National Australia Bank - Discusses Growth Strategic Development

Question: Discuss about the Strategic Development of National Australia Bank. Answer: Introduction Each company has a starting point. However, companies cannot have a starting point without having a strategy of where they are headed or where the company will be said in the next five years. This is the reason all companies have their missions, visions, and goals. The missions, visions, and goals need to be practical and achievable (Open2study.com. 2016). Major goals are designed and planned to be implemented with a consideration of resources as well as assessment of internal and external forces. Strategic management that ensures development does not only look at day-to-day hiccups but also the long term projects. Some of the basic functions of strategic management are looking at the principles of strategic management, for instance, the theories and process of strategic management, scanning, monitoring and analyzing the market and the market shift, analyzing competitors and planning on how to minimize risks (Balancedscorecard.org. 2016). National Australia Bank was founded in 1982 by then operating as National Commercial Banking Corporation of Australia Limited. It now offers financial services to its customers in Australia and has other segments such as the UK Banking, NAB Wealth, and NZ Banking. Products offered at NAB include wholesale banking, wealth management, business banking, consumers banking and insurance. Since its foundation, the bank has seen a lot of improvement even being ranked among the top fifty banks in the world regarding total assets in 2016 (Banks, W. (2016). This is an indication that the bank has strong and practical strategies on how to reach its goals and visions. Despite the achievements, every organization does not lack its ups and downs and NAB is not an exception (Nationalaustraliabank.com.2016). In the discussion that follows, the paper will discuss NAB past and current strategies; two strategies brought controversy, its environmental involvement as well as its culture and leadership st yles. National Australia Bank strategies Missions, visions and competitive advantages The mission of NAB is to provide core banking and selected financial services professionally, efficiently and competitively to achieve a pre-eminent position chosen by markets. This mission has been supported by competitive values of quality in all activities, a will to win, growing profits for its shareholders, continuous improvement of products, ensuring professionalism and ethics in all actions and working for growth and development for its people. The vision of NAB is to be the most respected bank in New Zealand and Australia. Its competitive advantage is on technology, corporate responsibility and social responsibility such as sponsorship and scholarship. Technology-wise NAB is ranked as the leading user of Siebel and Teradata systems. This system allows the organization to monitor its operations every day which is not easy for other organizations with such as mammoth task. The customer database is stored in these systems is equivalent to cutting down 175,000 trees to feed the information in books. As the law requires the organization to sign corporate responsibility Act, NAB has emerged to be the leading organization in corporate responsibility. In 2008, NAB invested $33.5 million in corporate responsibility schemes. In 2010 NAB invested $1 million initiative to cut down power consumption. On social responsibilities, NAB sponsors Australian football teams at national and region level. Also in the year 2008-2010, NAB sponsored South Sydney Rabbitohs, not forgetting the financial support to drought affected farmers (Analysisreport.morningstar.com. 2016). Strategies used in the past After its foundation, NABs aim was to increase the potential market as well as diversifying the source of income. This, therefore, called for a strategy that would ensure that the bank expands. Over the past decades, the strategy has therefore been overseas expansion. Under the strategy of overseas expansion, the organization has opened up full banking services in New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States and Ireland. Also, the Group is developing banking and financial services in these regions. The group has also opened branches in the Asian region in ten selected capitals and is planning to expand its operation in the Asian region through development of markets in wholesale and consumer banking. The strategy bore fruits since it was started as per 30th September 1996 overseas assets accounted for 45.9% of the assets belong to the Group (Bigdatr.com. 2016). In 1987, the National Australia Bank bought the Clydesdale Bank, National Irish Bank in Ireland and the Northern Bank in Northern Ireland. In 1990, the strategy of overseas expansion continued where it purchased Yorkshire Bank in England and in 1992 the Group acquired the Bank of New Zealand. Due to the expansion, NAB thought of creating a core processing center which was meant to serve the whole of the European region. This was when the next strategy started off having online banking systems in Australia and New Zealand as well as