Influence of strategic planning on Performance of public Universities in Kenya: The case of university of Nairobi

Abstract

Corporate strategy is an essential management tool for achieving a firm’s performance through strategic initiatives. Managers of firms must assess their firm’s current competitive position, build a vision for where they must be in future, and craft transformation strategy to turn the future vision into reality. The research design was a case study. The areas of interest in this study were the various college departments, schools and institutes and also the central administration departments which form the integral part of the University. Structured/unstructured interviews were used with some open ended questions to allow for more in depth information to be obtained from the interviewees. The researcher used secondary data from various existing publications, both administrative and financial reports including government reports. The unit of analysis for this study included central administration and college departments together with some institutes and schools. Data was analysed using content analysis because this study sought data that was qualitative in nature given that it is a case study. The study concludes that strategic planning (SP) had an effect on the performance of the University of Nairobi (UoN). SP had led to overall improvement in various areas which included compliance with set budgetary levels, events within the UoN being open to public, work environment, implementation of service delivery charter, research innovation and technology and outreach and extension activities/programmes. The study further concludes that University of Nairobi was faced with various challenges of SP. The study recommends that in order for (UoN) to overcome the challenges of SP, there is need for commitment to goals, more staff training, workshops on strategic planning, increased financing, complete decentralization of operations, marketing of UoN’s programmes, committed and qualified human resource and increased participation and consultation of all stake holders