Strategic Planning, Firm Characteristics, Competitive Environment, Strategy Implementation and Performance of State Corporations in Kenya

Abstract

State corporations are important institutions in Kenya and are worth the study because they promote economic growth and development; are critical to building the capability and technical capacity of the state in facilitating and promoting national development; are important instruments in improving the delivery of public services including meeting the basic needs of citizens; have been variously applied to the creation of good and widespread employment opportunities in various jurisdictions and are useful for targeted and judicious building of international partnerships. Because of the importance attached to the state corporations, it is important that they perform well. Performance of any organization is in actual sense a function of many other factors. A review of literature relating to corporate performance show that strategic planning is an important factor in corporate performance; however, it is not strategic planning alone that influence the performance of a corporation, other factors such as firm characteristics, competitive environment and strategy implementation also come into play. The broad objectives of the study was to establish the moderating effects of firm characteristics, competitive environment and strategy implementation on the relationship that exists between strategic planning and performance of Kenyan State Corporations. Specific objectives of the study were to determine the individual and joint moderating effects of firm characteristics, competitive environment, and strategy implementation on the relationship between strategic planning and performance of state corporations in Kenya. The study was oriented by the positivist view which uses surveys to verify hypotheses, statistical analyses and quantitative statistics. The targeted population of interest in this study was all state corporations in Kenya (commercial corporations and commercial corporations with strategic functions). The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional survey study design. Data was collected using questionnaires. Hierarchical regression analysis, specifically interaction analysis was conducted on the collected data. The study found that firm characteristics and strategy implementation have moderating effects on the relationship that exists between strategic planning and performance of state corporations in Kenya. The study also found that competitive environment as an independent factor and the combined forces of firm characteristics, competitive environment and strategy implementation had no moderating effects on the relationship between strategic planning and performance of Kenya’s state corporations. The study had several methodological limitations such as study design, questionnaire, response rate and analytical techniques. The study has made important theoretical contributions by highlighting the factors that moderate the relationship between strategic planning and performance of state corporations in Kenya. The study has also provided important insight to policy makers and strategic management practitioners and lecturers. Methodologically, the study has positively affirmed the place of positivist paradigm and hierarchical interaction analysis in testing moderating effects between variables. The study suggests that a similar research be conducted in other sectors of the Kenyan economy and in other contexts outside Kenya such as Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa and Egypt to corroborate this study finding.