Towards a better understanding of strategic planning in service versus manufacturing firms

The extant literature is void of a scientific and robust explanation of the differences between strategic planning effectiveness in service and manufacturing firms. And while there is overwhelming evidence on the importance of strategic planning to organisational performance in service firms; there is little or no understanding of the impact of strategic planning in manufacturing; and what aspects of planning will be more impactful in service contrasted with manufacturing firms. This study has addressed this gap, utilizing mathematical and linear regression models. The findings from the composite models are that there are no meaningful differences in strategic planning effectiveness in service and manufacturing firms. However, analysis of decomposed models revealed that good assessment of internal and external environments, setting clearly defined goals and identifying and framing strategic issues were significant drivers of organisational performance in service firms; while in manufacturing, identifying and framing strategic issues were the major contributors to bottom‐line.