Strategic Management Practices and Performance of Health Non-Governmental Organizations in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Abstract

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) exist in international development to offer services to vulnerable persons and communities, and as policy advocate’s campaigners. The contemporary business environment in which organizations operate is increasingly becoming uncertain and unpredictable, and it has been established that little is known of the implementation of strategic planning practices among not for profit organizations in developing countries, despite increased inability to meet estimated project timelines, quality and budget allocation. This study aimed to examine how strategic management practices influence health NGOs' performance in Nairobi City, Kenya. The study specifically examined the effect of strategic planning, environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation and strategy evaluation, and monitoring on health non-governmental organizations' performance in Nairobi County in Kenya. The study was grounded on theories that include: resource-based theory by barney, Ansoff's strategic success theory by Ansoff, balance scorecard, stakeholder theory by freeman, and competitive advantage theory. The study is grounded on positivism research philosophy with a descriptive research design being adopted. Respondents were selected using stratified random sampling. The study targetted the senior managers of the 98 health NGOs operating in Nairobi County. The research relied on structured questionnaires in the data collection process. Inferential statistics and descriptive statistics were utilized in data analysis. The study relied on frequencies, means and standard deviation in presenting descriptive results. The inferential statistics used are correlation analysis, regression analysis and analysis of variance. The study results showed a positive and significant correlation between strategic planning, environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, strategy evaluation and monitoring, and health non-governmental organizations' performance. The regression results indicated that strategic management practices account for 59.5% of the changes in organization performance. The study concluded a positive and significant influence of strategic planning, environmental scanning, strategy implementation, strategy evaluation and monitoring on the performance of health NGOs. The study concluded that strategy formulation does not have a significant influence on the performance of health NGOs. The study recommends that NGOs improve their strategic management practices by strengthening their collaborations with stakeholders, enhancing resource mobilization, reviewing threats and opportunities and involving employees in strategic planning and implementation. The study recommends for further research work be conducted to review the influence of internal organization environment on NGOs' performance in Kenya. Suggestions were for policymakers in the NGO sector to support individual organizations in developing their strategic management guidelines which promote regulation and control.