Effective decision making process and its impact on strategic planning process: A case study of Nigerian oil industry

This study sought to establish the impact of effective decision making process (EDMP) on strategic planning process (SPP). The purpose was to establish if the dimensions of EDMP which are Decision making Comprehensiveness, Extensiveness and Speed have any impact on the measures of SPP which are Strategic analysis, strategic choice and strategy implementation. This gave rise to nine hypothesis stated in their null form that there is no significant relationship between the dimensions of EDMP and the measures of SPP. The study was carried out on the Nigerian oil industry and data was generated from 250 respondents of 25 small and medium scale enterprises in Port Harcourt. Data generated was subjected to statistical analysis using the Spearman's rank order correlation technique; aided by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0. The analysis revealed that there is a strong positive and significant relationship between the dimensions of EDPM and the measures of SPP. Based on the analysis, it was concluded that there exist, a positive and significant impact of the dimensions of EDMP, on the measures of SPP. It was recommended that small and medium scale enterprises should endeavour to pay special attention to the present and future implications of their decision making process to the growth and success of their business as this will enable them come up with reliable strategic plans that will drive their actions towards achieving set objectives.