International Marketing Strategy - Research Proposal Example

? Research Proposal Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 3 Introduction 4 Research Question 5 Literature Review in Brief 6 Internet bankingand its effect on customer bank relationship 6 Impact on traditional banking 7 Risks related to internet banking 7 Research Method 8 References 9 Abstract The world of today is a platform where smooth synchronization of various new age technologies is happening on a regular basis in the lives of the masses. The growth and diffusion of new technologies and related processes in the arena of business is helping in reducing human intervention, thereby promoting automation. This is playing a major role in increasing efficiency and operating levels of any process of a business. The world of banking finance is highly integrated with various kinds of complex concepts as well as various kinds of frameworks related to operating standards as well as legal issues. The integration of technology in its complex processes will no doubt help in better value generation for the customers while providing a level ground in regards to the competing of the financial organizations with each other. In this project, the focus is on gauging the impacts on the customers of Lloyd’s Bank with regards to growing general fascination towards internet banking. The research proposal for this topic comprises an introduction, a brief literature review as well as the method for conducting the research. Introduction The world of the 21st century promotes an environment where tremendous competition is a steady factor of everyday life of the masses around the world. The competition factor has become a constant issue in the modern day society mainly because of rapid technological changes, which is coupled with fast paced development. The technological boom that has happened since the early part of the previous decade has brought into play a strong wave of technological enrichment of the lives of the masses in the developing as well as the developed countries. The technological boom of the early 2000s enrolled into effect tremendous amount of technological progress on the lines of telecommunication technology as well as the rapid acceptance and penetration of the internet. The high level of penetration of the internet has played a major role in creating a seamless virtual world in the internet domain, where there is no presence physical geographical boundaries. The virtual world which is connected through the internet platform has merged the various nations and countries around the world into a single entity. This has greatly facilitated the rise of various kinds of trends related to globalization and innovation. It has to be mentioned that the trends of innovation greatly facilitates in the process of new product development in various countries around the world. Interestingly, the virtual medium of the internet plays the role of communicating the value of the newly developed innovative products to the customers and target audience around the world thereby creating a typical trend of globalization. This trend of globalization, which might emerge from a market that can be either located in the developed or the developing region might result in the creation of demand for new kinds of products and services in various markets around the world (Doole and Lowe, 2008, p. 3). Sensing the demand for new kinds of products and services in various global markets, various organizations around the world are focusing on the process of market development. As a method of market development, the organizations which are based in a particular market are increasingly participating in entering in to foreign markets around the world. As per the current trend, due to the slowdown that is persisting in the economies of various developed markets present in the western nations of UK, Europe and USA, companies are increasingly focusing on new emerging markets of the BRIC nations. Thus, it has to be said that the development of business ventures of various international organizations is creating the need of highly dynamic financial systems, which will allow smooth flow of operational as well as individual finances in various countries around the world. To facilitate the flow of finances around the world, the global banking industry is increasingly looking forward to new as well as already existing innovative concepts in the line of digitized and technology enabled financial system in the form of internet and online banking, mobile wallet as well as virtual currency. The research proposal in this case attempts to design a frame which will help in estimating the effect associated with the growth of internet banking on the current customers of Lloyd’s Bank Research Question The research question form a very important part of the entire research dissertation, as it helps in providing a lot of support to the structure of the research. It is highly important to state that the research question helps in deciding on the main theme of the research. The research question is often designed while maintaining a high level of familiarity with the research topic. In this case, the research topic is related to estimating the effect that might happen on the customers because of the growth of internet banking. Hence, the most appropriate research question for this particular research proposal can be “What are the changes in consumer behaviour of the