Strategy Implementation at Kenya Accountants and Secretaries National Examinations Board

Abstract

Strategy is defined as determining the long term goals and objectives of an enterprise, adopting courses of action and allocating resources necessary to achieve those goals. Strategic management is a combination of the set of decisions and actions which are viewed in the form of strategy formulation, implementation and control of plans designed to achieve a corporation’s vision, mission and long term performance of the organization (Pearce II, Robinson Jr and Mital, 2007). Strategy implementation is an integral component of the strategic management process and is viewed as the process that turns the formulated strategy into a series of actions and then results to ensure that the vision, mission, strategy and strategic objectives of the organisation are successfully achieved as planned (Thompson and Strickland, 2003). Several researches have been carried out on strategy implementation including at World Vision Kenya, Co-operative Insurance Company Ltd and Balozi Sacco. The findings revealed that every organization implements their strategies differently; hence there is no universal approach to strategy implementation. A research was carried out at KASNEB to establish how strategy implementation is done and the challenges encountered. The researcher used a case study as a research design so as to get an indepth understanding of how strategy implementation is done at KASNEB. The findings revealed that KASNEB uses an implementation matrix, there is management commitment and that there is frequent monitoring and evaluation as strategy implementation progresses. Strategy implementation is reviewed annually and strategies revised accordingly. The study also revealed that the organisation faces a few challenges during strategy implementation. The challenges include delays in communication, delays in implementation of planned activities and bureaucracies in procurement of goods and services. The challenges can be overcome by for instance educating all employees on the content of the strategy and by having communication flowing both from the top and bottom in order to assess whether there is need to change the approach in strategy implementation. The organisation can also use the balanced scorecard approach to assist in setting objectives that are measurable and in linking implementation of activities and strategic objectives. Since the research design was a case study, the findings may not give a general view of how strategy implementation is done in other state corporations. Further research could be carried out on the impact of performance contracting on the implementation of strategies