CONTRIBUTION OF COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES TO SUSTAINABLE COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE OF EQUITY BANK KENYA LIMITED.

High competition in the banking industry is forcing Banks and other financial institutions to develop appropriate strategies for sustainable competitive advantage. Implementation of competitive strategies will enable financial institutions to remain relevant and competent in the current dynamic market. Because of this, this study focused on analysis of the contribution of competitive strategies to the sustainable competitive advantage of Equity Bank Kenya Limited. The independent variables are innovation strategy, cost leadership strategy, focus strategy and differentiation strategy. The dependent variable is the sustainable competitive advantage of Equity Bank Kenya Limited. The study used a descriptive research design and the target population was the 173 Equity Bank branches across Kenya but the researcher analyzed the 38 Equity Bank branches within Nairobi County. The research sample comprised 377 respondents selected from the 38 branches using stratified sampling technique. The research study made use of both primary and secondary sources of data. The researcher conducted descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze data i.e. central tendency measures (mean and standard deviation). Correlation and regression coefficients were used to establish the relationship between competitive strategies and the resultant sustainable competitive advantage of Equity Bank Kenya Limited. The researcher used (SPSS V 20.0) which is a Statistical Package for Social Sciences software, to generate statistics. The findings were presented in form of percentages, tables, charts and graphs. The researcher assured the respondents that the information was required for research purposes only and thus ensured privacy, integrity and confidentiality. The study found out that innovation strategy and sustainable competitive advantage are positively and significantly associated (r=0.182, p=0.001). Differentiation strategy and sustainable competitive advantage are positively and significantly related (r=0.166, p=0.001). It was further established that cost leadership strategy and sustainable competitive advantage were positively and significantly related (r=0.085, p=0.034). Similarly, results showed that focus strategy and sustainable competitive advantage were positively but insignificantly associated (r=0.116, p=0.055). The study concluded that innovation strategy, cost leadership strategy and differentiation strategy have a positive and significant effect on the sustainable competitive advantage of Equity Bank Kenya Limited, while focus strategy has positive but insignificant effect on the sustainable competitive advantage of Equity Bank Kenya Limited. The study recommends that to accomplish the mission and objectives of Equity bank in the light of growth and profitability, the management will need to have a positive rethink towards the use of strategic management. The research findings will be resourceful to policy makers in financial institutions to recognize and fill the existing gaps in the industry. The information will also be useful to academicians as a reference source in their various studies as additional empirical and theoretical literature on competitive advantage. The findings will be useful to financial institutions as a source of information for policy formulation and in understanding of the external environment thus they will be empowered to develop and implement appropriate strategies for sustainable competitive advantage