Strategic control practices in the power Generation, transmission and distribution industry
Abstract
This study is the product of a survey carried out on strategic control practices in Power
Generation, Transmission and Distribution sector. The study focuses on trying to find out
what control practices are in place in the sector as well as the challenges the sector faces
in implementing strategic control. This is important given the nature of the product
involved. Electricity is vital for the county’s development and the study of strategic
control in the sector can provide important information on areas to manage to ensure
enough capacity is available for use.
Fifteen firms in the sector were chosen for data collection but only ten provided the
required data and hence qualified for analysis. The data was collected from senior
managers who are involved in strategic management in the organizations. The data was
collected over a period of two weeks and involved answering some Likert scale type
questions that indicated the degree to which the managers thought they had the strategic
control in place or faced the stated challenge. Permission was first of all sought from
Human Resources managers to allow the data to be collected from the relevant manager
in their respective firms. Some organizations asked for a hard copy of the questionnaire
to be left behind to be filled out while others asked for soft copies to be sent through
email. The hard copies were later collected and the email filled copies were sent through
email. The received data was then compiled and analyzed.
The result of the study generally indicates that strategic control is practiced by the firms
and the firms are able to deal with the given challenges. However, there is still room for
improvement. There were great variations in some cases. For example, there were
variations in the way the firms reviewed their strategies after analysis of their
vi
environment and the way follow up was carried out to ensure correction of deviations
from standards was implemented. Great variations were especially noted in the
challenges faced by the firms in strategic control. The benefits of strategic control are not
therefore fully enjoyed in some of the organizations and by extension the industry. The
fact that the received data does not indicate one hundred percentage agreement to the
points raised may be extremely important to explain power deficiency that may occur
from time to time and need to be addressed.
Publisher
university of Nairobi School of Business