Strategic Responses Adopted by Kenya Commercial Bank to Cope With the Competition in the Banking Industry

Abstract

This study sought to establish the strategic responses adopted by Kenya Commercial bank to cope with the competition in the banking industry having seen different banks emerge literally opposite each other in major towns with the need to capture a large market share having seen retail banking more lucrative over the years. The study was a case study of Kenya Commercial bank being one of the key players in the banking industry over the years and having emerged as one of the best seeing it tow with the business goals of survival, growth and continuity. Response was received from the head of retail banking, head of marketing and public relations department with the help of the operations manager as these departments hold influencing positions that have direct response or ripple effect to what is brought out from the organization to the market and that which still monitor the response from the market. From the study we realize that Kenya Commercial bank strategies are in full concentration with their resources and thus tend more to use the inside-out approach in which they use their strength and maximize this synergy to attract different individuals to bank with them. We see the bank maximize with relationship marketing aspect which focuses on improving current customers rather than acquiring new ones which is much cheaper. They are also dependant on their public image and enhance their branding image which depicts how aggressive and tiger competitors they are as they compete throughout the vi year and maximize on market intelligence and aggressively use advertising as their key element of competition. Finally the study shows the different types of competitors that emerge from industry competition and depicts how porter’s theory of five force models still plays a major role in shaping competition in industries. This study also gives a glimpse of how the banking industry has emerged in Kenya and how it will distinctively have different studies emerge from the growth of the industry.