| dc.description.abstract | This study sought to establish the strategic management practices in the parastatals of the
Agricultural sector in Kenya. Parastatals were established by the government to carry out
functions such as production ,marketing, research, extension and others. After
liberalisation, the environment changed and great uncertainty and instability set in as
reported in the economic review (2002). Strategic Management enables organisations
cope with dynamic environment and adopt to changes. This made the researcher embark
on this study.
This study had two objectives namely:
• To establish the strategic management practices undertaken by parastatals of the
Agricultural sector and
• To identify the constraints and responses that the parastatals encounter in the course
of implementing their strategies.
The research was carried out by surveying 24 parastatals situated in Nairobi, Kisumu and
Mombasa. Questionnaires bearing both closed and open-ended questions were
administered to the organizations. Data was analysed using tables, proportions and
frequencies.
The results of thdstudy sho~rd that strategic /nanagement practices were prevalent in the
Agricultural parastatals in varying degrees. They had set and documented Visions and
mission statements and objectives. Formal planning sessions and activities were carried
out for over 70% of the cases. Only 25% had set strategic planning department and
treated the exercise as a full time operation. At implementation stage though, there were
problems of delay due to bureaucracy and lack of commitment.
The observations obtained from the second, objective showed that the most popular
response was cost cutting reported by 91.7% of the Organisations.Poor infrastructure and governmental controls rated highly as the constraints hindering effectiveness, efficiency
and accountability in the organisations studied.
V
There was a general consensus that there remains lots of untapped opporturuties in
agriculture in this country that could increase productivity. Nevertheless marketing
activities and especially penetration to the global world markets needed further redressing
as the products fetched unattractive prices thus affecting producers motivation. Policies
to control dumping and reduce bureaucracy in various sub sectors to enhance efficiency
and effectiveness should be revised.
The results obtained were general because the method used was a survey thus limiting the
findings. A more or in depth study could be done to the subsectors | en |
