Corporate Competitive Practices and Performance of Leading Tea Brands in Kenya

Corporate competitive practices are deliberate strategic choices through which firms enhance efficiency, competitiveness and performance in dynamic markets. In Kenya’s tea industry, which remains a leading source of export earnings and rural livelihoods, leading brands operating under broadly similar strategic frameworks continue to record uneven profitability, fluctuating market shares and varying levels of customer loyalty. This study examined the influence of corporate competitive practices on the performance of leading tea brands in Kenya. Specifically, it assessed the influence of growth and expansion, integration and diversification, stability and renewal, and restructuring practices on brand performance. The study was anchored on Porter’s Generic Competitive Strategies Theory, the Weber–Fechner Law and Ansoff’s Growth Strategy Theory. An explanatory research design was adopted. A census of the 10 leading tea brands in Kenya was undertaken, while purposive sampling was used to select 80 senior and middle-level managers and supervisors as respondents. Primary data were collected using a structured, pre-tested questionnaire, of which 71 were returned (88.75% response rate), and analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation and multiple regression. The four practices jointly explained 46.5% of the variation in brand performance (R² = 0.465; F(4, 66) = 14.354, p < 0.001). Integration and diversification had the strongest influence (β = 0.385, p = 0.001), followed by stability and renewal (β = 0.285, p = 0.008), growth and expansion (β = 0.215, p = 0.029) and restructuring (β = 0.159, p = 0.035); all four null hypotheses were therefore rejected. Gaps were nonetheless observed in technology adoption, perceived product quality, regional customization, customer loyalty and geographic expansion. The study concludes that sustained tea brand performance requires an integrated strategic approach that combines operational efficiency, differentiation, customer responsiveness and selective diversification. It recommends investment in automation and digital systems, product innovation and quality assurance, regional customization and loyalty programmes, and geographic expansion guided by market potential, profitability and resource availability.