telephone banking services in USA and UK. Although the strategy was somehow profitable, it got a lot of hiccups and according to Pat McConnell; the bank did not reach its vision of becoming worlds leading financial services company using overseas expansion. Current strategies In the recent years, NAB has made efforts to concentrate on the customers rather than expanding their business. In the past five years, the Group has opted to make banking fairer in Australia by offering affordable services and making their fees and charges fair to assists its customers reach their financial goals. This strategy is aimed at making NAB different from the other banks. The report that was released in 2013 announced that NAB was determined to release products and services that are customer focused. According to the NAB CEO, Andrew Thorburn, the organization would attract more customers and retain the existing ones if they offered simpler product offering, provide services that are focused on the customers and releasing products that are customer related. Also, this would ease the pain customer go through in banking services and also make it easier for them to do business with their customers. Some of these products are Business Loans, Credit Cards and Home Loans (Theconversation.com. 2016). Strategies that were criticized In June 2012 news appeared that four banks had financed the Callide Coal-fired station. Among these four financial institutions, is alleged that NAB was among the big four regarding lending money to the coal project. According to the news, NAB is said to have loaned the coal industry approximately $125 million since 2008. Financing of such a factory means that the Bank contributed to the financing of greenhouse gas emissions. Although NAB claims that it was not involved in such a project, the AFR story led it is understood one of the lenders demanded a large repayment on the debt which the IG Power (Callie) shareholders were unwilling to make. Luckily, the positive side the story is that NAB did not refinance the coal factory that had already gone into receivership. According to the study done by Market Forces, it indicated that the big coal banks could go coal free in just five years if banks refuse to refinance any deals (Marketforces.org.au. 2016). Another controversial strategy is one that NAB initiated to better manage its relationship with its customers. According to Fairfax Media reports, NAB was receiving tip-off from a credit monitoring agency. However, the strategy has sparked a lot of discussions especially from borrows complaining that their privacy has been invaded. One borrower complained that she applied for a car loan with ANZ but was surprised to get a message from NAB saying smarter. NAB systems had notified them that the customer was seeking financial assistance elsewhere. According to NAB, they felt that they had the lending responsibility to their customers. The matter got to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission who are currently working on the matter (Adelaidenow.com.au. 2016). General Environmental analysis PESTEL analysis Political Any organization must comply with the terms and conditions of any government. Sometimes the decisions made by the government are influenced by the political atmosphere which in turn affects the organization. NAB is not an exception of such influence. For instance, in 2011 it was a turbulent year in Australia when Kevin Rudd fall in the election and the minority labor group took over the government. The government was faced with tough decisions involving taxation, climate change, and water management. These factors are directly affected NAB especially in regulation of taxation (Ceda.com.au. 2016). Economical The same year, 2011, when the government was experiencing political uncertainty, there was a huge economical advantage for the mineral-related industries, but the bank industries were in the uncertain world. Matters were worsened by the flood that was followed by long drought almost in the whole of Australia. This was challenging to the bank's industries NAB included to remain economically stable (PESTLE Analysis. 2015). Social/cultural The society is changing every day and the fashion and taste, for instance, are continually changing. There is significant growth in social media popularity. The young people prefer using digital methods in their activities while the old still prefer analog methods. This is not different in Australia. The young are prefer online and mobile banking rather than visiting the banking halls while the old are yet to catch up. NAB has to provide both services to satisfy its customers. Technology As mentioned above, things are changing everyday including the way of doing things. Due to the improved technology, most people prefer digitized methods of banking and banking services. To keep up with the trend, NAB had to introduce mobile and online banking services. Also, due to the growing population, NAB introduced Siebel and Teradata systems which digitally store their database. Ecology (Nature) In 2008, NAB was linked with financing IG Power (Callide), a coal-fire power producing company. This company was said to be adding a lot of greenhouse gasses in