DOI: https://doi.org/10.36347/sjebm.2026.v13i08.001

Pages: 405-414

Cooperatives constitute a recent movement introduced in Burundi by the state in order to build social cohesion and foster economic development with the participation of all active and working population. However, as startups, most of them fail at their early stage. As a matter of fact, contemporary business environment is changing rapidly and requires for-profit organizations quick adaption of their business model to the current course. Strategic thoughts and actions are increasingly leading to the continued viability and effectiveness of organizations of all sorts. Without strategic management it is unlikely that organizations will be able to successfully meet the numerous challenges that face them. Startups theory, strategy theory and innovation theory were assessed during this research. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the role played by strategic planning and management in success of cooperatives. Participants were the case study made of CUSABU employees, educational managers for schools with canteens in partnership with CUSABU, retailers and family members who provided us with information on planning, implementation and results of well applied strategies to achieve goals of the case study organization (CUSABU). Data were collected from semi-structured interview to get primary data. Secondary data were obtained from documents consulted during the period of this research.