Investigation of the adoption of strategic planning by small and medium sized manufacturing firms in Kenya Muiruri Kang'ethe Francis1, Prof. Bwisa Henry2, Dr. Muturi Willy3, Prof. Kihoro John4 1College of Human Resource Development, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya 2College of Human Resource Development, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya 3College of Human Resource Development, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Nairobi, Kenya 4Directorate of Computing and E-learning, Cooperative University College of Kenya, Nairobi, Kenya Online published on 30 November, 2019. Abstract The current business world has experienced rapid environmental changes due to the ever changing Political, Economic, Social-cultural, Technological and Legal (PESTEL) factors. In order to survive, firms constantly improve their performance by laying long term strategies. The study aimed at comparing the performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) involved in manufacturing before and after adoption of strategic planning. The target population was the 260 manufacturing SMEs that had been in operation for a minimum of three years and the sample comprised 135 firms. Data was collected by use of questionnaires and was analyzed by SPSS and Microsoft Excel software. Stratified random sampling method was the main sampling technique that was adopted. The study used two types of research designs incorporating both exploratory and descriptive survey designs. The main statistical analysis tool used in the study was the paired samples t-test. The research study found that the performance of the manufacturing SMEs was higher after adoption of strategic planning Top Keywords Adoption, Strategic Planning, SME, Manufacturing Sector, Before, After, Kenya. Top |