IMPACT OF MARKETING STRATEGIES ON SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN MINNA METROPOLIS

Abstract

ABSTRACT Manufacturing firms are key initiators of innovation and economic growth but fail in attempt to gain sustainable competitive advantage. Achieving competitive advantage in any organization through various marketing strategies is pertinent to achieving organizational success. This study therefore examines the impact of marketing strategies on sustainable competitive advantage of manufacturing firms in Minna metropolis. Cost leadership, product differentiation and market segmentation were used as the variable of marketing strategies while sustained sales growth and sustained higher market share was used as a measure of sustainable competitive advantage. The study exclusively makes use of quantitative approach using the survey research method. Structured questionnaire was used to gather information from sample size of one hundred and eighteen (118) operating registered manufacturing firms using purposive sampling. In analyzing the data, descriptive statistics was used to examine general pattern and characteristics of the respondent demographic data while multiple linear regression was used to measure the impact of marketing strategies on sustainable competitive advantage by determining the relationship between both variables. The descriptive analysis showed that 75.9% of the survey respondents were male with a mean age of 40 years. Approximately 62% of the survey respondents were graduates and majority of the survey respondents (39.3%) have start a manufacturing business because of the interest and passion they have in it. Regression analysis summary model revealed a positive relationship between marketing strategies and sustainable competitive advantage with r value of, 0.473, r2 value of 0.224, F value of 10.368 and significant at 0.000. The findings further revealed that product differentiation and market segmentation have positive significant relationship with sustainable competitive advantage. The study recommends that owners and managers of manufacturing firms should put in place effective marketing strategies in their business model and should particularly focus on product differentiation and market segmentation in order to help them gain sustainable competitive advantage over their competitors.