How the use of Product Value Innovation can assist Companies to achieve Financial Performance. The Study of Brick Manufacturing Companies in Lesotho

Master's Thesis from the year 2018 in the subject Business economics - Miscellaneous, grade: good (3,4 Points), , course: International Master of Business Administration-International Business Management, language: English, abstract: The value-innovation, which is the "Blue Ocean Strategy", is the approach for companies to remain in operation with the sustained demand for their products. It was discovered that this strategy can help the manufacturing companies turn their competitors irrelevant without compromising quality. It is for this reason that Lesotho brick manufacturing companies should adopt a value-innovation strategy, which further will help them gain competitive advantage by adding value to customers' needs and reducing costs.

For the purpose of this study, the focus was based on product value-innovation looking into how core, formal and augmented product value-innovation affected the financial performance of the brick manufacturing companies in Lesotho. The study further identifies factors influencing financial performance and value-innovation within manufacturing companies in Lesotho in order to find the best possible stratagems that can be applied to meet the customer value and lower product cost, with the intention to induce buying.

This study adopted explanatory research design in which a population of 125 employees in the brick manufacturing companies from the four districts of Lesotho, namely Leribe, Botha-Bothe, Berea and Maseru. The study used census method because all the employees were included in the survey to respond to the questionnaire.

Data was collected using research structured questionnaires and secondary data was obtained from 2016 annual financial statements of different companies from the four districts. The data were then analyzed with the help of an Econometric data analysis tool called Eviews 9.5 to estimate a multiple regression model. This study selected ROA out of the three profitability ratios to investigate the relationship between product value-innovation and financial performance because the ratio incorporates information of both profitability and efficiency.