Innovative Distribution Strategies And Performance Of Selected Multinational Corporations (Mncs) And Domestic Manufacturing Firms In Nigeria

ABSTRACT Innovation reflects the tendency of a firm to enhance, appreciate and acquire new ideas, novelty, experimentation and the creative processes that may result in new products, services or technological processes. This study attempts to examine the impact of innovative distribution strategies on performance of the firms (MNC’s and DE’s) in Lagos industrial areas. The work examined the relationship between the production capacity, market share, possible return on investment, profitability as resulting from IDS of both DE’s and MNC’s. Globally, many firms have been found not to be adequately innovative and there is a wide gap between firms in sub-Saharan Africa and their counterparts elsewhere. To do this, firms need to develop the capability to manage technological change, the development of new processes and design. The study in its descriptive nature, adopts a cross-sectional survey design. One hundred and seventy-five participants were randomly selected from six multinational and indigenous firms. Five hypotheses were stated and tested. The findings revealed that the sales turnover of multinational corporations (MNCs) with high level IDS and domestic enterprises (DEs) with low level of innovative distribution strategies is significantly different at t= 68.442, df= 89 and >0.05.And that, Innovative distribution teams/ strategies adopted by MNCs and DEs when compared and analyzed have a significant effect in predicting annual overall profitability at F (1,174)= 13.086. The findings also reveal that there is a significant effect of IDS of MNCs and DEs on their capacity to increase market shares at F(1,174)= 18.237 and there is positive relationship between the obstructive distribution parameter confronted by MNCs and DEs on their annual sales turnover to distribution mix and internal channel management. The study revealed that MNCs because of their size, sophisticated distribution strategies and channels, were able to be more innovative than indigenous firms and thus achieve better performance. The innovation decision - making process model rating scale developed by the researcher, is a contribution to knowledge.