The lack of strategic planning in the day-to-day running of supermarkets in Malta

Abstract

This research identifies the lack of strategic planning in Maltese supermarkets and from where this deficiency derives. It explores in detail what strategic planning is, how it is formulated, and what type of analytical tools are to be used so as to assess all the possible factors that will have an impact on the organisation. The analysis of primary gives an insight on the factors which are leading administrators to diverge from the proper implementation of strategic planning. Additionally, secondary data is used to obtain further insight of variables and identify alternative means to assess factors that may become potential threats. The general findings in this study have show that strategic planning is not given the importance it should by entrepreneurs in the food retailing industry. It has been found that there are some misconceptions about the methods used to collect data and the formulation of strategic planning. Moreover, entrepreneurs do not assess the complete or essential spectrum of variables. They tend to adhere to three or four factor which feel are important and neglect the other variables constituting the micro and macroenvironments. These results indicate that if supermarkets perform serious data gathering and strategic planning regularly, this could greatly enhance their performance. This planning could also help in the eventuality of having foreign institutions opening their doors in the already saturated Maltese food retailing market. Ideally, Strategic Planning should become normal practice for any organisation in the running of the supermarkets. Adequate models should be used to assess the fast changing macroenvironment and maintain a steady momentum in assessing the microenvironment for continuous improvements. The various departments of the supermarkets should work in synchronisation to assess environments in their entirety to perform efficiently and effectively.