ABSRACT

Organizations nowadays work in a dynamic and intensely competitive environment, and to stay ahead of the competition's trends, key market players are using a variety of strategic alternatives to drive development and gain an advantage over competitors. Depending on the strategies they employ to compete, food and beverage (F&B) businesses may succeed. Due to the non-adoption of product development strategy, many have had difficulties in securing a favorable competitive advantage. Therefore, the purpose of this research was to investigate how product development affected the comparative advantage of a few Nigerian food and beverage companies in Lagos State. 12,495 regular workers of six chosen F&B businesses in Lagos State, Nigeria, were the population of the research, which used a survey design. 491 people were chosen as the sample size using the researcher advisor sampling table. A credible and trustworthy survey with a Cronbach alpha value higher than 0.7 was also used to gather data at the same time. Descriptive and inferential methods were used to analyze the data. Utilizing the Statistical Package for Science Solutions (SPSS) version 24 for linear regression analysis, it was possible to ascertain the effects of the variables. According to the study's results, product development substantially impacted competitive advantage (β = 0.957, t = 55.078, R2 = 0.874, p-value 0.05). According to the study's findings, competitive advantage was impacted by the product development approach. The research made a strong case for food and beverage (F&B) companies to prioritize their efforts in product innovation. The development of items that would provide Food and Beverage (F&B) companies a competitive advantage over their competitors in the market requires careful consideration of the appropriate product specifications.

Keywords: Competitive advantage, Diversification, Foods and beverages, Growth strategy, Marketing efficiency, Product development.