THE EFFECT OF STRATEGIC PLANNING ON ORGANISATION PRODUCTIVITY(A CASE STUDY OF THE NIGERIA BOTTLING COMPANY PLC EASTERN REGION)

ABSTRACTFailures of the corporate business organization in Nigerian a trend that is now becoming a rule rather than the exception in our national life. It has

assumed such a phenomenal dimension that now threatens the fabric of national economy. This traffic development has induced fear into the

minds of many potential investors (government and individuals) thus discouraging meaningful investments eminent business scholars and

practitioners have blamed this ugly development on non-application of strategic planning by these corporate business entities in their

management styles. They believe that it was either because the present crop of corporate executives are ignorant of the concept of strategic

management or that they lack the required skills to meet with the expectation of strategic planning. This study has, therefore, attempted an up-to-

date review of existing literature on strategic planning process, and has also analysed the extent to which this could be used to enhance

organizational productivity excerpts from previous work done in this area, questionnaires, interview and personal observations formed the primary

sources of data. While periodical from this Nigerian Bottling Company Plc newspapers, journals constituted other sources. Two hypotheses were

formulated and put to test using chi-square distribution for analysis one, while analysis two was put to test using product moment co-efficient of

correlation and the T-test distribution to prove that the internal and external environment factors surrounding the company have significant

influence on its strategic planning and the corporate performance of the company too. This revealing that in real life situations strategic planning

and its application have the potential of reviewing that in real life situations strategic planning and its application have the potentials of reviewing

and sustaining corporate entities through increased productivity. Therefore top company management should engage only skilled personnel’s

who would adopt scientific techniques to plan strategically.

TABLE OF CONTENTTitle page

CertificationDedicationAcknowledgementAbstractTable of contentCHAPTER ONE

1.1 INTRODUCTION1.2 Central background of the subject matter1.3 Problem that the study will be concentrated with1.4 The important of studying the area1.5 Definition or important terms1.6 Reference

CHAPTER TWO2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 The origin of subject matter2.2 Schools of thought within the subject area2.3 The school of thought to the problem of study2.4 Different method of studying the problem of study2.5 Summary2.6 Reference

CHAPTER THREE3.0 CONCLUSION

3.1 Data presentation principle of the study3.2 Analysis of the data3.3 Recommendation3.4 Conclusions3.5 References

CHAPTER ONE1.0 INTRODUCTION

1.1 CENTRAL BACKGROUND FOR THE SUBJECT MATTERStrategic planning which is process chart involves analyzing the opportunities and threats in the market place, while building the strengths and

correcting the weaknesses within the firm, also involves setting goals for specific product marker and for the firm (Bernett and Wilsted (1988) and

since it is perceived as a mediating force between the organisation and its environment it has become highly imperative for business organisation

to adopt it so as to enhance productivity.

This is sequel to that fact chart business enterprises under the prevailing economic environment of today, have to be up and doing so as to be

efficient to survive. High price due to increasing production costs coupled with severe liquidity squeeze necessitated by the dwindling external

value of our national currency, have had a serious dampening effect on consumer demand having been faced, therefore, with a high costs of

production, diminishing markets and environmental uncertainties, business organization have had to compete move aggressively with one

another to attain acceptable volumes of production, sales and a good marker share2. Suffice it to say, therefore, that the complexity of today’s

business, coupled with the turbulence in the economic waters of the nation, makes it very turbulence in the economic waters of the nation, makes

it very doubtful if any modern business organisation of reasonable size can survive this competitive environment without adequate strategic

planning. No wonder, therefore, that strategic planning has become increasing important to managers in recent years. And since it defines

fundamental goals and objective in specific terms, and determines the means to achieve them as well as provides a basic, long-range framework

into which other forms of planning can fit, it can, therefore, be said to have a very strong influence on the survival and growth of an organizational

most especially in a volatile environment.

