Managing Change - Market Diversification and Economic Changes for Banks - Research Proposal Example

Assignment Proposal al Affiliation Overtime, through a company’s existence, it is likely that it will go through various phases of change. These phases may be dictated by environmental factors around a company or simply the need to grow and develop in a different way and with different approaches. That is, this change may be influenced by the need of an organization to survive in its environment or opportunistic view of an organization to grow within its environment. In most cases, the latter serves the purpose of change, seeing an organization get a boost against its competitors. Reason being that, with change a company gains new perspectives on its operations, develops new ways of managing itself which are intended to make a positive impact. Several organizations go through various types of changes, either as dictated by their markets or their own growth definitions. Examples of common changes are such as: Changes in a company’s corporate strategies, privatization of a company, merging or internalization and such. In these changes, a company will tend to focus on how it will grow and be able to get high returns in revenue. Other than revenue, focus may be on employee relations, management structuring, and market target and competitively in market space. Fitting into these changes will often be dependent on the reason for making the changes. In situations where companies are forced to make changes, there is usually difficulty in adjusting to their new environment. Difficulties in adjusting may hinder company growth and performance in achieving the goals set. However, a company’s management may actively be involved in the process, making every employee fit in to the changes occurring. The following proposal will cover a case on The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The GCC covered banks in six countries – Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. The reason for choosing the GCC as the case for this assignment is from the recent trends in the organization. In the recent years, banks in in the above named countries have started to change their mode of operation. The change has greatly been influenced by economic forces surrounding this countries. That is, taking an example of a bank in the GCC, the traditional way of operation focused on oil-driven markets and governmental organizations. Telecommunications, tourism and other government based organizations had taken over the markets in the countries mentioned above. Banks would focus on these areas, ignoring other emerging and potential economic areas. In the recent years, economic growth has been influenced in various demographics ranging from technology to education. That is, other economic aspects are spiraling greatly and taking over the influence that governmental companies, oil-based industries and other financial firms had dominated in. The changes in economic growth are thus the reason for picking the GCC as a case for analysis. In this case, the economy acts as the root of essence of operation of the banks. Changes that affect the economy tend to change the role of banks in pretty much every way. The after effect of changes in the role of banks in the economy will be narrowed down further in the report. A Summary of the Case For over the last ten years, countries in the GCC have experienced rapid growth and development in their economy and culture. According to the book Accenture Banking in the Gulf, (2015) the economic growth rate has been at a constant of averagely 5%, with little variance upwards. The statistics are projected to rise to twice the rate in the next year. The study attributes the economic and cultural growth to the diversification by the governments to other revenue areas other than oil industries. Governments have been seen to invest heavily in industries, real estates, tourism and infrastructure. However, the governments have not entirely neglected oil in the countries as it bears high revenues that attract high significance. Processing and marketing the product has increased significantly alongside other aspects. Looking at the environment at which the banks were operating, the change was inevitable either way. At some point, the banking industry would need to redefine its role so as to catch up with the growing economic changes. Had the banks not followed through with the changes, they would experience an operational lag in their activities. Operational lags would be experienced in areas such as emergence in stiff competition, failing to meet rising economic demands or falling short of strict regulations that enable the banks to perform seamlessly. Since the economic change would be inevitable, bank officials need to reprioritize the banks roles to be up to par with business standards in change. A study conducted on the GCC banks shows that the forthcoming economic changes might find banks unprepared. That is, banks may face stiffer competition from other financial bodies, strict redefined regulations in their area of operation and a possible lack or shortage of skills in certain areas. The shortage in skills would be as a result of redefined business purpose and banks’ operational goals and objectives. This study therefore shows the essence of banks to sharpen their purpose and fitting into the changes. This may be possible through incentives such as: researching on market needs and niches for the banks, directing resources to be more customer-oriented and focusing on offering optimal service delivery. Under customer orientation, banks may need to focus on the long-neglected small and medium scale enterprises. Growing together with SMEs might just about save banks the loss in market relevance. However, the SME target is based on the assumption that customers in these areas will vastly grow and widen to other unexploited market areas. In this age, assurance in market relevance and economic stability might be attributed to just an organization’s focus on changes surrounding them. However, this is just a perspective, a perspective that may rescue an organization in adapting to economic, cultural or leadership changes. Thus, a view on the economy in a diverse manner is relevant in maintaining market assurance. Various organizations face different types of changes depending on their area of operation. The above proposal shows an aspect of the GCC’s changes that will be enumerated in the report. The report will specifically focus on market diversification and thus economic changes for banks in this environment. References Accenture Banking in the Gulf, 2015, ‘Banking in the Gulf Cooperation Council,’ Embracing and Leveraging Change Read More