Implementation of Strategic Plans on Oil Distributors: A Study on Selected Oil Companies in Kenya

The essence of strategy is to attempt to relate the organization to environmental changes. For any organization, the system helps interrogate the long-term plans and ensure harmony between the vision, mission, objectives, core values, activities, and environment. Strategy formulation and implementation are core management functions. The developed strategy may be good, but if its implementation is poor, the intended strategic objectives may not be achieved. To ensure survival and success, firms must formulate strategies that constantly maintain a match between the organization and its environment and ensure appropriate design execution at all levels. Success, therefore, calls for a proactive approach to business. The study aimed to identify the determinants of strategy implementation plans for oil distributors in Kenya. Specifically, the study attempted to achieve the following objectives: to determine the effect of organizational structure, organizational culture, leadership, and resource allocation and to establish the impact of communication on the implementation of strategic plans on oil distributors in Kenya. The study was based on resource-based, dynamic capability, and knowledge-based view theories. The study adopted a survey design that used a cross-sectional survey approach to collect data. The study population comprised 14 oil distributors in Kenya based in Nairobi County. The target respondents included 64 business owners and 136 managers, comprising a target population of 200 respondents. A sample size of 60 respondents was selected for the study. Primary data was collected through semi-structured questionnaires. Data was coded in SPSS and Excel software for analysis, where the tables of frequencies, percentages, the mean, and standard deviation were extracted for the presentation of data. Inferential statistics was done to establish the relationship between the implementation of strategic plans and the five independent variables. The study's outcome was to show whether the organizational structure, organizational culture; leadership; resource allocation, and corporate communication affect the implementation of strategic plans in the oil distributors sector in Nairobi County. The research recommends that oil distributors need to enhance teamwork, accountability, transparency, and communication for the implementation of strategic plans.