Competitive Aggressiveness and Growth of Telecommunication Firms in South-South Nigeria

Victor A. Akubor (Department of Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Administration and Management Sciences, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria)
Noble S. Letam (Department of Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Administration and Management Sciences, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria)

IJEFSD
Vol. 8 No. 3 (2026): International Journal on Economics, Finance and Sustainable Development (IJEFSD

This study examined the relationship between competitive aggressiveness, a core dimension of corporate entrepreneurial orientation, and three measures of firm growth (financial growth, operational growth and market growth) among telecommunication firms in South-South Nigeria. Anchored on the resource-based view, the dynamic capabilities perspective and competitive dynamics research, the study adopted a correlational survey design. The population comprised 24 branch offices of four licensed operators (MTN, Airtel, 9mobile and Globacom) located in the six South-South states. Five respondents were purposively selected from each branch, giving 120 questionnaires, of which 110 (91.7%) were retrieved and analysed. A structured five-point Likert instrument measured competitive aggressiveness (five items) and each growth measure (five items each). The overall Cronbach’s alpha from the pilot test was .944. Descriptive statistics showed moderate levels of competitive aggressiveness (composite mean = 3.26) and growth (financial = 3.30; operational = 3.23; market = 3.12). Spearman’s rank-order correlation showed that competitive aggressiveness was positively and significantly related to financial growth (ρ = .443, p < .001), operational growth (ρ = .514, p < .001) and market growth (ρ = .407, p < .001), with the strongest association observed for operational growth. All three null hypotheses were rejected. The results suggest that firms that monitor rivals, respond decisively to competitive moves and move first on service changes tend to report stronger performance on all three growth measures, although the associations are moderate and based on perceptual, cross-sectional data. The paper recommends that operators pursue disciplined, capability-backed competitive aggression, invest in competitor intelligence, align pricing and promotional tactics with network capacity, and treat operational readiness as the channel through which aggressive moves become sustainable growth. Future studies should use longitudinal and objective financial data and test mediating and moderating mechanisms.