Strategic Planning Practices and Performance of Kenya Dairy Board Solomon Mwihoti Kimunge

Abstract

Strategic Planning is the management process to creating and executing long term goals and strategy which may also extend to control mechanisms for guiding the implementation of strategy. The concept of strategy refers to the direction and scope of an organization over the long term; which achieves advantage for the organization through its configuration of resources within a changing environment, to meet the needs of the markets and to fulfill stakeholder expectations. Strategic planning practice has been researched for many decades, and continues to be a central topic in strategy research (Grant, 2003). Empirical research on strategic planning practice has focused on three main areas: First is the effect of strategic planning on firm performance; second is the process of strategic planning in strategic decision making, and third are the activities of strategy practitioners in strategic planning practice. There is empirical support for a positive association between strategic planning practice and performance (Brews & Purohit, 2007). Cooper & Schindler (2011) define research design as the blueprint for collection, measurement and analysis of data. The research strategy was based on a case study model. A case study is an in-depth analysis of an individual, group, institution or event (Mugenda & Mugenda, 2003). The case study was the most appropriate for this particular research for it enabled the researcher to carry out an in-depth study of the strategic planning practices adopted by the Kenya Dairy Board. The study relied heavily on the primary data collected using an interview guide. An interview guide is a research instrument that contains a set of questions that the researcher asks during the interview for purposes of gathering data required to meet the objectives of the study. Content analysis enabled the researcher to shift through large volumes of data in a systematic fashion with relative ease. From the foregoing, the study established that each stakeholder has a special role to play to make KDB a fully function body for it to realize its strategic plans and serve the Kenyans better. The study find out that Overlapping of activities and overstretched resources due to inadequate funding to meet industry expectations are the major obstacles experienced in strategic planning practice at KDB. The study found out that the opinion that consultation is sought among the different stakeholders through stakeholder sensitization forums. The study concluded that, the corporation applied the following steps of strategic planning process; develop of key strategies that contribute to the overall vision, development of specific measurable realistic and time -bound strategic goals communication of organizational vision, mission and key policies, development of short and long term operational goals; subdividing goals and allocating sub-goals with careful attention to details, participating, schedules and milestones, monitoring and evaluation- measure the progress toward attaining operational and strategic goals with key performance indicators respectively