customers of Lloyd’s Bank because of growth of internet banking?” Literature Review in Brief While discussing the influence of growing trends of internet banking on the current customers of Lloyd’s Bank, it is important to concentrate on the various concepts, trends and prospects associated with internet banking. Internet banking and its effect on customer bank relationship From the theoretical point of view, the internet banking represents the provision of banking service as well as initiation and realization of payments while increasingly using the internet as a medium. The concept of internet banking helps the consumer in accessing any kind of banking service from any location at any given time. It can be easily stated that the internet banking is a subset of electronic banking, an arena which is quite vast in itself In today’s digitally enhanced internet connected world, the processes of internet banking has been made simpler by various financial institutions, so as to facilitate the end consumer in regards to convenience as well as promoting simplicity of the entire banking process (Gkoutzinis, 2010, p. 8). For providing high level of convenience to the end users, the financial institutions and banks has opted for synchronizing of their internet banking services in an array of high end gadgets like the Smartphones, tablets and even laptops. It is interesting to state that as a result of constant innovation and technological advancement on the line of internet banking as well as gadgets with near field communication (NFC) technology; new trends are coming up in the form of mobile wallet and digital currency (McKinsey, 2009, p. 36). These new trends and concepts of mobile wallet and digital currency are playing a major role in regards to revolutionizing the entire retailing experience of the consumers, through the process of better value proposition. The new kind of retailing experience is greatly responsible for enhancing and improving the entire banking experience for the consumers. Impact on traditional banking It is important to state that with the rise of internet banking trends among the customers of Lloyd’s Bank, there will be a certain amount of impact that will happen on the traditional banking practices of the bank. The rise of internet powered banking will no doubt trigger a lot of disruptive innovation in the traditional banking practices. Talking in a detailed manner, the rise of internet banking amongst the consumers will help in rise of faster transactions and growth in the efficiency of the customer service provided by the bank to its new as well as existing customers. Also, the rise of internet banking trends will help in a great way in increasing the reach of the banking institution to the consumers located in various distant locations. The rise of the internet banking trends will largely propel the convenience factor to the customers as compared to that of the facilities offered by the traditional banking services (Kondabagil, 2007, p. 5) Risks related to internet banking While internet banking provides a lot of value to the customers in the form of convenience and new age innovation, yet it is of high importance to consider the various kinds of risk factors that are associated with internet banking for the customers of a banking institution. Talking in a very brief manner, it can be said that the rising acceptance of internet banking by the customers of Lloyd Bank might leave them prone towards transactional risks associated with online banking products as well as online transactions. The customers of Lloyd Bank may also become indirectly related victims in case the organization fails to comply its business and banking processes with that of various legal as well as mandatory compliance factors (Osunmuyiwa, 2013, p. 52-53). Research Method The research method talks about the various processes involved in research design and data collection. The research design is a basic framework which helps in executing the market research segment of the research oriented assignment. Research design might vary from exploratory to conclusive kind (Malhotra & Dash, 2010, p. 70 - 71). In this particular research, it has to be considered that the focus is on gaining consumer insights in connection to the growing trends of internet banking. Also, the target audience is a captive group, who are mainly the current customers of Lloyd’s Bank. As a result, an exploratory kind of research needs to be considered for this research assignment. Also, it has to be said that the data for this research assignment has to be collected from the sample group of respondents who are current customers of Lloyd’s Bank, using the questionnaire. References Doole, I. and Lowe, R., 2008. International Marketing Strategy. USA: Cengage Learning. Gkoutzinis, A., 2010. Internet Banking and the Law in Europe. USA: Cambridge University Press. Kondabagil, J., 2007. Risk Management in Electronic Banking: Concepts and Best Practices. USA: John Wiley & Sons. Malhotra, N.K. and Dash, S., 2010. Marketing Research: An Applied Orientation, 6/E. India: Pearson Education. McKinsey.com, 2009 McKinsey On Payment. [Online] Available at: http://www.mckinsey.com/App_Media/Reports/Financial_Services/Mobile_payments_Ringing_louder.pdf [Accessed 5 Aug 2013]. Osunmuyiwa, O., 2013. Online Banking and the Risks Involved. [Pdf] Available at: http://www.maxwellsci.com/print/rjit/v5-50-54.pdf [Accessed 5 Aug 2013]. Read More