Influence of Differentiation Strategy on Organizational Performance in Private Security Firms in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Abstract

Globally, security challenges have been immensely cited as one of the greatest obstacles to safety of mankind, investment and environmental serenity. It is against this backdrop that governments all over, are coming up with mitigating measures to ameliorate the adverse situations that arise due to insecurity, such as; creating a conducive business environment for private security firms to compete fairly amongst themselves. There have been challenges of keeping private security firms afloat in business as others had been founded but went under because they could not withstand harsh business competition. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of Differentiation Strategy on Organizational Performance in Pscs in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. The study was be guided by three theories; Porter’s Generic Competitive Strategies theory, Contingency theory and Resource-Based View theory. A simple and stratified sampling technique was adopted besides using Taro Yamane (1967) formula to calculate the sample size besides considering a non-response rate of 15% ending up with a sample size of 174 respondents from the target population of 234. Use of questionnaires was adopted as a data collection instrument. In order to determine the Validity of these instruments, consultations with supervisors in this field was greatly utilized. Reliability of data collection instrument was determined by using Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient, the acceptable standard for Alpha 0.7 and above. Data Analysis was carried out using Descriptive Analysis (frequencies, percentages, mean and standard deviation), which was then be presented in tables and charts. Additionally, the data was analyzed using Inferential Analysis (multiple regression). The findings showed that the combined influence of Competitive Strategies on Organizational Performance of the private security firms in Uasin Gishu County was significantly greater than the separate effect the Competitive Strategies on Organizational Performance of the private security firms. Thus, Differentiation Strategy, Cost Leadership Strategy, Customer Focus Strategy, Responsiveness Strategy had a synergistic effect on organizational Performance of the private security firms in Uasin Gishu County. This implies that the strategic bundling of these Competitive Strategies remains a strategic pillar for competitiveness and firm performance. The researcher recommended the main objective for security firms implementing a differentiation strategy is to increase their competitive advantage. Business ventures must capitalize on distinct and unique products and services they offer to customers as the basis for establishing their competitive advantage. There is therefore a need for them to continuously analyze their individual strengths and weaknesses, their customers’ needs and expectations and the overall value they can provide because of dynamic nature of the business environments. As much as majority of private security firms have focused on ethical customer service through enhanced staff ethics, there is still a need for them to strengthen this so as to meet and exceed customers’ expectations. Security firms are under obligation to continuously make sure that all their employees understand the game plan and high stakes of providing excellent service to help attract and retain their customers. PSCs should invest in employee training in order to enhance employee capacity on top of investing in the current technology systems such as customer relationship management system.