| dc.description.abstract | The aim of this research study was to establish the modes of strategy development by commercial electric power producers and distributors in Kenya and also find out the factors influencing strategy development in these organizations. Population of the study consisted of all the 7 commercial electric power producers in Kenya plus one electric power distributor (KPLC). Both qualitative and secondary data were used for the study. Primary data was collected through a self administered questionnaire (see appendix II) that had been constructed using both open and closed type of questions. Secondary data was collected through reviewing the strategic plans, policy documents and the annual financial reports. The results were presented using frequency tables where necessary.
The data analysis method was qualitative and quantitative in nature and descriptive statistics was used where frequency and percentages were applied. Strategy development processes employed by commercial electric power producers and distributors have for the most part been a combination of planning, design and emergence. As commercially oriented organizations, the strategic objectives are expected to be pegged to profit objectives. The government has majority shareholding at KPLC and Kengen and so the decisions are expected to be highly influenced by the government. GDC is wholly controlled by the government as the owner whereas independent power producer are mainly controlled by their parent companies.
The study found out that the large firms had well documented strategic plans unlike in the small firms where planning was mainly in form of budgets and prior allocation of resources. Annual budgeting itself was an exercise of percentage increments to account for actual and anticipated inflation and a determination of the acceptability of the estimates. High level of formality was involved in strategy development at KPLC and Kengen which were also found to be larger in size than the other firms. The study also concluded that strategies are mainly developed by the top management and the board of directors then passed down to the other employees for implementation.
This was the case for all the organizations in the population whether small or large. The study recommends that commercial electric power producers and distributors should establish a strategic planning department so that issues of strategy development can be well addressed. All the firms whether small or large, profit oriented or not should wholly embrace the concept of strategy development in order to gain a sustainable competitive advantage and improvement in performance. Strategy development process should also take an all participative approach so that all stakeholders own up the developed strategies and this will greatly reduce resistance to change during strategy implementation. | en_US |
