Purpose - The aim of this paper is to investigate relationships between strategic planning practice, management participation and strategic planning effectiveness.Design methodology approach - A total of 87 questionnaires were collected from privately owned firms working in Egypt. Regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses.Findings - Strategic planning practice, but not management participation, is significantly associated with strategic planning effectiveness. Further, both strategic planning practice and management participation jointly enhance the effectiveness of strategic planning.Research limitations implications - Longitudinal data would be needed in order to prove that causal relationships exist. The common method bias restricts the inferences that can be drawn from this study. It would be useful to explore whether the results hold when other integrative variables are taken into consideration.Practical implications - A wide use of strategic planning tools is one important element in organizational success.Originality value - Little research has so far examined the use and worth of strategic planning tools in organizations. One function of this paper is to re-visit this area of research. It does so in one of the areas that have largely been neglected in past research in Arab countries.