Consequent upon that, business organizations needs plans to be able to predict unforeseen contingencies, minimize production costs, as well as

wastage and then be able to grapple with competitions in a programmed manner – which is the essence of strategic planning. All business

organizations need to plan ahead whatever the kind of market, competitive, oligopolistic or monopolistic in which they operate an organization

operating in a competitive marker needs to plan and design strategies such as will ensure first, its survival and when its continued profitability. A

firm operating in an oligopolistic market has move critical reason for planning because of the fierceness of the competition in such marker and

even the monpolist organization has to continually deva new strategies to maintain its position or else it will soon be faced with competition. A

wrong investment decision in today’s business would is likely to entail a huge financial loss. A fundamental and pertinent question arises as to

why some organizations are outstandingly successful while others achieve marginal or moderate successes and others fail alarmingly. It is also

asked as to what it is about organizations that tend to make some ability of their managers to pull critical levers at important points in the

evolutionary development of their companies.

For these managers, the trick is knowing which levers to pull, and when to pull these levers to pull, and when to pull these levers to produce the

desire and significant results in term of increased productivity which leads to high profitability of their organizations. We may identify these critical

levers as organizational strategies. Strategy and strategic planning in the context of business organizations, refer the major action programmes

that are used by organizations to achieve their mission and goals. The focus of all business organisation is viability and profitability. The first

requirement of the spirit of organisation is high performance standards for the group as well as for individuals in the organisation. A successful

organisation is most often in efficient enterprise one of the major focuses of management by objectives is to have managers set high performance

standards for themselves. A manager performs his functions by allocation and integration of human and economic resources through the process

of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling, for the purpose of producing outputs (goods and services) desired by its customers, so that the

organization’s objectives are achieved. A manager works with and through people and other resources to realize these organisation objectives,

Apala Agwu (1990).

As modern business activities widen, environmental scanning and planning become difficult and more relevant today’s business conditions have continuous to change so fast to emphasize a growing need for continuous business intelligence activities and strategic planning as the only option to anticipate failure problems and opportunities. Strategic planning provides all employees with clear goals and directions to the future of the organization. It also provides a standard against which future performance can be compared. And all this makes it complicated in many highly technical firms that are subject to the “law of acceleration” which suggests an increasing rate of change. Since strategic planning arms at finding how a company competes successful within it environment, it is therefore said to be based on the principles of comparative competitive advantage necessary for survival and growth under competitive conditions. A firm cannot survive or grow unless it maintains one or more comparative competitive advantages, which provide the basic rationale by which customers will prefer that firm to others.Unfortunately, though Nigeria presents a strong picture of a turbulent and unpredictable environment for organizations to thrift – particularly the manufacturing sector. This is due mainly to constant changes in the political and economic conditions in the country. The effect of this on the manufacturing sector is quite stupendous. This is especially so when once considers the fact that majority of our manufacturing industries today provide below capacity. Specifically speaking, for manufacturing industries operating in today’s volatile business environment, the need for the strategic planning seems too obvious and imperative to require mentioning. The fortunes of our economy and the manufacturing sector appear inextricably interwoven, and so development within the overall economy will inevitably have direct impacts on the environment. Similarly, the operational efficiency of this sector or otherwise in bringing

to fruition the social and economic yearnings of the nation has direct impact on the economy it is against this background that this study intends to assess the effect of strategic planning on the productivity of the Nigerian Bottling Company. It is hoped that this study will in the long run afford the rare opportunity of understanding and appreciating the significance of strategic planning in today’s organizational restructuring, planning and improvement.1.2 PROBLEM ASSOCIATED WITH THE SUBJECT MATTERAfter the euphoria of national independent that task of national development dawn on Nigerians to pave the way for individual growth. Nigerian policy-makers then placed the thrust on industrialization on the shoulders of the manufacturing sector. However, the progress today in this direction leaves more to be desired. The present stale of the manufacturing sector has been perennially bedeviled by unsteady and less result oriented production activities.It is a commonplace tap now to hear out so-called industrialists and economic watchers alleging that low productivity, operating below installed capacity utilization, unfavourable socio-political and economic environments and continued depreciation of national currency against the dollar, are responsible for this ugly situation. But must fundamental to this study is the factor, productivity. Productivity is the output per unit of a factor of production. It is dependent on the availability of the productive resources in requisite proportions and how much output each unit of resources can be made to yield. The problem with Nigerian manufacturing sector is how to combine these two factors. However, quite a number of management ideas and philosophies have been applied, but to our disappointment, they have not achieved their attendant ends. Many critics have blamed it on the peculiarity of the Nigerian socio-political and economic environment, while others on the haphazard application of these management ideas and philosophies.We shall take the view of the letter as the almost of this study. Planning is one of their most fundamental management processes which seeks to set in advance purposes and objectives an entity may seek to achieve through planning, the when, the who, and the how is clearly defined within a time horizon for the achievement of a specified goal or goals thus emphasizing a special relationship with productivity. From the strategic management paradigm, output per unit of a factor of production should be planned in such a way that it identifies the opportunities and threats in the organization’s environment, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the organization, designing structures, defining roles, luring appropriate people, and developing appropriate reward to make contribution. Against this background, what is the effect of strategic planning on productivity in the Nigeria Bottling Company Plc.

