Strategic management practices in the healthcare industry : A case study of Gertrude’s garden children's hospital

Abstract

Administrators of Kenya non-profit hospitals are often hesitant to adopt practices that would lead to a drift from their core values and ethical objectives. This study presents that over time, as the environment surrounding Kenyan hospitals becomes less predictable, there is need for hospital administrators to adopt strategic management practices. The focus of the study is on strategic management practices at Gertrude's Garden Children's Hospital as outlined in the strategic management process. The areas under research were vision and mission practices, environmental scanning, and general planning practices, goal setting, strategy implementation practices, and evaluation of strategies. In-depth interviews with the CEO and a representative of the hospital's senior management team were conducted to establish what strategic management practices have been adopted by the hospital administrators. The content of the interview was analyzed and presented in relation to the objectives of the study. The findings show that there is formulation of vision and mission statements, environmental scanning, formulation of annual business plans, objective setting takes place at the hospital, evaluation of strategies and objectives. This implies that the hospital has adopted a variety of strategic management practices.