Our Archives
- Accounting 745
- Accounting Education 12
- Actuarial Science 5
- Adult Education 11
- African Languages 4
- Agricultural Business And Financial Management 5
- Agricultural Economics 17
- Agricultural Engineering 3
- Agricultural Extension 3
- Agricultural Marketing And Cooperatives 11
- Agricultural Science 3
- Agricultural Science Education 1
- Agronomy 1
- Anatomy 1
- Animal Production 3
- Animal Science 5
- Archaeology And Museum 2
- Architecture 4
- Atmospheric And Environmental Physics 2
- Auditing And Forensic Accounting 9
- Banking And Finance 549
- Biochemistry 3
- Biology 2
- Biology Education 16
- Biomathematics 2
- Botany 3
- Brewing Science 5
- Building Technology 17
- Business Administration 476
- Business Education 18
- Business Management 33
- Chemical Engineering 4
- Chemistry 6
- Chemistry Education 6
- Child & Basic Education 14
- Child Right 3
- Civil Engineering 8
- Clothing And Fashion 1
- Commerce 10
- Communication Arts 7
- Computer Science 231
- Computer Science Education 17
- Cooperative And Rural Development 4
- Cooperative Economics 24
- Criminology And Security Studies 22
- Crop Production 9
- Crop Science And Environmental Protection 3
- Curriculum Studies 5
- Defence Studies 7
- Disaster & Risk Management 6
- Economics 362
- Economics Education 14
- Education 2182
- Education Foundation 18
- Education Management And Policy 4
- Educational Administration And Planning 9
- Educational Measurement And Evaluation 5
- Electrical Electronics Engineering 12
- Electronic Accounting 17
- Elementary Education 2
- Energy Economics 4
- English Language Education 16
- English Literary Studies 27
- Environmental Biology 2
- Environmental Geochemistry 1
- Environmental Geology 2
- Environmental Science 9
- Estate Management 44
- Ethics And Civic Education 2
- Fine & Applied Arts 5
- Fisheries And Aquaculture 2
- Food And Nutrition 3
- Food Science & Technology 21
- Forestry And Wildlife 2
- French 22
- French Education 4
- Gender And Women Studies 5
- Genetics And Biotechnology 1
- Geography 2
- Geography Education 4
- Geology 5
- Geophysics 1
- Guidance Counseling 12
- Health & Sex Education 5
- Health Economics 8
- Health Education 50
- Health Environmental Education And Human Kinetics 6
- Health Information Management 7
- History & International Relations 31
- Home And Rural Economics 7
- Home Economics 5
- Hospitality And Catering Management 11
- Human Resource Management 268
- Human Right 1
- Hydrogeology 3
- Industrial Chemistry 8
- Industrial Mathematics 1
- Industrial Physics 1
- Information Technology 17
- Insurance 16
- Integrated Science Education 8
- International Affairs And Strategic Studies 6
- International Law And Diplomacy 24
- Islamic And Arabic Studies 3
- Journalism 8
- Law 16
- Library And Information Science 5
- Linguistics 2
- Marine And Transport 3
- Marine Biology 1
- Marine Engineering 4
- Marketing 152
- Mass Communication 288
- Mathematical Economics 2
- Mathematics 15
- Mathematics Education 10
- Mba Finance 8
- Mechanical Engineering 6
- Medical And Health Science 13
- Medicine And Surgery 2
- Microbiology 17
- Music 4
- Nursing 12
- Office Technology & Management 11
- Petroleum Engineering 4
- Pharmacy 3
- Philosophy 38
- Physics 21
- Physics Education 11
- Political Science 128
- Primary Science Education 2
- Production And Management 1
- Project Management 1
- Psychology 12
- Psychology Education 5
- Public Administration 35
- Public Health 29
- Public Relations 12
- Purchasing And Supply 11
- Pure And Applied Chemistry 1
- Quantity Surveying 13
- Radiography And Radiological Sciences 5
- Religious And Cultural Studies 7
- Science And Computer Education 7
- Science Laboratory And Technology 14
- Secretarial Studies 9
- Smes & Entrepreneurship 145
- Social Science And Humanities 1
- Social Studies Education 8
- Sociology And Anthropology 24
- Soil Science 3
- Sports 1
- Staff Development And Distance Education 4
- Statistics 36
- Surveying And Geo-informatics 3
- Taxation 64
- Teacher Education 8
- Technical Education 1
- Theatre Arts 4
- Theology 17
- Tourism And Hospitality Management 56
- Urban & Regional Planning 13
- Veterinary 1
- Vocational Education 17
- Zoology 4
- MBA-MSC-PGD Thesis research materials
- Click Here For More Departments »
Call 09159097300, or 09067754232 for any enquiries.
Project Topic:
PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION AND SALES PERFORMANCE OF AN ORGANISATION (A CASE STUDY OF GLOBACOM TELECOMMUNICATIONS)
Project Information:
Project Body:
ABSTRACT
The study product differentiation and sales performance of an organisation aimed to determine the extent to which Product quality influences Sales performance in Globacom, to ascertain the extent to which Product design influences Sales performance an organization, to examine how product superiority enhances sales performance an organisationin Nigeria, to ascertain the challenges of child right Act in Nigeria. The study made use of the Regression analysis for the validation of the research hypothesis method for the analysis. The study therefore concluded that 􀂳there is no significant relationship between product differentiation adopted by telecommunications and sales performance􀂴is. The study also made useful recommendation to assist the in decision making.
