The Assessment on Marketing Strategies of Small and Medium Enterprises In Dire-Dawa, Ethiopia

The aim of this study was to assess the marketing strategies of small and medium enterprises in Dire-dawa, Ethiopia. The study was guided by four research objectives namely: to assess product strategies of small and medium enterprises, to assess the pricing strategies of small and medium enterprises, to assess promotional strategies of small and medium enterprises, to examine the place strategies of small and medium enterprises. The researcher adopted descriptive research survey approach with quantitative research method for collecting and analyzing the data. The study’s target population were manufacturing small and medium enterprise managers operating at Dire-dawa, Ethiopia. The population of the study consisted of a total of 132 manufacturing small and medium enterprise managers. The researcher used stratified random sampling in identifying the 99 research respondents who formed the sample size. Questionnaire with closed ended questions was used for data collection. Frequency, mean, standard deviations were used to analyze the data. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 23.0). The study found that product strategy, pricing strategy and promotion marketing strategies of small and medium enterprises in Dire-dawa was moderately practiced. On the other hand, the study found out that place marketing strategy of small and medium enterprises in Dire-dawa was assessed as fairly satisfactory. The study concluded that marketing strategies used by small and medium enterprises in Dire-dawa as moderate. The study recommends that small and medium enterprises should continue developing and testing their products, should adopt market orientation pricing strategies and use promotions to target different segments of customers. Lastly, the study recommends small and medium enterprises should have distribution channels and retail stores to be accessed by customers to increase product availability.