1), 107-14.

Molokwu, V.B., Barreria, J. & Urban, B., 2013, 'Entrepreneurial orientation and corporate governance structures at the firm level in South African oil and gas industry',

Munisi, G., Hermes, N. & Randoy, T., 2014, 'competitive edge among small accounting firms and corporate boards and ownership structure: Evidence from sub Saharan Africa'

Murage, D. (2011)The Competitive strategies in the petroleum industry. Unpublished MBA Project, Nairobi: Kenya Methodist University.

Noble, M.A. (1995), Manufacturing strategy: testing the cumulative model in a multiple country context, Decision Sciences, 26(5), 693-721.

Ongeri, D.N. (2010).Strategy Implementation at Citi Bank Kenya. Unpublished MBA Project, Nairobi: University of Nairobi.

Philips, L.W., Chang, D.R. & Buzzell, R.D. (1983), Product quality, cost position, and business performance: a test of some key hypotheses, Journal of Marketing,37(2), 26-43.

Porter, M. E. (2010).Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. New York: Free press.

Reed, R., Lemak, D.J. & Montgomery, J.C. (1996), Beyond process: TQM content and firm performance, Academy of Management Review, 21(1), 173-202.

Rogers, E. M. (1995).Diffusion of Innovations. (4th edition). New York, NY: The Free Press.

Ruckes, M. (2004). Bank Competition and Credit Standards. In University of Wisconsin (Ed.), The Review of Financial Studies (1102 ed., p. 1073).

Schwartz, D. (2012) .Building Social Business. Boston: Hynes Convention Center. Encyclopedia of Group Processes and Intergroup Relations. Ed. John M.

Seyranian, Viviane (2000). Contingency Theories of Leadership. Encyclopedia of Group Processes and Intergroup Relations. Ed. John M.

Suresh KP &Chandrasekhar S (2012). Sample size estimation and power analysis for clinical research studies. J Hum Reprod Sci; 5, 7–13.

Szalkai, Z. S. (2003). Sustainable Customer Relationship. In Karner, S., Oehme, I. and Seebacher, U. eds. Corporate Sustainability, 5th International Summer Academy


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.