Strategic And Marketing Planning For Managers Competitive Advantages In Selected Cement Manufacturing Companies In Kenya

ABSTRACT

Cement production and consumption in Africa is on the upward trend. In Kenya, it

increased from estimated at about 1.2 million metric tonnes in 2003 to about 3.2

million metric tones in 2008. This has attracted new entrants form across the globe.

The three cement manufacturers in Kenya have indicated intentions to expand

production capacities to meet the growing demand in the East African region.

Challenges like power/electricity, environmental and conservancy issues, limited

research, transport cost, high cost of clinker have made the price of local cement to

be high compared to cheap import from Egypt, South Africa and Pakistan. The

mangers therefore need to strive to achieve competitive advantage to keep afloat.

The purpose of this study was establishing the strategic responses by the

management of cement manufacturing companies or firms in Kenya. The study

objectives were establishing the availability of resources, the utilization of the

resources and other factors that lead to competitive positioning as employed by

three cement companies in Kenya for competitive advantage. The study examined

the levels of effectiveness of strategic market planning and the managers

competitive advantage in selected cement manufacturing firms as well as the

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the firms under study in

relation to the interplay of the firms resources, capabilities and competencies. This

was guided by Michael E. Porter's Five Forces of Competitive Position Model. The

study was a descriptive survey of three companies. A comprehensive questionnaire

with Likert type of rating questions capturing different strategies was constructed

and used for data collection. The instrument was validated by departmental staff

while its reliability was 0.86 on Cronbach alpha. The data was analysed descriptively

using SPSS. The findings were that the resources were availed but not to the

expected level. Most resources - main plant machinery, company transport for

employees, buildings and offices for had Means of 3.00 out of 4.00. Others like -

space for workers, company academic/ learning institutions, Health center, office

furniture, sports ground - had even been given less attention with means of less

than 2.5 out of 4.00. The companies, however did well in availing the right

personnel to key departments like management, sales and marketing personnel,

engineering - in some cases doing a mean of 3.67 out of 4.00. On the extent of

utilization of availed resource, the study established that all the resources were well

utilized (mean rates of 3.67 out of 4.00). Finally several factors: the location of the

company; ultra modern state of plant; Product branding strategies, Community

support and CSR packages and multidirectional communication were considered to

leverage market advantage. The companies used ultra modern and state of art

plant and technology to gain a strategic position as a market leader in the cement

industry. The researcher recommends that the plants operate for 24 hours by

having three shifts of eight hours each, improve their market position by ensuring

that the employees are highly motivated by provided transport to all employees

regardless of the position in the company.