Knowledge, Time and Strategic Planning in Small and Medium Enterprises in Kenya: The Moderating Effect of Firm Size
Abstract
Strategic planning is concerned with the setting of long-term organizational goals, the development and implementation of plans to achieve these goals and the allocation or diversion of resources necessary for realizing these goals. A review of extant empirical literature on SMEs suggest that, ceteris paribus, a key determinant of business success lies in the absence or presence of strategic planning. The purpose of this study was to establish determinants of strategic planning in a different environment context, that of developing transitional economy of Kenya. This context provided the novelty to the study as most prior studies had examined evidence from firms in mature economies. The findings were that majority of the enterprises had no business plans. Of those with plans, most were informal, long-term and were reviewed half yearly or yearly. Furthermore, majority of the enterprises had no vision and mission statements. However, most of the owner-managers had formulated strategic objectives and strategies for their enterprises. It was further established that time resources had a positive and significant influence on strategic planning in SMEs in Kenya while knowledge of strategic planning process and business size were insignificant, hence, their corresponding hypotheses were rejected. These findings have implications for strategic planners, those interested or involved in the overall development and growth of the small business sector, SMEs and academic institutions. Since some firms may not have enough experience in strategic management, they should invest in developing strategic planning systems to aid in formulating short and long-range plans.
Keywords: Knowledge, Time, Size, Strategic Planning, Small and Medium Enterprises
CITATION: Madivoli, G. G., Bwisa, H. M., Gichuhi, A. W., & Senaji, T. A. (2019). Knowledge, time and strategic planning in small and medium enterprises in Kenya: The moderating effect of firm size. The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 6 (2), 925 – 935.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.61426/sjbcm.v6i2.1144
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