Firm Resources and Competitive Advantage of Meetings, Incentives, Conference and Exhibitions in Kenya

Studies have investigated the effect of firm resources on the management of firms, with very little being done on the attractiveness of Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibition (MICE) destinations. This study aims to examine how firm resources influence competitiveness of MICE destinations in Kenya. Tangible and intangible assets are the two main categorization of firm resources used for this study, with tangible assets being characterized by brand reputation, innovation and facilities and equipment, while tangible assets being characterized by technology, location and access to financial resources characterized intangible and tangible resources respectively Resource-Based View theory was adopted as the theoretical foundation of the study, as it analyses MICE destination as a bundle or resources which creates value that can never be imitated by competitors. The study applied explanatory research design anchored on positivist philosophical paradigm and the target population was 496 MICE establishments in Nairobi and South-Rift circuits. Purposive sampling technique was used to obtain a sample of 107 MICE establishments. Data collection was through closed-ended questionnaires, with marketing/or operations managers. Data was analysed through descriptive and inferential statistics. Study hypotheses were tested using F-statistic and t-statistics. Findings showed that tangible assets had no significant effect on competitiveness while intangible assets had a significant direct effect on competitiveness. Intangible assets were significant in determining competitive advantage of MICE establishment implying that they need to capitalize more on intangible assets as opposed to tangible assets. The study also confirms the falsifiability of RBV theory as regards tangible assets and therefore recommends exploring other theories to understand how tangible assets affect competitive advantage.