STRATEGIC RESPONSE ON THE COMPETITIVENESS OF PAY TV COMPANIES IN KENYA
James Karamu Rasugu - Master’s Student, Department of Business Administration, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
Dr. Enos Anene - Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya
ABSTRACT
The competitiveness of Pay TV companies in any market depends largely on their strategic responses to various market dynamics, including technology adoption, market alliances, cost leadership strategies, and customer responsiveness. The Pay TV industry operating in Kenya must overcome distinctive market obstacles. The main goal of this research examined how strategic responses impact pay TV company competitiveness within the Kenyan market. The research aimed to establish how technology adoption and market alliances and cost leadership strategies and customer responsiveness affect Pay TV company competitiveness in Kenya. This research used Innovation Diffusion Theory along with Strategic Alliance Theory and Porter's Five Forces Framework and The Service Quality Model as its theoretical framework. The research employed a descriptive design to conduct its study. Pay TV companies operating in Kenya including Multichoice Kenya (DStv and GOtv), Azam TV, Zuku TV, StarTimes Media Kenya, and Canal+ (CAK, 2021) made up a total of 257 executive team members and key decision-makers who served as the target population. The research study included 156 executive team members and key decision-makers who comprised the participant sample. The research utilized quantitative data collection procedures for numerical analysis of information. Questionnaires with a structured format functioned as the main data collection instrument for gathering quantitative information. A pilot research group consisting of 16 executive team members alongside key decision-makers from the target population evaluated the research instruments through a pilot study. The research methodology combined both quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis. Content analysis provided the method for qualitative data analysis by establishing categories from open-ended question responses which revealed emerging themes. The research analysis employed descriptive statistics that included means and standard deviation alongside percentages and frequency data. Additionally, inferential statistics applied correlation and multiple regression analysis. The researchers conducted their data analysis through SPSS version 24 as their designated statistical tool. Pay TV companies in Kenya experience 41% (R² = 0.41) of competitive variation because Technology Adoption, Market Alliances, Cost Leadership Strategies, and Customer Responsiveness create substantial impacts on their competitiveness. Technology Adoption demonstrated the strongest effect on competitiveness with a standardized beta coefficient value of 0.355 (p = 0.000) while Customer Responsiveness followed with β = 0.252 (p = 0.011) and Cost Leadership Strategies had β = 0.090 (p = 0.007) and Market Alliances yielded β = 0.073 (p = 0.013). The research suggests Pay TV providers should spend their resources on developing and utilizing advanced technological solutions to boost operational performance and service quality and improve customer satisfaction levels. Market alliances which maintain effectiveness enable businesses to increase market penetration while sharing vital resources thus creating a competitive advantage. Companies should adopt efficient cost management systems to keep their pricing competitive and maintain profitability levels. The enhancement of competitiveness requires organizations to focus on customer service and responsiveness in addition to being attentive and responsive to customer needs.