Bank managers on developing customer relations

• Banks are known to have stable and long lasting relations with their customers,which is why development of customer relations is a crucial strategic issue inbanking. However, a basic problem in banking is that the customer base isheterogeneous, ranging from homogenous segments of customers with the samepreferences to customers with individual demands for customized services. A keyissue in banking is thus how bank managers view different strategies to develop theircustomer relations. This paper investigates how bank branch managers perceive theheterogeneity of their market and how the bank’s relationship strategy affect thedevelopment of customer relations. To this end, 135 branch bank managersanswered a questionnaire, which was processed by LISREL. Results suggest thathow bank managers perceive customer relationship development is determined bythe heterogenous market and the bank’s relationship strategy. Contrary to ourexpectations, bank managers consider that more difficult relationship developmentleads to a more centralized locus of realized strategy. This suggests that banksrelationship development need to focus more on customer orientation, and thatrealized strategies need to support this.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Business studies

Företagsekonomi

Business studies

Företagsekonomi

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