Introduction In the research article “Effect of Digital Marketing on Competitiveness of Automobile Companies in Kenya” by Eva Nkatha Kigunda, the objective was to assess how digital marketing strategies affected the competitiveness of automobile companies in Kenya. The digital marketing strategies included in the study are search engine marketing (SEM), email marketing, social media marketing (SMM), and online advertising. The study population was staff working in the marketing departments of major motor vehicle dealers in Kenya, and a sample of 101 (30% of the population) was included in the study (Kigunda 2017). Data was collected through semi-structured questionnaires and inferential and descriptive statistics used for data analysis. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. The study findings are that while automobile dealers in Kenya have significantly invested in digital marketing, there return on investment (ROI) is still insignificant. Digital marketing strategies are mainly used in maintaining the current customer pool for the dealers. The research article is a standard-structured paper that included a literature review under chapter two, pages 8-25. In this paper, a critique of the literature review will be done.

1. Have a topic, aim, and scope of the literature been identified?

The literature review chapter begins with an introduction section that links the chapter to chapter one, which contains the topic, aim, and scope of the study. The scope of the study is the Kenyan automobile industry and the researcher conducted review in Nairobi, and the neighboring towns of Rongai, Athi River, Kiambu, and Thika. The study focused on social media marketing, search engine marketing, and email marketing. This notwithstanding, the author has included some of the crucial research questions in the literature review introduction section. For a reader who is only interested in the literature review chapter and thus, doesn’t do through chapter one, it is possible to understand what the paper seeks to achieve from the introduction section of the literature review chapter. The author has included the inquiries that are to be covered in the literature review, which h include; how email marketing affects competitiveness in the Kenyan automobile industry, How online advertising affects competitiveness of automobile dealers in Kenya, how SEM affects competitiveness of automobile dealers in Kenya, and how social media marketing affects competitiveness of automobile companies in Kenya. Even though these are the by extension the research questions of the entire study, having then in the introduction section of the literature review chapter plays a crucial role in bringing the reader on board and serves as an indication of what to be expected from the literature review (Galvan and Galvan 2017).

2. Is there a clear indication of why the materials are included in the review?

The literature review section has referenced a total of seventy-eight materials. These materials are all cover broad and diverse topics, but so does the literature review section. In furthering and broadening the topic of how digital marketing strategies...

For instance, the author has sought to clear up the connection between digital marketing and competitiveness of the Kenyan automobile industry by including a section on how digital marketing improves company/dealer ranking in the digital space, as seen in the search engine results page. This ranking is important as studies have shown that customers will only click on the first three links on the search engine results page (Kigunda 2017). The diverse sub-topics covered in the literature review, therefore, warrant the inclusion of the various materials covered in the review.
It is also noteworthy that, all except one of the materials included in the literature review are only as old as 2010. Given the research was done in 2017, it means that all the materials except the study by Evan (2007), are only eight years old. Based on the quality of information contained in the materials, it is argued...…study by showing that there exists a gap in the literature, which therefore necessitates the current study. In this study, it has been established that, even though significance of the study is provided in chapter one of the study, the literature review does not argue for a gap in the literature. Looking at the literature material included, it is obvious that, so far as this study is concerned, there is no previous research that has been conducted on the current topic in Kenya. However, the author doesn’t expressly state this is the literature review section of the article. The existing research included in the study has been synthesized to connect digital marketing and its influence on marketing. However, the literature review in this research article doesn’t open up any new perspectives.

Conclusion

The literature review chapter begins with an introduction section that links the chapter to chapter one, which contains the topic, aim, and scope of the study. The literature review section has referenced a total of seventy-eight materials. These materials are all cover broad and diverse topics, but so does the literature review section. It is also noteworthy that, all except one of the materials included in the literature review are only as old as 2010. It is however noted that, even though the current study focused on the region of Kenya, only one of the studies covers the region. It is disappointingly noted that the literature review doesn’t connect the research topic to the culture and technology of the study location. With regard to the entire topic of the effect of digital marketing on competitiveness of automobile companies in Kenya, it is argued that there is not an established authority on the subject. In the current study, the author does not have a theoretical framework to contextualize the empirical research. In this study, it has been established that, even though significance of the study is provided in chapter one of the study, the literature review does not argue for a gap in the literature.…