Relationship between Formal Education and Marketing Strategies Implemented In Garment–Making Micro Enterprises in Nakuru, Kenya

Garment-making micro and small enterprises in Kenya face varied challenges in marketing their products. However, with proper training many people are able to take advantage of the market information and marketing opportunities that could improve their business ventures. The clothing industry in Kenya, is typified by a dynamic environment and tough competition caused mainly by the second-hand (mitumba) clothes, trade liberalization and increasing globalization. Such an environment will require an individual who is able to scan the market in-order to offer high value-added products. This requires training in the relevant skills to enable an entrepreneur formulate and implement sound marketing strategies that are critical to their business survival and growth. Education is thus critical in obtaining the information required. However, there is limited research that has looked at the relationship between the formal education level of the entrepreneurs and the type of marketing strategies that are implemented by garment-making micro and small enterprises in Kenya. This paper aimed at determining the relationship between the various marketing strategies used and the education level of the entrepreneurs in the garment-making businesses. The study used ex-post facto design targeting garment-making enterprises that had 0-10 employees in Nakuru town. The data collection instrument was a questionnaire containing closed and open ended questions. Principal component analysis and Pearson Product Moment correlation (r) were used to identify the various marketing strategies and to test the hypothesis that there was no relationship between the marketing strategies embraced by garment-making micro-enterprises and the level of education of the enterprise owners. A major conclusion is that there was a negative significant relationship between education level and the implementing of e-marketing