Effect of Competitive Strategies on Performance of Uber Online Taxi Firm in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of competitive strategies on the performance of Uber Online Taxi Firm in Nairobi, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were: to examine how leadership, differentiation, and focus strategies influence the performance of Uber. The study was very significant to the top management of uber, the government, the partners/drivers and other researchers. The study was anchored on the following theories: Porter’s generic strategies model, resource-based view theory, and resource dependence theory. The study took a descriptive research design and the target population was composed of 130 operators; sampling size was the same as target population as a complete census was preferred. The study used a semi-structured questionnaire that was administered to each member of the population. Out of the 130 questionnaires administered only 91 questionnaires were filled by respondents. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for data analysis. Regression analysis was used to test the relationship between performance and the independent variables. Quantitative data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the quantitative data where descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviation, frequencies and percentages were used to describe the data. The variables used in the study included low cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy and focus strategy which significantly influenced the organizational performance of Uber Online Taxi Firm. The study recommended that Uber should embrace cost leadership, differentiation and focus strategies in their operations since they will enable the firm attain competitive advantage over their rivals such as Taxify and Little Cab.