1.3 THE PROBLEM THE STUDY WILL BE CONCENTRATED WITHFollowing the research purpose and objectives, as well as the core problem being investigated by the study, the following hypotheses will be

tested.

HO Hi: The internal and external environment factors surrounding this company significantly effect its strategic planning.

Hi H2: There is positive relationship between strategic planning and the corporate performance of the company.

1.4 IMPORTANCE OF STUDYING THE AREAIn the first place, this study should be of immense assistance to business students, business practitioners, systems designers and indeed all persons who are concerned about the proper informational input into management planning processes. By bringing into focus the state of the art in the literature, it is also going to be of assistance to lectures.The manufacturing sector, as earlier indicated are very important to the company of this country, therefore, since this is assumed to be a thorough study of strategic planning in this sector, it will reveal its level of managerial efficiency and effectiveness. And this knowledge will be vital to both the government and owners of industries. Furthermore, it will provide a model for an efficient and effective strategy planning, which will, assists managers in this sector.A practical significance will be the identification of the factors responsible for the high failure rate of industries particularly in a competitive industry like soft drink – producing companies of which the Nigeria Bottling Company Plc is one.The knowledge will help determine the structure of the business environment available to them and be able to forecast future conditions. Good business is the ability to make profit and sustain the life of the company. This can only be achieved through a proper knowledge of strategic planning.Finally, researcher will find this as a base for continued assessment and further research on the subject. The value of the investigation to professionals, practitioners and persons or corporate bodies cannot be over emphasized since they are involved in the operations of these establishments.

1.1 DEFINITION OF IMPORTANT TERMSStrategy: This outline the fundamental steps that management plans to undertake in order to reach an objective or set of objective.

Planning: This is the act of choosing a course of action and deciding in advance what is to be done in what sequence, when and how.

Strategy formulation: This is the task of analyzing the organization’s external and internal environment and then selecting an appropriate

strategy.

Strategy implementation: It is the task of designing appropriate organizational structures and control systems given the organization’s choice of

strategy.

Corporate strategies: This address what business an organization will be in and how resources will be allocated among those businesses.

Business strategy: This focuses on how to compete in a given business.

Functional strategy: It focuses on the short run, “how to” issues of implementing strategies.

Strategic managers: These are individuals who bear responsibility for the overall performance of the organization or for one of its major self-

contained divisions.

Strategic adult: This is concerned with analyzing and assessing what has been achieved in the past and what the organization is capable of

achieving in the future.

Strategic gap: This is the difference in the level of performance called for in the firm’s state objective and the level of performance that seems

likely to result from the continuation of current operations.

Scenarios: This is a form of educated guesses made by planners. Objective: a statement of what is to be achieved.

Goal: This is synonymous with objective; a statement of what is to be achieved.

Mission: This defines the basic purpose or purposes of the organization; usually includes a description of the organization’s basic products

and/or services and a definition of its market and/or sources of revenue.

Productivity: This is an economic measure of efficiency indicating what is produced relative to resources used to produce it.

Aggregate productivity: This is the total level of productivity achieved by a country.

Industry productivity: This is the total level of productivity achieved by the firms in a particular industry.

Company productivity: This is the level of productivity achieved by an individual company.

Individual productivity: This is the level of productivity attained by a single individual.

Total factor productivity: This is an overall indication of how well an organization uses all of its resources to create all of its products and

services.

Partial productivity ratio: This ratio uses only one category of resources.

REFERENCES

John H. Barnet and William D. Wilsted. (1988), Strategic Management:Concept and Cases Boston: Pws.Kent Publishing Company, 98.Isa .C.S. (1990) Effective Utilization of Marketing Research in aComparative Environment: The Segmentation Approach: Management in Nigeria, Vol. 26. N0 2, Pp. 23-30.Akapal A. (1990) Management: An Introduction and the Nigeria Perspective

Enugu Precision Printers, P3.

