ICT APPLICATION AS DRIVER OF PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION IN NIGERIAN ORGANISATIONS

Abstract

The study examined the influence of ICT applications on product differentiation in Nigerian organizations with a view of identifying the frequency of ICTs deployed, its influence on the companies’ product differentiation and challenges. Despite the efforts put in place by government and managements of organisations, globalization, market liberalization and information technology continued to influence customers’ tastes, preferences and brand consciousness such that customers demand for superior products and services at lower prices, which majority of the companies could not afford (Akpan, Ikon & Chukwunonye, 2016). This may be due to lack of production of varied products which suits consumers’ needs and there is limited studies on the influence of product differentiation of Nigerian organisations, hence this study. The study employed survey research design. The population of the study comprised 500 organisations that engaged in different types of business which ranged from production, processing organisations, building, furniture, electronics, textiles, food, drinks and Pharmautical products in Nigeria. The sample size of 222 was determined, using Taro Yamane’s formula. Simple random and stratified sampling technique was used to select 222 participating organisations for the study. Data was collected with structured and validated questionnaire. Cronbach’s Alpha reliability value for the construct was greater than 0.70 internal consistency and the response rate was 88%.

Findings showed that ICT applications had significant influence on product differentiation across the organisations since P value is < .05. There were variations in the availability and use of ICT applications for product differentiation across organisations of different sizes. It was also found that use of ICT applications has assisted to foster the designing of quality varied products and this was reported to be low in small organisations compared to medium and larger organisations. The research recommended that organizations should improve on product differentiation by adopting ICT applications that will support product development, designing and production of quality varied products, build their human capacity resources by investing in training of staff and organise intensive seminar, workshop and conferences on IT training. It is also recommended that government and managements of organisations should work on policy intervention that will create an ICT friendly environment to support the use of ICT applications for production of different brands of products to suit customers’ needs for enhanced competitive advantage