Strategic Planning, External Environment And Performance Of Savings And Credit Co-Operative Societies (Saccos) In Kenya

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to determine the influence that strategic planning has on organizational performance in SACCOS in Kenya, as well as establish the connection between strategic planning, external environment and organizational performance. Strategic planning is vital for any organization as it directs firms into achieving their objectives. The scope and direction help an organization achieve a competitive advantage in the rapidly changing environment. Due to the fact that the environment is complex and disruptive, open rather than closed, senior management have to note there is need for a formalized, consistent, and comprehensive framework useful in analyzing the organization’s istrategic iposition. i iStrategic iPlanning iis ia imanagement iprocess ithat iinvolves icreating ilong iterm igoals iand icarrying ithem iout. iIt ialso iextends ito icontrol imechanisms ito igovern ithe iimplementation iof ithe istrategy iformulated. iOrganization iperformance irelates ito iefficiency, ieffectiveness, irelevance iand ifinancial iviability. Effectiveness of a firm brings about the peculiar activities which a firm must embrace in attaining their mission. Managers have to pay keen attention to what is happening around their organizations and quickly adjust their strategies to adapt to the prevailing conditions of the environment. Consequently, more customers are borrowing from SACCOS as they are even more lenient in offering funding than banks. The main iobjective iiof iithe iistudy iiwas iito iidetermine iithe iiinfluence iiof iistrategic iiplanning iiand iiexternal iienvironment iion iiorganizational iiperformance iiof iiSACCOS iiin iiKenya. iiDescriptive iisurvey iidesign iiwas iiadopted iiin iithis iistudy. iiPopulation iitargeted iifor iithis iistudy iiwere ii160 iiSACCOs iiin iiKenya. iiPurposive iisampling iitechnique iiwas iiadopted iito iiselect iia iisample iisize iiof ii80 iiSACCOS. iiPrimary iidata iiwas iicollected iiby iiuse iiof iiquestionnaires. iData iwas ianalyzed iusing idescriptive istatistics iusing iSPSS i(Version i23.0). i iThe istudy iresults iestablished ithat iSACCOS iin iKenya ihad iwritten igoals iquantified iwith imeasurable itargets iand ialso ithat imanagement iand ihigher-level istaff iare iusually iengaged iin isetting igoals iand iobjectives. iIn iaddition, iit iwas iestablished ithat iSACCOS itends ito iassess ithe isector ias ia iwhole iin iterms iof inew icompetitors iand iconcepts, inew itechnologies, trends, labour practices in order to establish the existing trends in their sector of operations. Also, it was established that SACCOS in Kenya operate in idynamic ienvironment ithat iis ihard ito ideal iwith idue ito iunpredicted ienvironmental ifactors iespecially ipolitical, economic and technological factors. The study therefore concluded that SACCOS in Kenya are involving their managers and higher-level staffs in goal and objective setting is because the ioutcomes ifrom ithe idecisions imade ican igreatly iaffect iboth ithe icompany's ihealth iand iits iemployees. iIt iwas ialso iconcluded ithat iexternal ienvironmental ifactors iparticularly ipolitical, ieconomic, isocial, itechnology, ienvironment iand ilegal iaffect iperformance. iThe istudy irecommended that SACCOS in Kenya should further their external environment, strategic plans, values, culture, goals and mission to ensure that both corporate and functional strategies are strengthened and made known to all employees across the organization.