CHAPTER TWOLITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 THE ORIGIN OF THE SUBJECT AREAIn the course of this study, the research his subjects are from Nigeria Bottling Company Plc, EASTERN REGION due to the ineffective planning

on organisation productivity.

2.2 SCHOOL OF THOUGHT WITH THE SUBJECT AREAAkpala, Agwu (1990), states chat planning establish the framework or boundaries within which people make decisions and carryout actions in the future. It determines what is to be done in the future and to what end. He says that planning therefore, anticipates future events, problems and relationships and in this way it;

1. Develops a series of alternative approaches to guide action towards desired goals, and then

2. Decides what to do, why or to what end, when to do it, how to do it, and where to do it before action is taken.Megginson, Leon et al (1986), define planning as choosing a course of action and deciding in advance what is to be done, in what sequence, when, and how. Good planning, they stale, attempts to consider the nature of the future environments in which planning decisions and actions are intended to operate, as the current period when plans are being made. According to them, planning provides the basic for effective action resulting from management’s ability to anticipate and prepare for changes that might affect organizational objectives. Thus it is the basis for integrating the management functions and is especially needed for controlling the organization’s operations.Trewartha, et al (1976) states that planning involves setting of goals and objectives. This is to say chat planning is the determination of objectives, strategies, methods, programmes and rules, required in guiding the combination and utilization of an organization’s human material and money resources for further time spans.Planning is a process which takes a rationalistic and decision making approach; and recognizes problems, evaluates relevant information, develops alternative courses of action, assess the consequences of each alternative, and selects the best course of action, called plan, they state.Ewurum & Unamka (1995), state that in business, planning is the managerial function of solting company objectives, determining strategy and selecting alternative courses of action. Planning according to them is an umbrella word or idea containing the following elements;

a. Objectivesb. Policiesc. Programmesd. Rules

e. Methodsf. Standards

Kmard, Jerry (1988), states that planning is an activity we perform before taking action. It is anticipatory decision making process of deciding what to do and how to do it before action is required. Its purpose, he continuous, is to facilitate progress and improve performance and that planning allows integrated, consistent, and purposeful action. Although mistakes can be avoided and problems can be anticipated and overcome before crises arise, but that planning must be based on prudent forecasts and reasonable premises. And that it cannot be done in an atmosphere of blind optimism and disregard for competitive and environment realities.

2.3 SCHOOL OF THOUGHT TO THE PROBLEM OF STUDYThere are many reasons for planning, but according to Mosley C. Donald et al (1986), planning is done because it prepares the organization for continuous change. While planners cannot control the future, they should at least attempt to identify and isolate present actions and changes that can be expected to influence the future, they state. Again, they say another reason for planning is to see that current programs and findings can be used to increase the enhances of achieving future objectives and goals – that is, to increase the chances for making better decisions today that help improve tomorrow’s performance.They state further that unless planning leads to improved performance, it is done in vain and so, to help an organization anticipate the future so that it can stay alive and proper in a changing world, there must be active, vigorous, continuous and creative planning. Otherwise, management will only react to its environment and not be an active participant in the competitive world.

2.4 DIFFERENT METHODS OF STUDYING THE PROBLEM OF STUDYKinard, Jerry (1998) states that the most useful method of classifying plans is based on where they are formulated in an organization. And in this system of classification, plans are strategic, administrative, and tactical.

1) Strategic planning: According to him, unlike short – and medium – range plans, strategic planning, or top management planning, includes the development of overall company objectives and is primarily concerned with solving long-term problems associated with external, environmental influences. It addressed these questions.What business are we in? What business should we be in? Where will we be in ten years if we continue doing what we are now doing?

Firms have four alternatives to help them answer these questions:

a) Expansion within the existing industry

b) Diversification into another industry

c) Divestment of existing assets

d) A strategy of wait and sec.

Selecting any of these requires that a company engage in strategic planning. How far into the future a firm projects depends on the industry and

the anticipated business environment. After a firm has developed a vision for its future it compares where it would like to be with where it is now

and where it will be if it does nothing. The difference between where a firm would like to be and where it will be if it does nothing is called the

planning gap. Strategic planning is primarily concerned with closing that gap to state Leon, Reinhawch et al (1980).

