Expansion Strategies Used by Standard Chartered Bank to Enhance Competitive Advantage in East African Market
Abstract
The banking industry within East African Community has come under immense
competition as more and more commercial banks set foot in the region. Both international
and pan African banks have established themselves within the region making the banking
industry very competitive. Standard Chartered Bank is one of the multinational banks
operating within the region with its headquarters in Nairobi Kenya. In order to remain
competitive, the Bank has initiated several strategies in order to efficiently serve the EAC
market. The purpose of this study was to determine the expansion strategies used by
Standard Chartered Bank to enhance competitive advantage in the East African
Community Market. The study adopted Case study research design since the focus was
on one organization. The researcher conducted interviews with middle level management
team and hub managers at Standard Chartered Bank because of their involvement in
competitive strategy formulation. Content analysis was used to analyze the data collected
from the respondents since it was qualitative in nature. The study established that
Standard Chartered Bank had embarked on an expansion strategy in the East African
region through subsidiaries and branch networks and that the bank has used technology to
facilitate the expansion programme. It was also established that the strategy had enhanced
the competitiveness of the bank within the region through increased sales and
profitability. The study recommends that the bank should continuously invest in
technological improvement to maintain the competitive advantage and also seek other
expansion strategies like forming strategic alliances with local banks.
Publisher
University of Nairobi