Foundations Of Management

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2

2. INTRODUCTION 3

2.1. BRIEF HISTORY 3

2.2. THE CENTER 3

3. ANALYSIS 6

3.1. OPERATIONS OBJECTIVES 6

3.2. OPERATING SYSTEM STRUCTURES 11

3.3. PRINCIPAL STRATEGIES 14

3.3.1. KEY LIMITING RESOURCES 14

3.3.2. CAPACITY MANAGEMENT 17

3.3.3. CURRENT STRATEGY FOR CAPACITY MANAGEMENT 18

3.3.4. ACTIVITY SCHEDULING 19

4. REFERENCES 20

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Center, a business unit of BankLimited is employed in the business of selling credit cards to customers. The Centre seeks to provide products and services that are unmatched in the industry by setting the standard of Excellence in Customer Satisfaction, Employee Satisfaction and Shareholder Value.

An internal and external analysis was performed on the Centre and reveals that although the Centre enjoys major market share in the industry, they have been experiencing moderate loss to an up and coming competitor who must not be taken lightly. A SWOT analysis is presented showing the current position of the organisation and the direction that they need to take in order to accomplish their Vision and Mission.

Various forms of analyses were used to examine the competitive standing of the Centre in the industry as well as provide an analysis of the competitor in relation to their core competencies and their alignment with their vision.

The report concludes by providing key recommendations for improvement and focus for the future.

2. INTRODUCTION

2.1. BRIEF HISTORY

The Center is a business unit of BankLimited, the largest commercial bank in Trinidad and Tobago and the Eastern Caribbean. The BankGroup is based in Trinidad and is the oldest and largest indigenous Banking Group in the English speaking and Eastern Caribbean with a history going back 165 years. The group comprises of 50 retail banking branches, 4 Strategic Business units and 4 subsidiary banks located in the northern, western, eastern and southern Caribbean. The bank's total assets amount to $28.6 billion as at year ended September 30, 2004 with 4,783 employees .

2.2. THE CENTER

The Center is a business unit of BankLimited. Formed in 1990, the Centre is involved in the issuing of Visa and MasterCard branded credit cards and pre-paid cards. With total outstanding balances in excess of TT$372 million and card usage at a growth rate of 16% per annum, the Centre has maintained its leadership position in the Credit Card industry (See Appendix 1).

The Centre's mission is:

The organisational structure of the Centre comprises of 5 departments; Marketing, Computer Systems & Data Capture, Customer Service; Finance & Accounting and Human Resources. There are 163 members of staff all housed in one building. This centralised structure has been an advantage to the Centre as it enables faster decision-making.

As outlined in Appendix 2, the Centre's business objectives are to maintain dominant market share, achieve its targets for new cards issued as well as those for profitable cardholders and inactive accounts, with the overall aim of achieving an ROA of 10%.

Diagram 1. Porter's Generic Strategies (1980)

Application of the Centre's current business strategies to Porter's Generic Strategies implies that the generic strategy is to concentrate on specific target markets and to differentiate service/product offerings to achieve its strategic objectives. Differentiated products and services offered by the Centre satisfy the needs of its customers through sustainable competitive advantage. The Centre's source of competitive advantage can be identified as follows:

* Transformation capability (low learning curve)

* Portfolio acquisitions

* Faster response to customer needs

* Significant computer processing capacity

* Pre-paid card experience

* Management Information Systems

This allows the Centre to desensitise prices and focus on value that generates a comparatively higher price and a better margin. The benefits of differentiation requires the Centre to segment markets in order to target goods and services at specific segments, generating a higher than average price. This is done by providing additional services with our credit card and pre-paid card products and not just generic cards.

PART 1

3. ANALYSIS

3.1. OPERATIONS OBJECTIVES

The operation that will be looked at in detail in order to improve its performance is that of the Research & Development Department (R&D), also part of the Marketing Department.

The R&D operations objectives in order of priority are to:

1. Develop, implement and maintain Marketing/Management Information systems relating to Credit Cards.

2. To review, research and collate Marketing Information, Financial Information and Product Profitability Performance on the Credit Card products and services to the Group, competitors and industry to determine market positioning, opportunities and threats for the Group.

3. To analyse all information collated and provide management with analyses of the performance of the Group's and competitors products and services, as well as recommendations to facilitate the development of new products and enhancements of existing products to ensure profitability.

4. Research and collate primary and secondary research

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