2) Administrative planning: In contrast to strategic planning, which established the mission of the organization, administrative, planning,

according to Kinard, Jerry (1988)? Is the process that structures a firm’s resources to achieve maximum performance? Administrative plans do

not involve such matters as plan layout, merchandise display, and servicing customers, he says, they concentrate rather on product aims,

selection of geographical areas, and policies dealing with the major functions of the organization (production, marketing, finance, research,

personnel etc).

3) Tactical planning: This again, he states in concerned with the efficient, day-to day use of resources allocated to a department manager’s area

of responsibility. These managers typically work with a one-year operating budget. For example, he says that a sales manager may be required to

develop an operational plan to sell a certain number of items within a specific period.

2.5 SUMMARYIn order to expose the effects strategic planning would have in the productivity of any business organization, the researcher reviewed related literature in three folds.First and foremost, the concept planning was looked into to decipher what it actually means, why people plan and steps, involved in planning effectively so as to attain any set objectives. Moreso, the various types of plans as well as the importance of plans were also considered.Furthermore, the research in considering the concept strategic planning took a brief analysis of strategic management into cognizance, after which the processes, levels, barriers encountered in its implementation, as well as roles and benefit derivable from strategic planning were also brought under focus.Finally, the issue of organizational productivity was addressed by looking at the meaning of productivity and its associated problems as well as some of the major determinants which comprises such factors as the environment, work characteristics, organizational characteristics, individual characteristics. In addition, the factors influencing it coupled with the importance it has on the society were equality highlighter. Thus far, the impact of strategic planning has on the productivity of business organizations if the rudiments involved are in place have been exposed. It becomes imperative, therefore, that for any business organization to survive and grow in its environment, it must have the ability to successfully predict and adapt to the future since strategic planning is an attempt to forecast the future and adapt to it.This is possible, though, only if a strategist manager is able to successfully combine organizational resources having taken into consideration the internal and external opportunities as well as constrains in order chat the organization reaps the best possible advantage over its competitors in terms of increased productivity which is the dream of every business organisation.REFERENCES

Akapal A. (1990) Management: An Introduction and the Nigeria Perspective

Enugu Precision Printers, P3.

Megginson, Leon C, Mosley, Donald, C, Pietri, Panl H.Jr, (1986)

Management Concepts and Applications 2nd Edition. Toronto,

Harper and Row, Publishers Inc. Pp. 122-159.

Trewartha Robert I. And Newport, M. Gene, (1976) ManagementFunctions and Behaviour: Toronto, Dallas Business Publication Inc P53.Unamka, P.C. and Ewurum U.J.F. (1995) Business Administration Enugu.

Precession Printers and Publishers, Pp. 74-75.Kinardm Jerry (1988) Management D.C. Health and Company. Toronto

Lexington, Massachusetts P.S.

CHAPTER THREECONCLUSIONS

3.1 DATA PRESENTATIONThe researcher having collected the necessary data has adapted a systematic approach to analyze them. The questions which are directly related to the hypotheses in the questionnaire distributed to the managers were examined to know what the respondents have to say about the effects of strategic planning on the productivity of the Nigeria Bottling Company, Plc. In the eastern region. However, the answers to the questions asked in the questionnaire were analysed using simple percentage. This was done base on the responses from 72 successfully completed questionnaires from the managers of the eastern branch of the company with consists of seven (7) plants. The questions were grouped for ease of clarification to the respondents.Table 3.21: Type of government the company operates in

Response Frequency %Stable 66 91.7Unstable 6 8.3Total 350 100%From the above analysis, it is concluded that sixty-six (91.7%) out of the seventy two managers were of the view that the business environment is

quite a stable one as again six (8.3%) who were of a contract view.

Table 3.22: Frequency of involving long – range forecasting and decision making in plans

Response Frequency %Often 68 94.4Rarely 2 2.8Not at all 2 2.8Total 350 100%The responses above shows that a large number of sixty-eight (94.4%) of the corporate managers believe that management puts into consideration the future of the company while making decision and plans.Table 3.23: The effectiveness of strategic planning technique

Response Frequency %To a large extent 51 70.8To a little extent 18 25.0Not at all 3 4.2Total 72 100%The above analysis shows that a high percentage of 70.8 (fifty – one managers) are of the opinion that are machinery in place in the company are quite adequate for its strategic planning. These manager believe that the tools are just might for the long-range forecasting of the company.