the environment. In a way, the bank was said to be involved in the pollution of the environment, and this was the reason they refuted that they financed the project. Legal There are various regulations that a bank must comply with. One of the legal factors in Australia that banks must comply with is ensuring the privacy of personal information. According to National Privacy Principles Act 1988 (Commonwealth), any institution must uphold the privacy of personal information of its clients. NAB, therefore, has to ensure the safety of personal information of its clients such as health records, funds, insurance and all banking processes (Nab.com.au. 2016). Specific environmental analysis Customers NAB customers are distributed in Australia, New Zealand, and Asia. Having 1,590 operational branches and service centers as well as 4,412 ATMS, it can serve 12.7 million customers. Its customers are people of all kind of financial status as their slogan goes More than Money. Partners National Australia Bank has partnered with several persons and institutions in a move to reach its set goals and visions. One of its partners is the microenterprise is aimed at growing Australian business. The partnership supports the Federal Government initiative in small businesses. Others include the Deakin University, University of Melbourne, Visa and Earthwatch (Nab.com.au. 2016). Industry Since nab is in the banking industry in Australia, there has been evaluation and significant changes in the banking industry as well as the financial structure. There is an increasing importance of having banks, increase in share assets management and growing importance of securitization. NAB cannot avoid these changes (Vitale, M. n.d.). Unions Just like any other organization, NAB has its unions. In NAB unions are recognized as stakeholders and employees have a right to choose which union to join. One of the famous unions is the Finance Sector Union which promotes, improves and protects employees in the finance sector. Competitors The top competitors of NAB are HSBC, China Construction Bank, Bank of America, Royal Bank of Scotland, Deutsche Bank, BNP Paribas and Citigroup. These competitors have almost the same assets, customer base and segment (Grossmann, R. n.d.). SWOT Analysis (MBA Skool-Study.Learn.Share. 2016). Strengths Good revenue and interest income The largest business in Australia by assets Strong brand name and financial position Leading finance institution with diverse services and products Individual and business finance services Weakness No global acclaim Drop in revenue affecting development and growth Opportunities Acquisition and Joint ventures Overseas expansion Diversifying portfolios for clients Threats Competition from other in banking industry Change of regulation by the government Financial crisis such as recession Culture and leadership styles The core values of the organization include quality in all activities, a will to win, growing profits for its shareholders, continuous improvement of products, ensuring professionalism and ethics in all actions and working for growth and development for its people. These values could not come into practice without some of the greatest leaders who have led by examples. These transformational leaders include Kenneth R Henry AC (Chairperson) and Andrew Thorburn, the CEO. To ensure that the almost 53,000 staff member bind to the culture of the Group, NAB started a major value program in 1996 which involved a two-day course to managers and later involved the other staffs. To support the program, the Group introduced a method of assessing the leadership behavior in the manager when working to ensure that they live according to the values of NAB (Reuters. 2016). Conclusion Strategic management is the process of coming up with plans and also executing them to reach the set goals of the organization. NAB was formed in 1982, and the initial strategy was to have overseas banks and purchased several banks in New Zealand, Australia, and Asia. It grew its customer base across Europe and later changed its strategy to concrete on customers needs. Despite various controversies, NAB has emerged to one of the leading financial institutions regarding assets. Guided by its values and culture and determination to be the most respectable bank in Australia and New Zealand, NAB has diversified its products and services to keep its customers and attract new ones. The leaders especially the chairperson and the CEO have played key roles in ensuring stable operations. With the opportunity of overseas expansion and mergers and JVs, the group has a promising future in the financial and banking industry. References Adelaidenow.com.au. (2016). NAB spying on disloyal customers. [online] Available at: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/business/companies/nab-using-veda-alerts-to-spy-on-customers/news-story/950f2fd51c366fe9e08fff739c191cfe [Accessed 31 Aug. 2016]. Analysisreport.morningstar.com. (2016). [online] Available at: https://analysisreport.morningstar.com/stock/research/c-report?t=XASX:NABregion=ausculture=en-USproductcode=MLEcur= [Accessed 31 Aug. 2016]. Balancedscorecard.org. (2016). 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