| dc.description.abstract | This research was designed to establish the strategic management practices among manufacturing family-owned firms within Nairobi and to determine the factors that influence the strategic management practices among the firms. To achieve these objectives, the study adopted a cross-sectional design and targeted 100 manufacturing family-owned firms within Nairobi which were randomly selected. All of the 100 firms were served with questionnaires. Responses were received from 21 firms which were considered adequate for analysis.
The study established that more than 50% of the studied firms adopted most of the strategic management practices. 57.1 % and 52.4% of the firms had vision and mission statements respectively and 57.1 % of the firms undertake situational analysis. It was established that high proportions of firms (95.2% and 85.7%) respectively set objectives and craft strategies to achieve these objectives. It was also established that the firms develop their vision, mission, objectives, and strategies into a strategic plan as well as develop action plans to ensure that the strategies developed get implemented efficiently and effectively (66.7% for both strategic and action plans).
Finally, all firms (100%) indicated that they evaluate their strategy and develop controls to ensure that their strategy is on track. In all these practices, the study revealed that managers from different levels including the board of directors participate to different degrees and the outputs are communicated to all organizational members through various modes. It was also established that various factors influence strategic management practices of the studied firms to different levels. The factors that were rated as having great influence include distribution of decision making authority in the firm, management skills and financial resources.
Those factors with a generally moderate effect include founder influence and degree of control, human resources, succession planning, intergenerational issues, leadership style, current organizational structure, family business culture, and family goals. Finally, the factors which were ranked as having influence to a less extent include family members' interests, family conflicts, reward system, sibling relationships, and family culture. The results of the study largely concurred with strategic management theory as well empirical studies. For policy and practice, the study implied that not all family-owned businesses have adopted most of the strategic management practices yet these firms have the need to be both efficient and effective. | en_US |
