Assessment of business strategy: implication for Indian banks

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the business strategy and its strategic orientation in the context of Indian banking sector. While past research has focussed on internal factors, organizational performance and organizational design, present research intends to fill the gap by assessing the strategic archetypes for Indian banking. Design/methodology/approach – A review of literature resulted in 14 items covering various aspects of strategy orientation. A structured questionnaire was used to obtain insights from bank managers. The study is based on responses received from 330 banking officials working in various functional areas of banks in India. Findings – Using factor analysis, the 14 items are reduced into four major factors: competition, cost, innovation and customer need. In terms of strategic preferences, the finding indicates that respondents have given higher rating for both market share (25 percent) and new products (25 percent), followed by cost (16 percent), competition (15 percent) and service (13 percent). Originality/value – With the dominant preference for market share and new products, authors proposed a market share-new product matrix and identified four quadrants: low return, resource constraint, complacency and optimal performance. The study offers guidance to managers to frame and assess the bank strategy.