Abbey National in All Its Greatness - Essay Example

Introduction: Abbey National is one of the most leading personal financial services company in the UK. Its main motto is to be the best bank on the high street in UK for customers, employees and investors. Currently Abbey is the sixth biggest bank and second largest provider in the areas of mortgages and savings in UK. “Abbey’s roots date back to 1849, with the establishment of the National free hold land and building society. In 1944, it merged with Abbey Road Building Society to form Abbey National. In July 1989, it was the first building society to convert to PLC status and to be floated on the London stock exchange”. On 12th November 2004, Banco Santander Central Hispano, SA (Burlo Sandanter), acquired Abbey; Banco Sandanter is Spain’s largest financial group and one of the ten leading financial groups in the world (http://www.Abbey.com). Marketing Environment Analysis: This report seeks to undertake a Marketing Environment Analysis of Abbey National to ascertain the present standing of the company in the UK market. Marketing Environment Analysis is the process of assessing and interpreting the information gathered under scanning the current market environment and future market needs of the customer. It helps the Marketing Manager to assess the performance of current market effort and marketing strategies for the future. Macro Environment: Macro environment of organisation refers to those factors, which are not concerned with the immediate environment of the business. The factors are external and do not directly effect the marketing decision of the company but it indirectly influences the marketing decision. The main challenges faced by the organisation in Macro environment would be the political and legal forces within the country where the company is operating. The developments in political and legal environment greatly affect the marketing decisions of the business organisation. The political and legal climates are less predictable elements in an organisation’s marketing environment. Sound marketing decisions cannot be taken without understanding the changes in political environment of the nation, the government agencies, political party in power and in opposition and their ideologies. The political and legal climate of UK, where Abbey National operates, is quite stable. An organisation based in UK enjoys a favourable condition in terms of infrastructure and other facilities. The government in UK encourages free trade and the economy is quite sound. The country is technologically advanced and the marketing conditions are favourable for both investment and lending. However, despite the positive sides, every country has some regulations and policies on banking. Controls are exercised in terms of the level of liquidity banks must maintain, the character of assets in which they can deploy depositors’ funds, kind of provisions they must make against doubtful loans and how much own capital is to be considered as paid-up capital reserves, preference shares etc. The bank is also required to maintain a given level of fixed assets. The people of UK are mostly attracted to those organisations, which keep a good customer relation and provide all latest and modern means of business opportunities. Abbey National had always taken a good care on all the aspects, which affect an organisation’s marketing strategies. The changes in social and technological aspects within and outside the organisation are to be carefully evaluated and a suitable solution is to be formed. Advancement in technologies has allowed Abbey National to offer new goods and innovative services to its consumers like - mobile banking, online transaction, ATM services etc, which make the transactions prompt, convenient and user-friendly. Thus Abbey National has been able to establish a loyal customer base within the country. Micro Environment: Microenvironment of a company refers to those organisation or individuals who directly affect the activities of the business organisation. The factors are internal and have a direct effect on marketing decision of the organisation. The organisation formulates its goal on the basis of these factors. The microenvironment comprises stakeholders like customers, suppliers, competitors and intermediaries. Customer is the backbone of every organisation. Abbey National regards all its employees as partners in business. They are the primary factors that determine the nature of customer service that would be provided by the bank. This commitment of valuing people as individuals underpin Abbey’s desire to be the best financial services provider in UK. Abbey National extends good services to all its customers. Abbey National is the only bank in UK that offers free value services like – Direct debit, standing orders and bill payment, BACS credits, 100 cheque deposit and withdrawal facility per month, transfer between linked Abbeys accounts etc. Other competitor banks offer this facility for free only for a short period, or prescribes minimum balance. Here Abbey charges only for non-standard services or when the transaction exceeds the maximum limit. Abbey Group has provided a positive working environment within its organisation, behaving in a professional and courteous manner towards one another. The management both ensures and complies with this policy in letter and spirit. Abbey channels of distribution comprise all those people and organisations involved in the process of transferring title to a product from the producer to the consumer. This has enabled Abbey to be one of number one banks in UK. The main intermediaries of the bank are its financial distributors like IFAS, Tired agents, FSA Authorized & regulated Organisations etc who sells directly to the customers by creating maintaining a good relationship between them and establishing customer satisfaction of a high level. SWOT Analysis: SWOT analysis (an acronym for strength, weaknesses, opportunities and Threats) is a useful tool for assessing an organisation’s marketing environment. SWOT analysis helps evaluating the main external environmental factors effecting an organisation in terms of opportunities and threats and internal environmental factors effecting the organisation as strength and weakness. Strength Strength of Abbey National is their good brand name in banking sector and good market shares in UK financial market. Abbey National provides more free for ever services for the customer and their good strategic collaboration with other countries bank in Italy, Malaysia, Portugal etc. Abbey demonstrates its commitments by working to create a cultural of inclusion and diversity founded on the fundamental belief that all people are treated with equal openness, honesty and respect. Abbey National bank has almost 741 branches and approximately 2500 ATMs within UK, which helped the bank to operate their service in almost all important areas in UK. Weakness The abbeys main weakness is its pattern of flexibility work environment given to its workers i.e. personal and work commitments by offering a range of flexible working schemes like – Part-Time work, Job Share, Career Brakes, Voluntary Reduced Work Time, Home working, Family Friendly Practices, Maternity Leave, Adoption Leave, Returners Bonus, Paternity Leave, Life Flex Leave etc. This sometimes causes some shortage of employees and misses understanding between the employees who sometimes have to do the work of others for a particular period of time causing delay in the completing that work. It may also contribute to hamper the continuity and flow of certain works. Opportunity The main opportunity of Abbey National is its large number of branches. More than 20,000 people associated with it had helped the bank to operate their services in all most every part of UK. Currently Abbey National is the second largest provider of mortgages and savings in UK. It has helped Abbey to exploit maximum opportunity on short term loans and services, its blending both tradition and familiarity along with their brand name to continue their retail banking operation successfully. Threat An environmental threat is ‘a challenge posed by an unfavourable trend or development in the environment that would lead, in the absence of purposeful marketing action, to the erosion of the companies or industries position’ (Kotler.P. 1997). Most of the banking financial organisations are situated in UK. This creates a threat to Abbey National as failure to take timely steps and improve customer satisfaction with change in technology and culture, may lead to migration of valuable customers to other providers like HSBC, London Charted Bank etc who provide a same level of quality and customer satisfaction. Conclusion Future of a marketing environment is unpredictable, but marketers must monitor changes in the marketing environment effectively. The marketer must also engage in analyzing and scanning of the environment to identify areas where the company may face challenges in the future and determining the steps necessary to face them. Marketers must be able to take necessary decision timely and predict future market. It is also incumbent on the marketer to analyse emerging trends and changes in the market and evolve strategies that can help the business to adapt to the transition. In a highly society where technological support is the optimum changes occur with in a fast pace. In the financial market, the quality of customer service is evolving with amazing speed and in order to meet and maintain the level of quality and to respond to customers’ expectations, the bank will have to sustain the cutting edge of its operational efficiency and stay updated with the market trends. Abbey National had achieved this success only by having a good commitment and sincerity towards its customer and having a flexible working environment to its organisational staffs that are the backbone of the firm. All these initiatives had helped Abbey National to perform efficiently and retain a satisfied customer base for a longer period of time. WORKS CITED Kotler, P. (1997). Marketing Management: Analysis, planning, implementation and Control, (9th) edition. Englewood Cliffs: :Prentice Hall. Home site of Abbey National accessed on 8 N0vember 2006. Read More