Determinants Of Competitive Advantage Among Private Universities In Kenya

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ABSTRACT

Over the last ten years, there has been a significant growth in the Education sector. This has been created by the high demand of higher education in the market. Public universities through the joint admission board (J.A.B) can only admit approximately 10,000 students of all the qualified students. This has led to the introduction of private universities which admit the remaining qualified students who do not get to be admitted in the public universities. In Kenya today, the private universities have grown significantly such that the competition in the market has become so stiff since the public universities have also extended their hand in providing admission to the self-sponsored students. In Kenya, we have twenty seven private universities which are offering parallel degrees. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the determinants of competitive advantage which each university is using in order to remain relevant in the market by studying how cost leadership, growth strategies, differentiation strategies and market focus strategies are used as tools of creating competitive advantage. A descriptive sample survey of 20 respondents representing the various stakeholders of the twenty seven universities was surveyed using questionnaires and the data collected will be analyzed using descriptive analysis. The results of the study should contribute to establish of the determinants of competitive advantage in private universities in Kenya. The study established that cost leadership strategies had a positive impact on the competitive advantage in private universities in Kenya. The study revealed that corporate growth strategies had a positive impact on competitive advantage in private universities in Kenya. The study further established that differentiation strategies had a positive impact on competitive advantage in private universities in Kenya. From the research it was established that market focus strategies had a positive impact on the on competitive advantage in private universities in Kenya.