Strategic planning at the Resolution Insurance Company Limited (K) Limited

Abstract

The environment presents organization with opportunities, threats and constraints that force them to have specific strategies to help in fulfilling their mandate in the market. Environmental forces keep on changing every now and then and thus leaving a market gap that has to be filled by the most competitive organization. Therefore, to effectively manage any corporate function, it requires a thoughtful and comprehensive strategic planning process. The key objective of a strategy is to bring about a competitive advantage over the rivals in the market. This research study sought to assess the strategic planning processes at the Resolution Insurance Company Limited. The objective of the research study was to establish how the Company undertook its strategic planning. Strategic planning is a central pillar in management thus the choice of topic. This research study adopted a case study design which was deemed appropriate because it involves a careful and complete observation of social units or a phenomenon and it also offers a comprehensive understanding of the social units or phenomenon under study. The primary data was collected using a comprehensive interview guide and data collected analyzed using content analysis. This is because the nature of data collected is qualitative in nature. The interview targeted top management as they are deemed responsible for strategic direction of the Company. The study established that Resolution Insurance Company Limited undertakes strategic planning process through use of SWOT Analysis and that employees were involved in the undertaking of the strategic planning process. The study further ascertained that the strategic planning makes the management of Resolution Insurance Company Limited efficient by providing a framework and a clearly defined direction for decision making and that it establishes a uniform vision and purpose that is shared among all members of the organization and helps them pull in the same direction. Finally, the study revealed that lack of commitment of the plan implementers, fear of change, lack of employee involvement, ineffective coordination especially poor communication of strategic planning process, time allocated for the planning, lack of a structured way of managing strategic planning process, lack of needed resources for example specialized labour which is either nonexistent or expensive were amongst the challenges affecting strategic planning process at Resolution Insurance Company Limited. Due to the envisaged benefits of using these practices, the study recommends that all the firms in the insurance industry in Kenya should adopt strategic management in particular strategic planning so as to gain competitiveness in the sector and also so as to gain efficiency in operations and hence improve their profitability. The management at Resolution Insurance Company Limited must take cognizance of the importance of people, their roles and impact on strategic plan implementation. They need to come up with policies that involve and recognize people and reward policies that will act as positive reinforcements. Some heads of departments were too busy to give the interviewee adequate time to interrogate deeper the responses given. Some interviewees were also very sensitive about the information they were sharing and thus did not give information considered as confidential. The study depended on interviews and discussions with the heads of departments. It would have been of value to obtain the views of other members of staff as they are also incorporated in the strategic planning process. A replica study can be done on other Insurance Companies in the industry which will provide further insight into strategic planning in the industry.