عملیات هماهنگی، بازاریابی و استراتژی های رقابتی به منظور افزایش عملکرد: آزمون تجربی در صنعت بانکداری خرده فروشی

The close linkage between competitive strategy and functional strategic activities is asserted to be a precondition to the achievement of optimal business performance. This study explores how the relationship between (and among) operations, marketing, and competitive strategies affects organizational performance in the banking industry. Our findings show that: (a) competitive strategy moderates the relationship between operations and marketing strategic activities, and organizational performance, (b) certain integrated strategic decisions of operations and marketing functions have a significant impact on organizational performance, and (c) the performance of retail banks within a strategic group differs depending on the quality of the strategic fit.

In the literature on service strategic management, the close strategic linkage between competitive strategy and the operations function has been asserted to be crucial to the success of a service organization [1], [2], [3], [4] and [5]. Furthermore, this strategic linkage is crucial to achieve world-class competitiveness [1], [6] and [7]. Likewise, marketing strategists consider the strategic fit between marketing and competitive strategy critical to the organizational performance. Hence, it is necessary to find whether the strategic association between marketing and competitive strategies is significant, and to analyze how the strategic association impacts organizational performance. The efficiency of a service organization is usually dependent on well-managed operations, while its effectiveness depends on well-administered marketing [8]. In addition, there are unique aspects of services such as simultaneous production and consumption as well as customers’ active participation in the production process [9]. Such characteristics of services require that a service organization establish close strategic integration between its operations and marketing strategies. Therefore, a proper alignment of operations and marketing functions becomes crucial to the success of a service organization. In this paper, we study the performance implications of the strategic fit of operations, marketing, and competitive strategies in the retail banking industry from both the reductionistic and the holistic perspectives. The performance impact of the strategic fit is analyzed by utilizing not only a bi-variate but also multi-variate analytical methods. Throughout, we consistently maintain the correspondence of the definition of the fit concept and the selection of an analytical tool to measure it. The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes the theoretical background. Related hypotheses are developed and presented in Section 3. The research methodology is presented in Section 4. Empirical results and their implications for management are discussed in Section 5 followed by specific conclusions in Section 6.

This study presented an empirical assessment of performance implications relative to strategic fit issues in the banking industry. Using data from US retail banks, our findings indicate that the strategic fit between (and among) operations, marketing, and competitive strategies is of greater importance to organizational performance as compared to the choice of a strategic type or operational practices. Through our research, we find that the strategic fit achieved in operations and marketing has a significant impact on organizational performance of banks. In particular, these findings indicate that the strategic fit is a crucial determinant of within-strategic group performance variation. That is, within each strategic group, the higher the degree of strategic fit a retail bank attains, the higher will be the performance of the bank. Through the exploration of the performance implications of strategic fit, this research contributes to a better understanding of within-strategic group performance variations. In particular, we fill a gap in the exploration of the within-strategic group performance variation, which has been suggested as an urgent research agenda in the field of strategic management [29] and [61]. Additionally, this research utilized Miles and Snow's strategic theory to study the strategic fit of operations activities with competitive and marketing strategies. Consequently, we contribute to the application of Miles and Snow's theory in strategic management of banking operations. As mentioned earlier, the sampling method used in this paper utilizes the Top 1000 US Banks. This sampling frame appropriately represents the characteristics and pattern of large-sized retail banks’ strategic management practices, but does not reveal the characteristics of relatively small-sized retail banks’ strategic management. However, this sampling method has the advantage that it more effectively controls response bias that may arise from bank size rather than stratified random sampling (see, [25]). Like any other study, our study has limitations. Due to the low response rate in our survey, care should be exercised in generalizing the results. In view of the recent mergers and acquisitions in the banking industry, it is possible that different competitive challenges might emerge leading to different strategic fit issues. Also, it should be noted that our research scope was limited to the retail banking industry. The strategic choice pattern and performance implications of the strategic fit may very well be different in other service industries. Of particular interest would be a replication of the present study for manufacturing industries. One must also take note of the fact that this research is based upon spontaneous collection of data, for example, respondents were not asked to provide their information for a specific time period. We hope that future research will extend findings from this paper to other service and/or manufacturing businesses.