Strategic Management Best Practices in Small and Medium Size Private Hospitals in Nairobi

Abstract

In the world of management, increasing numbers of senior managers are recognizing that one of the key routes to improved business performance is the Strategic management best practice. This applies even to the small and medium enterprises whose environment dynamism in the current times is posing many challenges and thus calling for effective strategic management best practice. All the attention paid to strategic management best practice in general is therefore testimony to its potentially pivotal role in influencing organizational performance and effectiveness. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which small and medium private hospitals have embraced strategic management best practices as well as establishing factors influencing best practices. The study was broad and hence the level of details given to the two objectives was limited, while a more comprehensive study was desirable, this could not is entirely possible in view of limited resources ant researchers disposal .the other limitation was the study was based on a sample limited to Nairobi and not the entire country. At the sometime references made are entirely based on studies done on other countries and industries since no previous research has been done on this topic in the Kenyan context. There is need to do a study in the entire country since the study was limited to Nairobi. There is also a need to research on large private and government hospitals in Kenya on strategic management best practices. The study was a descriptive survey in nature where the researcher targeted all small and medium private hospitals in Nairobi and sampled out 25 private hospitals that were within Nairobi Province. Primary sources to collect the data was used which consisted of a semi structured questionnaire comprising of both open-ended and close-ended questions. Data collected from respondents was both quantitative and qualitative in nature. Quantitative data was analyzed using the descriptive tools frequencies, mean scores and the standard deviations. From the findings, majority of the small and medium private hospitals are involved in strategic management best practices. In particular, most hospitals have a mission and vision statement and written objectives and they do prepare annual budgets for all activities. Outsourcing and chain value management however are practiced to a little extent. Based on the findings, the researcher recommends proper policies from the policy makers to ensure challenges that hurdle strategic management best practices in small and medium sized private hospitals are minimized including high administration cost, improved company focus and high operational cost were the main reasons for outsourcing in an organization. Employees should be motivated from time to time and encouraged to change their technology so as to meet the organizations needs while Political and legal development should not be considered when formulating strategies. Moreover, Organizations should be encouraged to outsource the functions which require a lot of administration cost and high operational cost.