A Study on the Strategies for Managing Environmental Factors in Business Organizations in Nigeria: A Case Study of Selected Manufacturing Firms in Kaduna State
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The objectives of the study are;
- To identify major environmental factors that create opportunities and threats for manufacturing organizations.
- To determine who and which department is responsible for strategy planning
- To examine strategies adopted about the environmental factors.
- To examine the processes of strategic planning used and its relationship with environmental information in organizations.
- To determine the impact of the business environment on organizational attainment of objectives.
- Proffer solutions as to some other possible ways, which these organizations can adopt in changing business environmental factors
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
The word strategy is a derivative word from Greek (stratum), which means general its usage according to James (1979:105) dates back to 400 BC. Unfortunately, there is no consensus about the meaning of the word strategy, either in management, literature, and/or practice. Stanier et al (1999:200) posited that strategy is the forging of a company’s missions, setting objectives for the organization in light of external and internal forces, formulating specific policies and strategies to achieve the objective, and assuring their proper implementation so that the basic purposes and objectives of the organizations will be achieved. Udaze (1996:27) said that strategies mean for all practical purposes the same things. Churchman (1997:307) saw strategic management as encompassing all the decisions and actions leading to the attainment of long-term objectives. The entire organization is considered as a system with its interacting elements, which include its external environment. He went further to say that without this system perspective, managers ten see problems in isolation failing to recognize the dynamic inter-relationship among subsystems of the organization and with other external systems. These external forces include economic, political cultural E.B.C, which affects the success of the organization. The environment is a major source of uncertainty to a business manager and influences organizations in many ways its understanding is of great importance to the growth of the business, therefore to ensure the survival of the business, the manager must adapt to the environment and also allow for the exchange of values which create opportunities and solutions to problems arising from different types of environment. Onwuchekwa (1993:128) quoting Churchman (1968:307) in his book “Business Policy”, defines environment as something that lies outside the organization, he went further to say that “the environment of the system is what exists outside of it and this environment partly determines the performance of this system”. He maintained that the environment is a fixed constraint for the organization and that managers cannot change/avoid or do anything about it. The environment is important because it helps or leads to the success of an organization if properly managed. Onwuchekwa defined the environment of a business organization as those elements, institutions, organization, system, etc, whose activities and services are essential for the effective subject to the control of the organization. Despite all those known facts about the business environment, its components are not static especially those of the external. The external environment, which makes the future very uncertain for business organizations, makes adaptation to changes mandatory for business managers, and even when the future is certain, there is a need for planning especially in the choice of strategy. Organizations’ responses to environmental changes are not always obvious because according to Wilson (1989:215), much depends on managerial philosophy profitability, and life cycle of the organization, and the manager’s perception of the environment. The environmental influence is extremely complex and can dramatically bring an unexpected and negative impact to the business. This means that for the successful existence of an organization in its environment, the manager must not only scan their environment continuously but must also be quick to develop appropriate policies and strategies in managing the uncertain and dynamic environments they operate within.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Research design
The researcher used a descriptive research survey design in building up this project work the choice of this research design was considered appropriate because of its advantages of identifying attributes of a large population from a group of individuals. The design was suitable for the study as a study on the strategies for managing environmental factors in business organizations in Nigeria
Sources of data collection
Data were collected from two main sources namely:
(i)Primary source and
(ii)Secondary source
Primary source:
These are materials of statistical investigation that were collected by the research for a particular purpose. They can be obtained through a survey, observation questionnaire or as experiment; the researcher has adopted the questionnaire method for this study.
Secondary source:
These are data from textbook Journal handset etc. they arise as byproducts of the same other purposes. Example administration, various other unpublished works and write ups were also used.
Population of the study
Population of a study is a group of persons or aggregate items, things the researcher is interested in getting information a study on the strategies for managing environmental factors in business organization in Nigeria. 200 staff of some selected manufacturing firm in Kaduna state was selected randomly by the researcher as the population of the study.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION ANALYSIS INTERPRETATION OF DATA
Introduction
Efforts will be made at this stage to present, analyze and interpret the data collected during the field survey. This presentation will be based on the responses from the completed questionnaires. The result of this exercise will be summarized in tabular forms for easy references and analysis. It will also show answers to questions relating to the research questions for this research study. The researcher employed simple percentage in the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Introduction
It is important to ascertain that the objective of this study was to ascertain a study on the strategies for managing environmental factors in business organization in Nigeria
In the preceding chapter, the relevant data collected for this study were presented, critically analyzed and appropriate interpretation given. In this chapter, certain recommendations made which in the opinion of the researcher will be of benefits in addressing the challenges of strategies for managing environmental factors in business organization in Nigeria
Summary
This study was on a study on the strategies for managing environmental factors in business organization in Nigeria. Six objectives were raised which included: To identify major environmental factors that creates opportunities and threats for the manufacturing organizations, to determine who and which department is responsible for strategies planning, to examine strategies adopted in relation to the environmental factors, to examine the processes of strategic planning used and its relationship with environmental information in organizations, to determine the impact of business environment in organizational attainment of objectives, Proffer solutions as to some other possible ways, which these organization can adopt in changing business environmental factors. In line with these objectives, two research hypotheses were formulated and two null hypotheses were posited. The total population for the study is 200 staff of selected manufacturing firms in Kaduna state. The researcher used questionnaires as the instrument for the data collection. Descriptive Survey research design was adopted for this study. A total of 133 respondents made up supervisors, HRMs, senior staff and junior staff was used for the study. The data collected were presented in tables and analyzed using simple percentages and frequencies
Conclusion
The study revealed that there is no significant relationship between product strategy and the level of profit, there is no significant relationship between promotional strategy and the sales volume, there is no significant relationship between price strategy and the market share and lastly there is no significant relationship between place strategy and the level of customer loyalty. The study revealed that the utilization of product strategies enhances the level of profit in organizations, product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a want or need, product is about quality, design, features, brand name and sizes and these influences the level of profit of Nigeria, the use of promotional strategies enhances sales volume in organizations and also that promotion usually provides target audiences with all the accurate information they need to help them take decision
Recommendation
Additionally, it should be noted that, inappropriate choice of marketing strategies may lead to strategic marketing failure. So, when choosing the marketing strategies to be engaged with, airlines must endeavour to identify the right mix of marketing activities that will match the company’s product or service offering to convey the intended message about the brand, with the aim of getting the desired consumer response towards their product brand.
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