The Effect of Managerial Practices Transferred From Head Office of Barclays Bank to Kenyan Subsidiaries

Abstract

The business environment in which firms operate is dynamic. Environmental forces affect business in different ways, influence competitiveness and therefore the need to transfer best managerial practices to gain competitive edge. The banking sector has experienced an increase in competition over the last few years resulting from increased innovation and new entrants in to the market. The competitiveness of the Kenyan banking industry has seen several international commercial banks transfer managerial staff from the head office to the subsidiaries in order to retain the market share and improve its overall performance. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of managerial practices transferred from head office of Barclays bank to Kenyan subsidiaries. The study adopted a case study by primarily employing interview guides while the targeted interviewees were chief executive officer, chief manager finance and planning, chief manager human resource and administration. Data collected was analysed using content analysis. The study found out the effect of the various aspects affecting knowledge and skill transfer to the Barclays Bank of Kenya subsidiaries while utilizing expatriates, these factors included Absorptive capacity of local staff to the expatriates skills, use of expatriates as agents of knowledge transfer; challenges, impact and capabilities of expatriates, establishment of organizational policies, targets and objectives. Each of these factors had either a positive or negative effect on the managerial practices transferred to the Kenyan Barclays Bank and in some cases, both effects. Various factors hindering the success in the use of expatriates in skill and knowledge transfer were identified which included lack of sufficient resources to sustain the expatriates in the organization for a long time, Government regulations, Resistance by the local staff and negative attitude towards expatriates by the local management, the socio-cultural difference. The study concluded that Barclays Bank of Kenya gathers a number of great benefits from the use of expatriates. All these benefits have resulted to the organization enjoying a competitive advantage among its peer and enhance financial performance. The study recommends that bank managements should increase the amount of resources allocated to hiring and sustaining expatriates so as to increase the period and number of expatriates deployed so as to enhance the process of managerial skills transfer.