Coursework Unit Three Presentation

Management Research Project(MT1042A) By Mo Hu (0703961 )

Sustainable Competitive Advantage

.firms obtain sustained competitive

advantages by implementing strategies that exploit their internal strengths, through responding to environmental opportunities, while neutralising external threats, and avoiding internal weaknesses (Barney, 1991). resources are divided into three categories: physical, human, and organisational.

Barney (1991) also established that firms

Ing Directs current strategy

ING Direct competitive physical capital resources

can be identified as: technology (user friendly website) and coffee shops (unique way of interaction with customer).

The category of human capital resources can be

allocated the charismatic leadership of Arkadi Kuhlmann, the Orange code culture, and innovative, committed, and skilled staff.

Ing Directs current strategy (continued...)

Finally, organisational capital resources in the

case of ING Direct will be:

the excessive training ING Direct employees

receive (Case Study); flat structure, no branches, planning process (new product/service launch); controlling and coordinating mechanisms;
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Ing Directs current strategy (continued...)

formal and informal relation within the firm

(close coordination and collaboration between departments); through: advertisement, email, call centres ;

external communication with customers

unique marketing strategy, and brand image.

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Method to evaluate firms sustainability

Barney (1991) introduces a method

which aids firms in identifying whether its resources or strategy will produce sustained competitive advantage-

Method to evaluate firms sustainability (continued..)

As suggested in the case study and as being proven

by the financial statements of ING Direct, all of the resources identified above have been the pillars of the companys competitive advantage so far.

However, plotting each of the resources listed

above on the table indicates that even though most of them are valuable and rare, they are also potentially imitable and they could be substituted.

Ing Directs Challenges

Some quick facts:
Total income decreased by 1.7% or EUR 93 million,

from EUR 2,196 million in 2007 to 2,289 million in 2006. It further decreased by 60% to EUR 878 million in 2008. The interest margin narrowed from 0.89% in 2006 to 0.75% in 2007. As a result of higher central bank rates in the euro, British pound and Australian currency zones and the intensified competition for retail funds.
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Ing Directs Challenges (continued...)

The client retail balance in 2007 grew from

EUR 27.7 billion or 9.8%, to EUR 310.1 billion at year-end. 60million, from EUR 1,538million in 2006 to EUR 1,598 million in 2007 And in 2008 it is EUR 1,750million recording a further 9.5% increase.

Operating expenses rose by 3.9%, or EUR

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Other Challenges
Complexity increases as the bank tries to

develop new products.

Diseconomies of scale as the size is getting

bigger (in banking industry size often implies diseconomies of scale). Increased pressure on the system and processes because of increased customers.

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Ing Directs Challenges (continued...)

According to the annual report of ING Group,

the number of full-time staff in ING Direct is increased to 9,980 in 2008 from 8,883 a year earlier. The number of full-time staff in 2006 was 7,565.

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Why?
All these figures illustrate that ING Direct is

under pressure. So how can Ing direct best respond to these? Before discussing that, first have a look what are the reasons behind those figures and challenges?

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Why? (continued...)
The credit market is very weak and liquidity in the

market is at its lowest. Increase in operating expenses and the repositioning of UK market also accounted for the decrease in profit. Fluctuating exchange rates. Competition for deposits intensified as many banks faced tighter liquidity and increased funding costs on the wholesale markets. Competition with regard to other banking giants like HSBC, MetLife etc, focused on online banking making it tough for ING Direct in 2007. ING Direct also incurred a start up cost of 22million in Japan which also added to the expenditure.

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How might Ing Direct best response to these challenges?

ING Direct needs to strictly manage its risks,

capital and expense base.

ING Direct has to capitalise on its simple,

safe and savings bank reputation as not any of the competitors are as half strong as they were used to be.

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How might Ing Direct best response to these challenges? (continued...)

A source of growth could be the expansion of

product range. They have got a secured financial support from the parent company, ING Group. But it will be a challenge to overcome the inherent problems in expanding the product range along with keeping the simplicity of the company. more on cross-selling can be a good move.

Rather than developing new products, focusing

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How might Ing Direct best response to these challenges? (continued...)

Reducing operational expense is a must for the

bank now. As the market is more competitive and customers have a higher chance of shifting to new innovative banks; Ing Direct can conduct a new market research survey to find out the changing customers demand.

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 Questions?

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