On the hand, eighteen managers (25.0) are of all view that more are needed to make the techniques in use seem right while three (3) of the managers (4.2% are of the opinion that the technique is not right at all. They probably believe that a total over heading of the system would make things seem might.Table 3.24: Extent of the company managing for results

Response Frequency %To a large extent 51 70.8To a little extent 18 25.0Not at all 3 4.2Total 72 100%From the above analysis a number of sixty-one (61), manager (84.7%) highly believe that the management of the company is doing every thing within its scope to ensure that the objective set by the company are attained. While about seven (7) managers (9.7%) believe that the management is only managing for result to a little extent and only four (4), thought otherwise (5.6%) they are of the opinion that management is managing contrarily toward attaining stated objectives.Table 3.25: Achieving a comfortable profit margin in the past five years

Response Frequency %To a large extent 70 97.2To a little extent 2 2.8Not at all 0 0.0Total 72 100%From the above responses, a whopping number of seventy (70) managers (91.2%) owed up that, the company had been making a large profit for the past five years while only a meager number of two (2) responded that the profit has not beer much, but not that they have not been making any. None admitted that profit had not been made in the past five years, which showed that things have not been bad with the organization.

3.2 ANALYSIS OF THE DATAThe internal and external environmental factors surrounding this company significantly affect its strategic planning. To test the analysis of data,

the managers of the nine (9) departments and the plant managers as well as the regional general manager were grouped into three (3) major

units which are this:

Table 3.26

Units DepartmentProduction Bottling department and quality control

departmentAdministration Sales department, accounts department, and

personnel department including the various plant managers and the regional general manager

Operations Works department, engineering department, management, information system department

and warehouse departmentThis analysis of data will be tested using question number six (6), on environmental analysis in the questionnaire.Table 3.27: Contingency table of responses on how the internal external factors of the company affects its strategic planning

Responses Production unit

Administration unit

Operation unit

Total

Much 5 30 10 45Little 4 8 5 17Not at all 1 6 3 10Total 10 44 18 72The method applied for this test is the chi-square test of goodness of fit (x1)X2 = This means that we are apportioning a four degree freedom which

is the row number minus one time column number minus one.X1

4 = (nR –1) (ne – 1)

= (3 – 1) (3 – 1) = 2x2 =4This research is assigned a 5% level of significance. The computation of x2 using a 3x3 contingency table is thus:(F0 – Fe)2

Fe

Where F0: Observed frequencyFe: Expected frequencyRow Total x Column Total

Population Total

Table 3.28: Computation of X2 for analysis of the data one

F0 Fe (F0 –Fe)2 (F0 –Fe)2Fe

5 6.25 1.5625 0.025630 27.50 6.2500 0.227310 11.25 1.5625 0.13894 2.36 2.6896 1.13978 10.39 5.7121 0.54985 4.25 0.5625 0.13241 1.39 0.1521 0.10946 6.11 0.0121 0.00203 2.50 0.2500 0.100072 72 18.7534 2.4251Significance level of 5% (0.05). Under four (4) degree of freedom = 9.488, therefore since the calculated 2.4251 is < the critical value of 9.488, the hypothesis that the internal and external environment factor surrounding affect its strategic planning is accepted.

There is performance of this company. In the course of collecting data for this research, the researcher was reliably told that the seven (7) plants that makes up the eastern region produced the following number of crates of drinks as well as made the profit margin as stated below for the past five year (which is under review).Table 3.29: A five (5) year review of the estimated of crates produced yearly by each plant and their yearly profit margin

