An Evaluation Of Product Diversification As A Survival Strategy. A Case Of Comhold Services

ABSTRACT

This research sought to evaluate product diversification as a survival strategy, using a case of

Comhold Services.Chapter one has the background of the study the research objectives, the

significance of the study, limitations, delimitations and definition of key terms. The

objectives were to evaluate if diversification can be relied upon as a survival strategy, to

determine the impact of related diversification on company profitability and to determine the

impact of unrelated diversification on company profitability. These objectives were aligned

with the research questions to answer the core issues. Major thoughts, ideas and concepts of

different scholars were reviewed using books, previous thesis included text books, electronic

journals and Comhold company records. The concepts and thoughts of these scholars were of

much help in completing this research study as the researcher managed to identify knowledge

gaps and close them using the ideas of other authors. The researcher compared and contrasted

the contributions of various authors to find points of convergence and divergence.Exploratory

and descriptive researches were both used to carry out the research. The target population of

the research was management; employees and customers of Comhold Services specifically in

Harare,and the research instruments used were questionnaires and interviews.The researcher

used a sample size of 30 respondents. While Microsoft Excel was used to analyse quantitative

data, content analysis and thematic were used to analyze qualitative data. The data collected

from these research instruments were presented, analyzed and interpreted from the data

presentation techniques pie chart, bar graphs and tables for easy drawing of conclusions. The

conclusions drawn from the findings are: Diversification indicates to be effective as a

survival strategy. Therefore the researcher recommends its adoption in a harsh economic

environment. The researcher also recommends that a similar study be carried out evaluate the

effectiveness of other survival strategies on a company in a different industry.