Strategic Planning Practices in Kenya Pipeline

Abstract

The focus of research was on study of strategic planning practices at the Kenya Pipeline Company Ltd (KPC). Strategic planning has been viewed as a systematic process of envisioning a desired future and translating this vision into broadly defined goals or objectives and a sequence of steps to achieve them. Strategic planning is a means to an end, a method used to position an organization through prioritizing its use of resources according to identified goals in an effort to guide its direction and development over a period of time. Strategic planning practices have been adopted by many institutions including State Corporations. The main interests of the study was to determine strategic planning practices in KPC through evaluating the factors that influence strategic planning practices in KPC, establishing its efficiency, and determining the challenges that are associated with it. Data for the study was collected from managers at KPC. The researcher used an interview guide as preferred data collection instrument. The interview guide was used to collect data through open-ended questions to the managers. Data was analyzed using context analysis. The findings of the study indicated that strategic planning practices at KPC is composed of strategic themes that broadly outline the objectives and strategic initiating that outline action plans. It was found out that there are both internal and external factors that influence strategic planning practices at KPC. KPC has a corporate strategic plan (CSP) which is used for monitoring and measuring performance of the company. KPC uses PESTEL and SWOT analysis to inform its strategic implementation process. To achieve its objectives, KPC faces some challenges which are multi-dimensional. It is therefore recommended that further study be carried out on this topic so as to come up with a comprehensive strategic planning evaluation tool at KPC.