An investigation of aspects of marketing planning within large private manufacturing companies in Nairobi
Abstract
This study intended to find out how marketing planning is practiced in the Kenyan
manufacturing sector. The focus of the study was on manufacturing firms operating in Nairobi who
are members of the Kenyan association of manufacturers. The objective was to investigate the state
and use of marketing planning to gain competitive edge by the large, private manufacturing companies
in Kenypt
To achieve these objectives 3 hypothesis were formulated and tested. Data was collected
through self-administered questionnaires. The questionnaires had both the structured and
unstructured questions. Respondents were marketing decision-makers of the selected firms, The
collected data was analysed using descriptive statistics. Likert profiles were drawn to show any visual
differences. Further analysis was done using the Kruskal Wallis rank test.
The study found that the principles of marketing planning are well known but the practice is
still very poor in the Kenyan manufacturing sector. While most of marketing planners seemed
conversant with the principles of strategic marketing planning, few lived by then a, They focused too
much on tactical marketing planning and emphasized more on business system, sophisticated
techniques and lengthy writings assignments. Firms owned by foreigners are more involved in
marketing planning but there was no difference among Firms operating in various sectors of the
economy.
Most of those charged with the process complained of lack of support from the top
management. They claimed that too much pressure to produce results in the short-run forced them to
have short-term plans leaving the future of the firms to chance.
If marketing planning is to have any impact in our organizations, It must be based on
continuous dialogue between key managers and be build solidly into the management process rather
than be treated as a discrete function. The focus should be on substantive improvement in forward
thinking and action through analytical analysis, continual environmental scanning and more top
management input. While tactical planning remains important, marketing planners must invest more
in long-term planning to increase the chances of the future survival of their business.
Citation
Masters of business administrationSponsorhip
University of NairobiPublisher
school of Business, University of Nairobi