The Interplay between Strategic Planning and Firm Competitiveness

Abstract

Organizations around the world are progressively adopting strategic planning practices with the anticipation of yielding improved performance outcomes to attain competitive advantage. Previous research primarily focused on the direct correlation between strategic planning and performance, overlooking the nuances of the individual steps comprising the strategic planning process. The execution and extent of each step within this process can potentially influence the anticipated outcomes of strategic planning efforts. The study sought to test the influence of strategy formulation, strategy selection, strategy implementation and monitoring and evaluation on the competitiveness of manufacturing firms in Kenya. Quantitative analysis was utilized with the aim of empirically ascertaining the correlation between the variables of interest, employing relevant statistical techniques for data analysis. The chosen methodology was centered on a survey design, which proved to be the most fitting technique for effectively accomplishing the research objectives. The primary focus of the study was on top-level management individual (chief executive officers, general managers, and line managers) where sample sizes of 71 top managers in the manufacturing sector were involved in the study. The results of the correlation analysis underscore a robust association between strategic planning and firm competitivess. Moreover, it is noteworthy that all strategic planning steps, including strategy formulation, strategy selection, and establishing implementation, and monitoring and evaluation exhibited positive correlations with organizational competitiveness.