Critical analysis and evaluation of strategies adopted by world class financial institutions (2006): Citigroup, Hongkong Bank (HSBC), Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject Business economics - Operations Research, grade: A (73%), University of Sunderland, language: English, abstract: The world today is changing faster than ever before. Technological developments, financial constraints, expanding markets, mergers and acquisitions, new government legislation are all putting pressure on organisations to change and stay dynamic (Davenport and Short, 1990; Aijo et al., 1996). It is argued that organisations have to pay attention to environmental changes in order to survive in the market (Fahey and Narayanan, 1986). Especially the financial sector is driven by two key environmental features; global deregulation of the sector and global decline in cost and technological changes such as the use of electronic media for service provisions and greater use of the Internet for banking transactions (Grosse, 2004). Corporate Strategy is the cornerstone of the success or failure of a company. It gives direction to corporate values, goals, mission and culture. This paper defines the core competencies and dynamic capabilities of four of the leading financial institutions (for a company brief refer to Appendix A, SWOT analysis Appendix B) as well as the importance of corporate governance. Furthermore based on the information gathered it will be discussed what key challenges Citibank and Deutsche Bank are facing, the significance of these challenges and how they might be overcome. Finally, strategic implementations are suggested.