Strategic Thinking and Planning for Innovation in Resource Governance: Insights from Zambia’s Mining Sector

The disconnect between national development agendas and specific sectoral strategic initiatives hampers effective resource management in developing nations. This research investigates how a lack of strategic thinking skills among planners impacts the performance of Zambia's Ministry of Mines and Mineral Development (MMMD). The study utilizes Liedtka's five dimensions of strategic thinking, including systems perspective, focused intent, temporal reasoning, hypothesis-driven approaches, and intelligent opportunism, as its theoretical framework. An existential-phenomenological qualitative methodology, complemented by document analysis, guided the research. Data obtained from interviews with key informants, focus group discussions, and policy analyses were processed using interpretive phenomenological methods and thematic analysis. The primary result reveals a significantly lower usage of Liedtka's dimensions by strategic planners within the ministry. The research concludes that the lack of strategic thinking abilities among planners has limited the Ministry's capacity to effectively interpret the requirements of the 8th National Development Plan, which hinders reliable forecasting relating to the mining sector. Without improved strategic thinking skills, future organizational planning in the ministry is unlikely to bring about enhancements for the mining industry. Strategic planning stakeholders should focus on improving both the level and quality of strategic thinking within their divisions and allocate resources towards developing these strategic thinking capabilities.