Determinants of Firms Repositioning in the Financial Industry: A Survey of Selected Financial Institutions

Abstract

Competition within the banking sector is not a new phenomenon. The mainstream banks being key players in the financial sector have adopted different ways of repositioning themselves for instance through product and market differentiation, cost leadership, service diversification and market focus strategies to acquire strategic positioning in the financial industry hence growth. The general objective of this study was to establish the relationship between specific factors and their influence on repositioning of financial institutions. The specific objectives were: to determine the relationship between competition and repositioning of selected financial institutions; to establish the relationship between customer satisfaction and repositioning of selected financial institutions; to determine the relationship between business prospects and repositioning of selected financial institutions and to establish the relationship between customer acquisition costs and repositioning of selected financial institutions. Literature was reviewed using experts and past researchers' literature. The study used descriptive survey research design. The target population was the 17 large financial institutions in Kenya. The study used purposive sampling to select the respondents. In this case, all the branch managers and one marketing manager in every financial institution participated in the study making a total of 34 participants. Descriptive statistics ware used to analyse the data. The results were presented in frequency tables and charts. Findings of the study showed that competition was a factor considered when repositioning by

53.1%, but the firms under study did not fully succeed in repositioning as it did not put many of them ahead of their competition as intended. Customers' satisfaction was found to be a consideration when repositioning (9.4%). Nevertheless, customer satisfaction was found to be low as indicated by complaints about long queues in the banking halls, delayed loans approval, poor customer services and poor products compared to competition. It was recommended that financial institutions should study their competition well before using a lot of money to reposition; financial institutions should stop neglecting the customers they already have, firms should diversify when looking for business prospects to get ahead of competition, financial institutions should consider the costs of acquiring new customers to enable them to choose the more affordable but effective channels and the firms which have not yet considered repositioning should do so to stay ahead of competition.