Strategic Planning Within Micro Finance Institutions In Kenya

Abstract

Organizations all over the world operate within turbulent environments, which present a variety of challenges to them. Strategic management helps organizations cope with the rapidly changing state of affairs within the environment. Formal strategic management can be traced back to the 1950s in the United States of America. The popularity of this practice spread to the rest of the developed countries, and research work on strategic planning were conducted in this part of the world. Limited research work on strategic planning has been done in developing countries, and even less research is found in the African nations. In the light of this, this study is to establish and document strategic planning practices within Micro finance institutions in Kenya. Micro finance organizations play a major role in the economic development of a country, by raising the levels of income and welfare of poor people. They support the poor and unemployed by giving small loans, often without collateral to establish small enterprises. The survey for the study was conducted in July, August, September, October and November 2002. The objectives of this study were to establish and document the state of strategic planning within micro finance institutions in Kenya. The specific aspects under study are listed under the scope of the study. The data was collected through personal interviews on open ended and closed questions . One manager in each organization was contacted. The data was then analyzed and comparisons made across the organizations. 53% of the organizations contacted responded to the study.