MARKET PENETRATION AND GROWTH RATE OF SELECTED FOOD AND BEVERAGE FIRMS IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

The rapid pace of competition in today’s global business environment has prompted the need for food and beverage (F&B) firms around the world to come up with strategies on how best to improve performance through the provision of product varieties and the need for expansion through an increase in market share, productivity, and full utilization of resources at their disposal. Despite this, it is observed that there is a decline in the competitiveness of firms in the food and beverage sector in terms of poor growth rate, poor market efficiency, weak competitive advantage, and waning profitability. The study, therefore, focused on the effect of market penetration on growth rate of selected food and beverage firms in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study adopted a survey design, the population is given as 12, 495 regular employees of six selected F&B firms in Lagos State, Nigeria. The researcher advisor sampling table was used to select a sample size of 491 from the population while data was collected using a valid and reliable questionnaire with a Cronbach alpha value greater than 0.7. The data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential tools. Multiple Regression Analysis was used to determine the impact of the variables using the Statistical Package for Science Solutions (SPSS) version 24. The study finding revealed that market penetration has a significant effect on the growth rate (β = 0.932, t = 47.129, R2 = 0.835, p-value = <0.05. The study concludes that market penetration has a significant effect on growth rate of selected F&B firms in Lagos State, Nigeria. It is recommended that food and beverage firms should intensify efforts to ensure that the right strategies are adopted to help maintain and sustain their competitiveness.