Rehan ul-Haq

An examination of strategic alliances and the origins of international banking in Europe

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to explain how and why strategic alliances, in the form of clubs and consortiums, played an important role in the internationalisation of banks.Design/methodology/approach – A longitudinal analysis, commencing in 1964 with the emergence of the Eurocurrency market and culminating with the creation of the European single market in the early 1990s, is used to provide an insight into the creation of clubs and consortium banks. The authors adopt the Lawson realist methodology and identify broad structural changes in the markets in which banks operate, i.e. “mechanisms” and relate these to major trends, i.e. “events” such as the creation of strategic alliances.Findings – It is generally recognised that banks became international in response to the globalisation strategies of their multinational customers. However, the paper reveals that banks were also internationalising in response to structural changes in the financial services markets.Research limitations/implications – ...

Bank regulation and the process of internationalisation: A study of Japanese bank entry into London

The paper provides a theoretical insight into bank regulation and the process of internationalisation by examining the concepts of regulatory push and market pull within the context of Japanese bank entry into London during the 1980s. Rugman and Verbekes [(1998). Corporate strategy and international environmental policy. Journal of International Business Studies, 29(4), 819–833] Consistency of Home and Host Government Goals model is utilised to structure the discussion, which centres on a situation where there is a conflict of goals between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and the home government but goal alignment between MNEs and the host government. As such the paper examines a relatively under-researched aspect of internationalisation and concludes that in certain circumstances internationalisation can occur despite great ‘psychic distance’. The paper also argues that although bank regulation can lead to a conflict situation it can also be conducive to the development of a strong home base and the development of firm specific advantages.

Learning Expectations and Learning Process Design

European MBA programmes use a variety of learning processes. The distance learning model meets a desire to develop continuous and flexible learning environments alongside full-time work. Embedded in the six elements of the Henley distance learning MBA – workbook, groupware, workshops, WWW, telephone links and business simulation – are the cognitive and experiential schools of learning styles. This article examines the learning style expectations of 133 Henley distance learning MBA students and notes high congruence between their learning expectations and the process design used.

Qualitative research into strategic alliances

The notion of bounded rationality is used to consider strategic alliances with a view of providing an insight into the presumptive reasons for action in choosing strategic alliance partners. The research methodology used is one of a realist approach (after Stiles, 1995) and a discerning of patterns (after Tesch, 1990) in thematic interviews. The discussion examines the issue and concludes that bankers, when entering into strategic alliances, do not consider every option. That is they use filters to reduce the potential choice; thus the range of possible alliance partners is restricted in many ways, some of these being unconsciously employed. Furthermore, it is clear that, while bankers consider margins, ratios and percentages, relationships have a pre‐eminent place in strategic alliances and that relationships are poised between ends and means to ends.

An examination of cross-border strategies in banking

The paper examines the process of bank internationalisation and explores how banks become international organisations and what this involves. It also makes an assessment of the significance of their international operations and determines whether banks are truly global organisations. The empirical data are based on the 60 largest banks in the world and content analysis is used to categorise the information into the eight international strategies of Atamer, Calori, Gustavsson, and Menguzzato-Boulard [Internationalisation strategies. In R. Calori, T. Atamer, & P. Nunes (Eds.), The dynamics of international competition – from practice to theory, strategy series (pp. 162–206). London: Sage (2000)] and Bryan, Fraser, Oppenheim, and Rall [Race for the World strategies to build a great global firm. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press (1999)]. The findings suggest that the majority of banks focus on countries or geographic regions in which they have some sort of cultural or economic affinity. Moreover, apart from a relatively small number of very large banks, they are international rather than truly global organisations.

Corporate Foresight and Strategic Decisions: Lessons from a European Bank

Summary: The investigation of the future of an organization has always captivated the attention of academics and business managers. Presently, the aspiration to entrench future-relevant insights into management practices is a must. Companies that have made attempts to use corporate foresight have generally dealt successfully with internal information sharing processes that in most cases have prepared them for the challenges of the future. Corporate Foresights and Strategic Decisions investigates the relationships between corporate foresight and management decision-making processes in organizations. It provides an extensive analysis of extant theories of corporate foresight and strategic management, brings in new notions and insights, and presents an in-depth case study exploration of corporate foresight of a European bank. The understanding of organizational future is influenced by the perceived accountability and integrity of the participating departments as well as by the apparent nature of environmental explosiveness. This book provides clear confirmations showing that the impacts of corporate foresight on strategic decisions are critically affected by the evaluative and analytical verdicts of the decision-makers.

Conceptual Framework and Theoretical Considerations

This chapter will discuss the main elements affecting corporate foresight as derived by the literature review up to this point. We shall also formulate the arguments about the impact of corporate foresight on strategic decisions. At the end of the chapter, we shall present a conceptual framework that forms the basis for the empirical investigation.

Data Analysis and Findings

The theoretical discussion presented in previous sections indicated that, although corporate foresight lacks theoretical background in science, there are certain indicators on the integration of the phenomenon into judgement and hence strategic decisions. The conceptual framework on the basis of which this research has been approached was derived from previous research findings as well as by creating logical links between different concepts. The following sections will scrutinize and investigate corporate foresight from different angles and formulate findings for later discussion.

The European Banking Sector

The banking sector is a cornerstone for the development of any economy in the world. This is because the predominant actors in the field — namely, banks or credit institutions1 — serve as financial intermediaries by enabling the allocation of savings, reduction of risk through diversification, extension of credit and the management of the economy’s payment system. The banking sector’s structure is shaped by several factors such as the degree of governance, the ownership of the bank and the concentration of economic power (Barth, Caprio and Nolle, 2004).

Discussion, Contributions and Directions for Future Research

The analysis of corporate foresight at Apollo Bank with particular regard to its impact on strategic decisions has revealed a variety of interesting findings (Figure 7.1). By application of a trichotomous approach in analysing the phenomenon, the research provided an insight into each of the three areas, namely, the managers, the organization and the environment. Moreover, the consideration of judgement as an intermediary concept in the analytical investigation of corporate foresight’s impact on strategic decisions helps us understand why and under what circumstances corporate foresight influences strategic decisions. The following sections will therefore synthesize the outcomes of the data analysis and discuss these with reference to the literature on foresight. First, the conceptual findings will be discussed and evaluated. These findings are based upon the literature review, discussions of the foresight phenomenon and the analytical framework by which the phenomenon was investigated. Then, the empirical findings will be summarized, and the findings of this research will be compared with the findings in previous publications. Following this, a separate section is aimed at managers who are interested in the phenomenon under research. We will identify and describe the specific issues which focus on the improvement of the manifestation of corporate foresight in organizations. Finally, we shall discuss the research limitations and suggest potential areas for future research.