Effect of Strategic Planning on Organizational Performance of Agricultural Trading Companies in Mombasa Kenya

Abstract

The goal of the study was to ascertain how strategic planning affected the performance of agricultural trading firms in Kenya's Mombasa County. The McKinsey 7S Model served as the study's foundation, and ideas like strategic decision theory and contingency theory have been put forth. A case study research method was used in the study. The managers in the, top five agricultural trading companies in Mombasa County according to trading volumes and these are Cargill, Seaboard, Hollburd, Bunge and Louis Dreyfus were the study's target population. The study targeted operations managers, production managers and three junior-middle managers of every company, making a population of 25 managers. The information was gathered with the help of an interview guide and examined with content analysis. There was a satisfactory amount of participation in the study (80%), making it acceptable for further research. The study found out that, the agricultural firms reduced cost of operations due to strategic planning. There had been an increase in sales revenue in the company due to strategic planning. The agricultural firm improved their profitability due to strategic planning. Customer satisfaction levels improved comparatively due to strategic planning. Strategic planning enabled the agricultural companies retain their customers. Internal processes at the company has improved customer experience. Internal processes of the agricultural firms were geared towards performance. The agricultural trading companies were promoting organizational change and innovation. There was evidence of staff development and growth due to strategic planning. The study concluded that strategic planning affected the organizational performance of the agricultural firms. The research recommends policy- makers in the agricultural trading industry to take note of strategic planning. Its contribution to organizational performance is significant and should be factored in. Policies should be made to ensure that strategic planning is entrenched in agricultural firms so as to improve the organizational performance. This would beneficial. The research proposes studies to be carried out throughout the region and compares the results. The study can also be replicated with other industry players. It would be interesting to find out how in other economies the results of the same study would be. This would help in generalization of the findings and build more literature in strategic planning.