Strategic planning practices at Safaricom Limited

Abstract

There is no one clear way advocated by scholars on how institutions should go about in conducting or practicing their strategic planning practices. Different authors and scholars have advanced that strategies can form implicitly as well as be formulated explicitly (Mintzberg 1991, Johnson and Scholes 1993). The importance of effective strategic planning practices is recognized by most organizations. A majority of organizations understand the need to clearly identify their mission and objectives, their priorities and targets for improvement, and the action to be taken to achieve them. Good progress has been made over a long period to improve the rigor of strategic planning. The objectives of this study were to determine the strategic planning practices adopted by Safaricom Limited and to establish the challenges of strategy implementation at Safaricom Limited. This research was conducted through a case study. This is because it enabled the researcher to have an in-depth understanding of the behavior pattern of the Safaricom Limited. Primary data was collected from the heads of departments of the company, selected from various departments such corporate strategy, human resources, regulatory, and business development, sales and marketing department using an interview guide. The data collected which was qualitative in nature and therefore it was analyzed using content analysis. The study found out that the strategic planning practices adopted by Safaricom Limited were on financial factors; conducts mid-year review of Budget and Economic Forecast, it reviews Financial Policy; compiles a list of unfunded/unproductive mandates for legislative review and also it reviews Budget Process regularly for efficiency. On organizational structure, the interviewees felt that the structure acts as a key determinant of what is appropriate. The structure of the organization directly affects the processes and perspectives of the whole strategy planning process. The study recommended that Safaricom should also employee more of proactive strategies than reactive strategic planning.