INFLUENCE OF STRATEGIC PLANNING FACTORS ON ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF STATE CORPORATIONS IN MOMBASA COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

The study set out to examine the influence of strategic planning practices on organizational 
performance of state corporations in Mombasa County in Kenya. Currently the government of 
Kenya is on cost cutting measures that left it with more finances for development.The aim of 
these processes has been generally to create a customer-focused approach. Such an approach 
can obviously be appropriate and effective where the business is confident that what it is doing 
is right for now and for the future. The general objective of the study is to influence of 
strategic planning practices on organizational performance of state corporations in Mombasa 
County in Kenya. The study specific objectives are to examine the leadership style, 
organizational resources, information systems and organizational culture on organizational 
performance of state corporations in Mombasa in Kenya. To strengthen the conceptual 
framework the stud will use theories such as transformational theory of leadership, resourcebased view theory, technological diffusion, Schein theory and Goal setting theory of 
performance to strengthen the conceptual framework. The study targets 219 state corporations’ 
employees who are charged with the responsibility of strategic planning practice who are 
director generals, chief managers and finance department. The study sample size was141. The 
research design was cross-sectional. This was done using drop and pick method. On 
Leadership styles the study Laissez-faire leadership style had a weak and positive relationship 
with performance. Information Systems have become part of state parastatals operations today. 
Like many businesses, parastatals rely heavily on IT infrastructure to provide services to 
citizens.Organizational resources were classified into human resources, financial resources and 
physical resources. Human resources were found to significantly influence performance while 
intangible resources and capabilities influence was not statistically significant performance. A 
good organizational culture will instill brawny employee behavior that is in turn conducive for 
good policy and strategy implementation.The composite of all resources was established to 
significantly influence performance. The study findings established that there was a strong 
positive correlation between three independent variables leadership style, organizational 
resources and information systems while organizational culture has no relationship. The study 
results rejected the null hypothesis of three variable leadership style, organizational resources 
and information systems; however, the study accepted the null hypothesis. The study 
concluded that leadership style, organizational resources and information systems have a 
significant effect on organizational performance of state corporations in Kenya. The study  concluded that that leadership style should able to inspire the employees to motivate them to 
implement strategic plans; that state corporations should operate within the set budget and get 
much output from least input; that state corporations should adopt the use of technology to 
synchronize its operations and that state corporations should adopt organizational cultures that 
can reduce wastage of public resources.