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
In an increasing competitive and dynamic business environment, every organization needs to identify, anticipate, satisfy and care for customers to maximize profit, meet the requirement of stakeholders and have competitive advantage. Every industry including bank has an underlying structure or a set of fundamental economic and technical characteristics which give rise to competitive forces. A firm can clearly improve or erode its position within an industry through its choice of strategy. Competitive strategy, then, not only responds to the environment but also attempts to shape the environment in its favour (Porter, 2005). The strategist must therefore seek to position his or her firm to cope best within its industry environment or to influence that environment in the firm’s favour.
Business strategy development is concerned with matching customers requirements (needs, wants, desires, preferences, buying patterns) with the capabilities of the organization, based on the skills and resources available to the business organization, leading to the issue of core competence (Holmes and Hooper, 2000). The pursuit of competitive advantage is at the root of organizational performance and as such understanding the source of sustained competitive advantage has become a major area of study in the field of strategic management (Porter, 2005, 2001; Barney, 2001). The resource-based view stipulates that the fundamental sources and drivers of competitive advantage and superior performance are chiefly associated with the attributes of resources and capabilities, which are valuable (Barney, 2006; 2001).
Performance is associated with a firm’s results. Performance indicated the performance of organizations and revealed the outcome of business processes and accomplishments and the success of meeting established goals (Zhang & McCullough, 2005). Jouirou and Kalika (2004) measured organizational performance by a subjective way including cost reduction, customer satisfaction, improved production, and the ability to innovate. Wu (2001) used efficiency, sale performance, customer satisfaction and relationship development to measure of firm performance.
Furthermore, the resource-based view provides an avenue for organizations to plan and execute their organizational strategy by examining the role of their internal resources and capabilities in achieving competitive advantage. Product differentiation is a positioning strategy that many firms use to distinguish their products from those of competitors. (Lamb, Hair, and McDaniel 2004).Product differentiation is pervasive in markets. It is at the heart of structural empiricism and it smoothes jagged behavior that cause paradoxical outcomes in several theoretical models. Firms differentiate their products to avoid ruinous price competition. Representative consumer, discrete choice, and location models are not necessarily inconsistent, but performance depends crucially on the degree of location of competition. With (symmetric) global competition, rents are typically small and market variety near optimal. With local competition, profits may be protected because entrants must find profitable niches (Anderson 2002).
A company's physical product offering may be highly differentiated on features not provided by competitors in the same industry, some also differentiate their product on performance with basis on power, professional credibility etc. on the other hand companies may differentiate their physical product on attributes such as innovation, consistency, durability, reliability and reparability. In addition to differentiating the physical product, the image of the product can also be differentiated. The established image should convey a singular and distinguished message that will communicate the product’s main benefit and positioning.
Pearce and Robinson (2005) aver that differentiation strategies are based on providing buyers with something that is different or unique, that makes the company’s strategic positioning, product or service distinct from that of its rivals. Superior value is created because the product is of higher quality, is technically superior in some way, comes with superior service, or has a special appeal in some perceived way. In effect, differentiation builds competitive advantage by making customers more loyal - and less price-sensitive-to a given firm’s product/service. Additionally, consumers are less likely to search for other alternative products once they are satisfied. Hernant, Mikael and Thomas (2007).
Some of the differentiation strategies adopted by organizations to foster sales performance evolve around interplay of various elements of the retail mix. These include: offering quality products, wide selection, assortment, strategic positioning, after-sales-service, quality service, convenient location, parking space, attractive design and layout, conducive atmosphere, sales incentives, convenient operating hours, own branding/value addition and a one-stop-shop. Carpenter and Moore (2006). Economically valuable bases of product differentiation can enable
a firm to increase its revenues, neutralize threats and exploit opportunities.
When emphasis is placed on activities such as research and development aimed at identifying and satisfying customer needs differentiation achieves the desired objective. To add to the above, the effect of differentiating a product may not necessarily be in terms of money or financial terms but also certain benefits that enhance the value creation process of the firm. As globalization leads to more intense competition among manufacturing organizations, with increase in customer demands, these organizations tend to seek competitive advantage by producing products with more valued features, such as product quality, product flexibility or reliable delivery (Baines and Langfield-Smith, 2003). As such, a differentiation strategy would provide greater scope for these organizations to produce products with more valued, desirable features as a means of coping with such demands. This research work therefore, focused on how competitive advantage can be achieved through product differentiation strategy and ultimately, how it influences the performance of the organization in the manufacturing company, using Unilever Nigeria Plc as a study.
1.2 Problem Statement
Despite the need for firms to differentiate their products in order to create and sustain competitive advantage and the fact that competitive forces in the organization are determined by the degree of differentiation, little effort seem to be made by firms in this industry to harness the benefits associated with differentiating their products .
Evans, (2005), view that the pace at which firms in Port Harcourt utilize product differentiation strategies to insulate their firms against competitors and to enhance profitability seem to be relatively slow as compared to that of firms in other Industries. In order to find answers to these problems, this study is to investigate or to determine whether or not there exists a relationship between sales performance and Product differentiation of an organisation
1.3 Purpose of the study
The purpose of the study will determine product differentiation and sales performance an organisation. The Specific Objectives are as follows
1. To determine the extent to which Product quality influences Sales performance in Globacom.
2 To ascertain the extent to which Product design influences Sales performance an organisation.
3) To examine how product superiority enhances sales performance an organisation.
1.4 Research Questions
The following research questions have been formulated and will be answered at the completion of this work
i) To what extent does Product Quality enhances sales performance in Globacom?
ii) To what extent does Product Design enhances sales performance an organisation?
iii) To what extent does product superiority enhance sales performance an organisation?
1.5 Conceptual Framework
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS OF PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION AND SALES PERFORMANCE
SALES PERFORMANCE |
PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION |
Product Quality |
|
|
Repeat purchase |
Sales growth |
Product Design |
Product Superiority
|
Profitability |