Impact Of Competitive Marketing On Performance Of Multinational And Indigenous Food And Beverage Manufacturing Companies In Nigeria

ABSTRACT

The research study evaluated the impact of competitive marketing on the performance of multinational and indigenous food and beverage manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The study investigated how these companies utilized marketing orientation and practices, organizational structure and strategy , marketing strategies on acquisition of market shares, usage of marketing mix elements on returns on capital employed, and how the competitive use of these variables influence the perception of consumers. The research study was developed around the theories of connectionist, personality, innovation diffusion, and cost structure and business performance. These variables were used to evolve a detailed analysis of issues relating to product quality, organizational structures and management theories. Theoretical models were reflected and used in developing five different hypotheses that were investigated through the survey of forty multinational and one-hundred and twenty indigenous foods and beverage manufacturing companies which were respectively randomly selected. Copies of well structured questionnaire were administered to companies sampled. The validity and reliability of the instrument were measured at Cronbach’s alpha of 0.69 and alternative form validity of 0.62. Five hypotheses were raised and tested at 0.05 significant levels. The findings revealed that marketing orientation adopted by multi-national companies (MNCs) yielded better performance than those of indigenous companies (INCs), the structure/strategy adopted by MNCs yielded better performance than those of INCs, marketing strategies adopted by MNCs yielded more market shares than those of INCs, MNCs use of elements of marketing mix yielded higher rates of returns on capital employed than that of INCs, and competitive use of these 4Ps for consumers’ perception by MNCs yielded better performance compared to that of indigenous counterparts. The conclusion from the research findings showed that indigenous companies were unable to compete favourably because of their limited financial resources. It was recommended that indigenous companies should adopt competitive marketing, functional structure and strategy, with five marketing divisions, competitive use of elements of marketing mix, and embark on the production of food and beverages for export.