| Summary: | The financial service industry has gone through some very significant business transformation over the past 3 decades. Government deregulation opened up markets, technological changes created new channel and product opportunities, and data capabilities driven by affordable technology gave financial institutions the ability to identify and reach customers in new ways.
Following deregulation and the rapid electronic technology revolution, banks have aimed to increase their competitiveness through cost reduction and quality improvement.
Set against the backdrop of adverse business environment, the marketing strategies of financial institutions are becoming more sophisticated. A proactive strategy, aimed
at improving marketing performance, must have a focus in service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, which can reduce price elasticity. Banks are working to build effective marketing strategies to increase their customers’ loyalty.
This is especially so since there are multiple researches over the past 2 decades linking service quality and customer satisfaction to financial results. Many firms are studying their customers’ behavior systematically to understand the major dimensions of customer satisfaction, and to assess the existing gap between customer expectations and the services offered vis-à-vis the competition. More proactive financial institutions are also re-assessing their entire business model and restructuring their operations to be ready for greater trials ahead and ultimately for recovery.
However, the efforts of these financial institutions to redefine their strategic scope from transactional to relationship banking, in order to gain long-term customer
relationships and increase customer loyalty, often ends with dissappointing results.
This led to the rekindle of interest in the strategic concept of “Customer Centricity”, a concept with its benefits that have been discussed for more than 50 years. Although the concept and importance of customer centricity is not new, it has only recently been embraced by the business community with many firms still struggling to fully align themselves to the customer-centric paradigm.
The objective of this research is therefore to investigate firms’ commitment to service excellence, by examining the specific steps that were taken by a Singaporean bank to enhance the customer experience, and to “operationalize” customer centricity as a competitive strategy in the Singapore banking industry.
|
|---|