Strategic Evaluation Plan and Improvement of Cement Plants (Iraqi Kurdistan Region – as a Case Study)

Abstract

The cement plants in the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG) have made a considerable contribution to the economy of the region and almost dominated the cement market in the entire region and middle and south of Iraq. The cement plants as a part of KRG’s industrial sector needs to consider strategic planning, through this research the condition and quality of the cement plants in KRG have been evaluated, using Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats analysis (SWOT Analysis) technique as a strategic planning tool to demonstrate weakness points and strong points in the cement production process and to review opportunities to turn weaknesses into strengths while identifying the challenges facing this process and suggesting strategies to develop the cement plants. The main aim of the current study is to strategically evaluate, plan, and improve cement plants in KRG through the application (SWOT Analysis Technique). To achieve the study objectives, the methodology consists of a literature survey and field survey; including Interviews, field visits, data collection, presentation, analysis, and discussion of the results. In this study the reality of cement production in Iraq and Kurdistan region of Iraq has been demonstrated, the research sample was Gasin Cement Company (GCC) located in Sulaimaniya Governorate, SWOT analysis has been conducted to study the reality in the plant, some strong points, weakness points, opportunities, and threats have been founded. As a strong point; the quality of cement in GCC is high then as a weakness point Absence supervision on contractor’s work, after that as an opportunity Iraqi government has prevented the import of cement since 2016, finally as a threat the fluctuation of oil price does have dangerous effects on the cement market.