Product and Service Quality Capabilities and Market Performance of the Postal Corporation of Kenya in Western Region

Abstract

Postal Corporation of Kenya is experiencing challenges in achieving superior performance relative to its rivals. This is as a result of globalization, the ever-changing customer demands and preferences coupled with technological advancements that have dramatically changed the macroeconomic surroundings during the past few decades.This has been aggravated by liberalization which has allowed the entry of dynamic exclusively owned courier services into the business arena, where initially PCK had monopoly over. These dynamics of change have exerted a lot of pressure on many firms to develop strategies for survival and sustainability in the market place. Today, if a business has to be successful, it must have capacity to oversee and adapt to fast forward change by utilizing their internal resources also known as organizational capabilities to fight for survival of the firm. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of product & service quality capabilities on market performance of PCK in Western region. The study was guided by Resource Based View and Dynamic Capability Theories. A descriptive survey design was utilized on target population of 198 employees of PCK in the Western Region. Proportionate sampling was employed to select sixty respondents. Questionnaires were used to collect data. Cronbach's Alpha coefficient of 0.70 was used to test content validity and reliability. Content validity index obtained was 0.7508 while reliability coefficient was 0.738 implying that the research instruments were valid and reliable as the value was way above the recommended 0.7 in social sciences. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 20) was used in coding and analysing quantitative data. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools especially the frequency percentage, mean, standard deviation, correlation and regression analysis were used in the study. Findings of the study showed statistically positive and significant influence of product and service quality capability) on market performance of PCK in Western region. It was therefore concluded that product and service quality capability accounted for 73.4% (R² = 0.734; β₀=0.637; F _{(9, 42)} = 12.846; p=0.000) variations in the market performance of PCK. The study recommends that PCK should frequently undertake market surveys so as to offer products & services based on customers' preferences'.