INNOVATION AND COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN NIGERIA'S DEREGULATED DOWNSTREAM SECTOR OF OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

S. E. IFERE; S. O. ANYAOGU

S. E. IFERE Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria
S. O. ANYAOGU Unilag Business School, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria

Keywords: Deregulation, competitive advantage, process innovation, marketing innovation, business process innovation

Abstract

The Deregulation of Nigeria’s Downstream sector has given birth to a new era of opportunities and challenges for the oil and gas industry in the country. This paper explores the relationship between innovation and competitive advantage in Nigeria’s deregulated downstream oil and gas sector. The study adopted survey research design and used questionnaire to generate data from 81 senior management employees of twenty downstream companies operating in Lagos. Descriptive statistics of means and standard deviations were used to identify the relationship between the independent and dependent variables on the basis of key players’ opinion. The study shows a positive relationship between process innovation, marketing innovation and business model innovation and competitive advantage, with marketing innovation indicating the strongest effect. This outcome suggest that the adoption of process innovation, marketing innovation, and business model innovation can significantly boost the performance of firms operating in Nigeria's downstream oil and gas subsector under deregulation and generate competitive advantage. The study therefore recommends that firms operating in the sector, under the deregulation regime, should foster a culture of innovation and prioritise marketing innovation, in addition to process innovation and business model innovation, to enable them generates competitive advantage.