DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AND STRATEGIC POSITIONING OF BEVERAGE FIRMS IN SOUTH-EAST, NIGERIA

Abstract

The Beverage industry is confronted with disruptive effects of rapid technological advancement and dynamic market conditions, understanding the factors that improve strategic positioning becomes imperative. This study examines the effect of digital transformation on strategic positioning of beverage firms in South-East, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to determine the effect of data analytics, leadership commitment and ecosystem partnerships on the selling proposition of beverage firms in South-East, Nigeria. This study adopts a descriptive research design. A sample size of 385 respondents was selected from a population of 10,384 employees of five selected beverage firms in Southeast Nigeria. Primary data were collected using structured questionnaire. The research questions were analyzed using frequency distribution while the hypotheses were tested using linear regression analysis. The result revealed that: data analytics has a positive and significant effect on selling proposition of beverage firms in South-East Nigeria (β = 0.436, p = 0.000); leadership commitment has a positive and significant effect on selling proposition of beverage firms in South-East Nigeria (β = 0.442, p = 0.000); ecosystem partnership has a positive but statistically insignificant effect on selling proposition of brewery firms in Southeast Nigeria (β = 0.025, p = 0.534). The study concluded that, internal capabilities particularly data analytics and leadership commitment significantly shape the selling proposition of beverage firms in South-East Nigeria, while ecosystem partnerships currently exert minimal influence. The study therefore recommended that Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) in beverage firms should institutionalize the integration of advanced data analytics systems across all marketing and sales operations to enable data-driven hints that improve product positioning, customer targeting, and competitive value delivery, thereby enhancing their overall selling proposition.