Location of Nigerian Bottling Company Plants

Estimated no of creates produced yearly in millions

Estimated yearly profit margin in N1 millions

Years

5.78 15.03 1994Enugu 6.47 15.99 1995

5.23 14.82 19967.13 16.00 19977.80 16.71 1998

Total 32.41 78.556.10 15.60 1994

Onitsha 6.00 15.00 19957.10 15.61 19967.23 16.07 19977.80 16.71 1998

Total 33.24 78.998.92 19.84 1994

Benin 9.27 20.01 19958.99 19.99 19969.58 20.44 19979.60 20.57 1998

Total 46.37 100.85Owerri 5.03 11.12 1994

5.26 11.26 19955.39 11.46 19965.20 11.16 19975.40 11.57 1998

Total 26.28 56.583.56 8.20 1994

Makurdi 3.77 8.22 19953.89 8.26 19964.01 8.59 19974.20 9.00 1998

Total 19.41 42.37

3.34 7.34 1994Aba 3.41 7.47 1995

3.50 7.59 19963.48 7.30 19973.60 7.71 1998

Total 17.33 37.4111.00 24.79 1994

Port Harcourt 11.11 24.93 199511.56 25.25 199611.88 25.58 199712.00 25.71 1998

Total 51.55 126.26

Formula: (x-x) (Y-Y) (x-x)2 (Y –Y)2

= 2759.19(1256) (6139.07)

= 2759.197711163.046 = 0.9936From the above analysis, the positive correlation between strategic planning of the Nigeria Bottling Company, Plc, eastern region and its corporate performance has been established. The researcher used the T-distribution method to further ascertain whether the analysis that states that there is a positive relationship between strategic planning and the corporate performance of the company should be acceptable or vegetable. In this t-distribution method only the estimated yearly profit margin of each of the plants for five (5), years was used.Table 3.31: Computation of the t-distribution for analysis of data two using only estimated profit margin figureX X (X – X) =

dD2

= - 0.1435.12= - 0.004Degree of freedomC = 1 = 35 – 1 = 54The value is between 30 = 2.04240 = 2.0214.0634.063

2= 2.032 critical value called from the Nigeria Bottling Company Plc. Regional Head Office, Enugu in order to prove that is a positive co-relation between the strategic planning of the Nigeria Bottling Company Plc and its corporate performance, the product moment co-efficient of correlation method was used to do that, the total estimated number of crate produced by each plant in the region in five (5) years was matched against the total estimated profit margin of each within the same period.Table 3.30

Computation of the product co-efficient of correlation for analysis of the data two

1x

2y

3x – x

4Y – x

3x4(x – x) (Y – x)

32

(x – x)242

(Y – Y)2

32.41 78.55 -0.82 4.12 -3.38 0.6724 16.9733.24 78.99 0.01 4.56 0.05 0.0001 20.7946.36 100.85 13.13 26.42 346.90 172.40 698.0226.28 56.58 -6.95 -

77.83124.06 48.30 318.62

19.43 42.37 -13.8 -32.06

442.43 190.44 1027.84

19.33 37.41 -15.9 -37.02

588.62 252.81 1370.48

51.55 126.26 24.32 51.83 1260.51 591.46 2686.35232.67

521.017

-0.01 0 2759.91 1256.08 6139.07

x = 33.32

Y= 74.43

Since the above analysis proves that the observed T. test (-0.004) is less than the critical value of T-test at 0.05 level of significant (2.032), the

analysis which states that there is a positive relationship between strategic planning and the corporate performance of the company is accepted

as been true.

3.3 RECOMMENDATIONThis study concentrated on a bottling company alone. It is the opinion of the researcher that much will be achieved if further studies are carried

out in the area or government agencies in the country.

It may also be very helpful to research into the effects of changes in government policies on the ability to manage strategically, with particular reference to the service industry; it will also open up the lid for a good academic exercise if studies could be carried out on the perceivable defects of traditional planning techniques.In addition, further, research might be good on industries in advanced economics, as such result would provide a good background for comparative analysis.It is further recommended that on-going and future studies direct more attention to the issue of organizational behaviour in order to understand how best to integrate such into the planning models.3.4 CONCLUSIONS

After a critical appraisal of the import of strategic planning in the literature review, couple with the finding emergent to the classical demonstration of proof of the research analysis or could, without equrocation, conclude that strategic planning is indeed the key to increase organizational productivity. This is because the impact of environmental forces on the strategic planning of the Nigerian Bottling Company Plc has been critically ascertained. In the same vein the study afforded us the opportunity of assessing the corporate performance of the company as a result of its strategic plans. It is hoped that the various recommendations made by the researcher will be religiously adopted so as to attain the goals of business organization just as the Nigerian Bottling Company, Plc a grant in the soft drinks bottling industry have been proved to be a role model in the application of strategic management. Therefore, planning is more of practical reality than a night. So plan strategically.

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