Benue State University, Makurdi

A Theoretical Framework for Petroleum Deregulation and Positioning Strategies for the small Firm in Benue State

A.P. Epor

Abstract

One of the far-reaching economic policies of the present administration is petroleum products deregulation. Petroleum products deregulation is essentially, the removal of government controls over their ownership and pricing. The obvious implication is that prices of petroleum products have skyrocketed out of the comfort of small and even big firms.

The small firms in Benue State are suffering and will continue to suffer from the resultant declining growth and profitability unless they adopt appropriate positioning strategies. Positioning refers to the unique place in the mind of the consumer where a product occupies relative to competition in the same market.

Three positioning and repositioning strategies can be adopted by the small firm in Benue State to turn around its fortune. First, reinforcement positioning strategy is for new product or products that are doing well. In this case current marketing programmes will continue to be adopted. Second, incremental repositioning strategy is a situation where customer's wants are changing or are expected to change. This calls for slight appropriate modifications in marketing programmes. Thirdly, radical repositioning is where the current positions has become far from the target market. This calls for appropriate major marketing programme modifications.

If these positioning and repositioning strategies are appropriately adopted, it is the position of this paper that the small firm in Benue State will not only stay afloat and sustain itself, but grow into profitability.

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