Strategies Employed by the National Bank of Kenya to Gain Competitive Advantage
Abstract
Firms the world over, have had to use one strategy or another, in order to gain and
maintain competitive advantage. This is as a result of the globalization trend that has
intensified the level of competition among different firms, causing them to strategize in
order to stay ahead of competition. The banking industry has witnessed intense
competition the world over and the Kenyan banking industry is not an exception. To
survive in this market, commercial banks have adopted different strategies to gain and
sustain competitive advantage derived from their capabilities. In a competitive banking
industry like the Kenyan situation, absence of well-defined competitive strategies can
lead to weak positions and result in performances that are below the industry average.
The purpose of this study was to examine the competitive strategies adopted by the
National Bank of Kenya to achieve competitive advantage in the market. The study
adopted case study design to carry out this research where an interview guide targeting 5
senior officers of the bank was employed to collect data. Both primary and secondary
data were sourced and used for analysis through Content Analysis method. The study
revealed that NBK has traditionally pursued low pricing strategy to capture the market
share and sustain competition. It also came to the fore that the bank is currently
undergoing a restructuring process and is embracing cost efficiency strategy to spur
growth and gain competitive edge in the competitive banking industry. The study
recommended that the bank should focus on improving its ICT infrastructure, streamline
credit management processes, expand the branch network and train staff to be more
customer-friendly to exceed customer expectations to gain and sustain competitive
advantage. The major limitation of the study was that the respondents were cautious
about revealing a lot of information on the strategies they use, given the sensitivity of
such information. Further research may be carried out to establish how the strategies
employed by the Bank can be used to compete with other banks within its strategic group.
Publisher
School of Business