Marketing and Corporate Strategies for Financial Institutions

This chapter will draw together some of the threads that influence corporate strategy that have been dealt with elsewhere in this book, for example the impact of deregulation, financial innovation and new legislation. Any organisation, to be successful, has to respond to the competitive environment in which it operates. This has been particularly important to the formulation of business strategy for financial institutions due to the rapid pace of change in this environment during the last decade. To discuss the formulation of corporate strategy, it is necessary to discuss these external factors, the rapid pace of change and internal influences on policy such as the aims and the aspirations of managers and the response of financial institutions to these factors. The processes that have led to change will be identified, and their consequent impact on marketing and strategy analysed, to determine strategic policy areas and the response of the financial institutions in terms of marketing strategy and techniques employed. Undoubtedly the major influence on strategy has been the rapid pace of developments in the competitive environment.