Strategic Management Practices in the Agricultural Sector of Kenya: the Case of Statutory Board(Parastatals)

Abstract

This study sought to establish the strategic management practices in the parastatals of the Agricultural sector in Kenya. Parastatals were established by the government to carry out functions such as production ,marketing, research, extension and others. After liberalisation, the environment changed and great uncertainty and instability set in as reported in the economic review (2002). Strategic Management enables organisations cope with dynamic environment and adopt to changes. This made the researcher embark on this study. This study had two objectives namely: • To establish the strategic management practices undertaken by parastatals of the Agricultural sector and • To identify the constraints and responses that the parastatals encounter in the course of implementing their strategies. The research was carried out by surveying 24 parastatals situated in Nairobi, Kisumu and Mombasa. Questionnaires bearing both closed and open-ended questions were administered to the organizations. Data was analysed using tables, proportions and frequencies. The results of thdstudy sho~rd that strategic /nanagement practices were prevalent in the Agricultural parastatals in varying degrees. They had set and documented Visions and mission statements and objectives. Formal planning sessions and activities were carried out for over 70% of the cases. Only 25% had set strategic planning department and treated the exercise as a full time operation. At implementation stage though, there were problems of delay due to bureaucracy and lack of commitment. The observations obtained from the second, objective showed that the most popular response was cost cutting reported by 91.7% of the Organisations.Poor infrastructure and governmental controls rated highly as the constraints hindering effectiveness, efficiency and accountability in the organisations studied. V There was a general consensus that there remains lots of untapped opporturuties in agriculture in this country that could increase productivity. Nevertheless marketing activities and especially penetration to the global world markets needed further redressing as the products fetched unattractive prices thus affecting producers motivation. Policies to control dumping and reduce bureaucracy in various sub sectors to enhance efficiency and effectiveness should be revised. The results obtained were general because the method used was a survey thus limiting the findings. A more or in depth study could be done to the subsectors