dc.description.abstract | Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), play a major role in economic development
around the world. Previous studies pertinent to strategic planning and growth in SMEs
have largely focused on particular elements in the strategic planning process and how the
same influences SME performance. This includes large corporations and in the public
sector, leaving the association between strategic planning and SME Growth particularly
among Micro Finance Institutions largely unexplored. Against this background, the
present study seeks to answer the question: What is the nature of strategic planning
practices and how do they influence growth of SMEs within the micro-finance sector in
Nairobi County? More specifically, the study sought to determine strategic planning
practices by SMEs within the micro-finance sector in Nairobi County and to determine
how such practices contribute to the growth of the SMEs. The study took an exploratory
research design where the units of analysis comprised of small and medium enterprises
within the micro-finance sector within the Nairobi County. The study involved a census
study to cover all the nine (9) licensed Deposit Taking Micro-finance (DTM). Semistructured
questionnaires were used to collect data at the premises of the sampled SMEs,
using an administered questionnaire. In each of the nine DTMs, the researcher
purposively administered the questionnaires to three respondents across the three
management levels, i.e. top, middle and lower cadre for each micro-finance SME. This is
because of the qualitative and quantitative nature of the study and information sought,
both descriptive and inferential analysis was used for data analysis. Findings reveal that
because of the qualitative and quantitative nature of the study and information sought,
both descriptive and inferential analysis was used for data analysis. Results from
ANOVA statistics further reveal that Growth among MFI SMEs in Nairobi County has a
significant joint relationship with Mission, Vision, Strategies and Action Plans, Strategic
Innovation Systems, Formality of Strategic Plans and Forecasting which is significant at
5 percent level of significance. | en_US |