1 CHALLENGES FACING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGY AT THE MUMIAS SUGAR COMPANY LIMITED Awino Zachary Bolo, PhD. School of Business - University of Nairobi Nairobi-Kenya Email: zstra2009@gmail.com Robert Wamalwa Wandera Africa Nazarene University Nairobi-Kenya Email:rwwelimu@gmail.com Isaiah Imaita, Ph. D Africa Nazarene University Nairobi- Kenya Peter K’ Obonyo, Ph.D School of Business - University of Nairobi Nairobi- Kenya ABSTRACT Many organizations today are focusing on becoming more competitive, by launching competitive strategies that give them an edge over others. To do this, they need to craft differentiation strategies (Micheal, E. Porter 1985). However, most sugar firms have not been able to formulate these strategies required to gain competitive advantage. This calls for a strategic fit of an organization’s core competence levels, technology, leadership styles, markets, culture, people, and environmental influences, which is an emerging paradigm in the study of strategic management. This paper focuses on the challenges facing the implementation of differentiation strategies in the sugar industry in Kenya. To guide this study, two specific objectives were used: - (1) To find out the differentiation strategies used by the sugar industry