Abstract:
The current business structures are characterized by competitive dynamics as firms struggle each day to offer products that are suited to fill the market niche. Every organization is a pool of capabilities and resources that determine strategies and performance of an organization. The desire of firms to increase capacity and capitalize on emerging opportunities depends on sound strategizing and the ability to check on the internal capability as it is more advantageous to evaluate the implemented strategies. Kenya’s betting industry currently plays a significant role in the economic growth and has continued to register continued growth. Given the competitive nature of the betting industry, the firms has to monitor their strategies in terms of predominance performance and responses to increase market share, increased profitability, improved market performance and improved product quality. The study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the strategies that betting firms have adopted for competitive advantage and performance. The study used a survey research design of seven betting firms that form the industry which are licensed to operate in Kenya targeting 105 employees from the middle level managers and the top level managers. A census of 105 employees was conducted on the betting company. The research employed a survey research design. Data was collected through the use of a self-administered questionnaire: coded and analyzed through the use of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). The Data was then displayed in tables. From the results, the main strategies that are mainly used by betting firms are differentiation strategy, cost leadership strategy and innovation strategy. Findings showed that there was relationship between differentiation strategies on business performance where Chi square (X2) was (0.00 ≤ .05). It was further established that there was an association between product innovation strategy and business performance Chi square (X2) was (0.00 ≤ .05). Cost leadership strategies had influenced business performance Chi square (X2) was (0.00 ≤ .05) and finally focus strategy did not contribute to business performance at coefficient index Chi square (X2) was (0.00 ≤ .05).The study concluded that strategies improved the overall performance of the firms. The performance indicators that the strategies affected were: profitability, market performance, market share and product quality. This study recommends continuous monitoring of markets and firms to invest more on innovation so as to gain customer loyalty also the betting minimum amounts should be set at lowest possible as this will have a tendency to attract more customers. Recommendation for further research more research needs to be carried out on competitive strategies adopted other organizations such as financial institutions to allow for comparison of findings.
