EastWest Bank and Promotion of Small Owners - Business Plan Example

MARKETING PLAN: EastWest Bank and Promotion of Small Business Owners BY YOU YOUR SCHOOL INFO HERE HERE Marketing Plan: EastWest Bank Company Description EastWest bank is a for-profit multinational that has evolved from its traditional business model founded in 1973 that was, initially, targeted at the Chinese-American community in Southern California. Executive prowess and experience at this time was with the Chinese market, therefore it made practical sense for the bank to extend these competencies into a region with a high volume of Chinese immigrants. Today, EastWest has expanded to include 120 different branch locations throughout the United States, including California, Georgia, New York, Texas and Washington (EastWest Bank 2013). The company maintains international presence, as well, in Hong Kong and mainland China. EastWest bank maintains over $22 billion in assets, and as of 2011 the bank maintained total annual cash flow of 1.43 billion dollars (EastWest Bank 2012), making this a large enterprise. Though the company still maintains much of its traditional roots in servicing Chinese Americans, it has now become a full service national bank catering to commercial, personal consumer, and international banking. Unique characteristics of EastWest bank include a significant focus on corporate social responsibility, providing a variety of community-oriented programs and investments to improve the social condition. Such programs range from providing low-rate financing for low-income housing projects and consumers and an in-house homeowner’s workshop to assist low-income or lower-resource purchasers in gaining federally-supported loans and to facilitate the application process (EastWest Bank, 2013). The company’s well-publicized efforts in corporate social responsibility give this bank a unique community reputation over that of less philanthropic banking organizations competing in this sector. In general, the products and services provided to the consumer and commercial business owner (private or public) are standardized and homogenous in the industry. These include providing credit cards to consumers and businesspersons, traditional deposit and checking services, and generalized mortgage loans. Unfortunately, there are not characteristics associated with the current product and service mix provided by EastWest Bank, making it rather undifferentiated from competition other than its aforementioned focus on corporate social responsibility and philanthropic investment in society. As such, with limited differentiation of service homogenization, EastWest is not a market leader in the United States and its other multinational locations. The banking industry in the United States, especially, is highly competitive and saturated with community-oriented and international banking institutions that provide similar products and services to that of EastWest Bank. 2. Business Mission The company’s mission is clear: “To deliver customer-aligned financial and associated services to a diverse customer base. We enhance the value we provide to customers, shareholders, and employees, by consistently delivering solutions that leverage our growing and dedicated talent base” (EastWest Bank, 2013). The mission emphasizes diversity of focus of the operational model and also the benefits of its competitive advantages stemming from human capital and organizational culture as a means of providing extended value to a variety of stakeholders. 3. Marketing objectives The new marketing strategy will be to position the business from a community-centric financial institution to one that is more embracing and supportive of the small business owner. The aim of the new marketing plan is to facilitate better loan generation, provide extended service opportunities to business owners, and become a leader in small business sustainability. This new marketing strategy therefore maintains three distinct objectives: Establish brand recognition in the small business owner communities and professional environments by July 2013. Improve loan generation volume to small business owners by 20 percent by December 2013. Improve small business owner-generated deposits and account development by 30 percent by December 2013. To achieve the aforementioned objectives, the business will require improvements in the organizational culture, emphasizing training for working with diverse small business owners, improve promotional strategy and brand-building programs, and invest in the support technologies and service modeling necessary to provide supportive online and direct customer service required of this new target market. 4. Situation Analysis This section describes the internal and external forces that provide value, risk, and opportunities related to the new marketing strategy. 4.1 Industry Analysis There is currently a trend in the industry as it relates to the small business owner target market that defies credit and loan availability from a variety of financial institutions. Many small business owners have witnessed a drop in consumer demand and, therefore, are forced to lower prices to compete against other businesses (Oak, 2010). Concurrently, many banking companies are cracking down harder on their risk management programs and therefore are unwilling to provide loans to business owners that are perceived to be risky. Additionally, the specific credit criteria used to determine the credit worthiness of business owners has increased by 39 percent (Oak, 2010), further complicating the process of getting loan approval from many different financial institutions. Many small business owners, due to the complexity and stringency of loan and credit approval processes, are turning toward credit cards to fund their small business efforts, which is a significant change from historical patterns of small business owner funding methodologies. High interest credit cards impose even further capital creation risks for the business owner. Even the FDIC, the federal organization that provides insurance up to $100,000 for individual bank accounts, acknowledges a difficulty in the industry for small business owners attempting to gain credit or gain loan approvals (Burns, 2011). The industry is impacted significantly by problems still plaguing local and national economies, much of this stemming from residual macro-level problems from the 2008 and 2009 recession. A recent survey indicated only 12 percent of small business owners believed that job creation would be positive in their organizations, with one in three business owners worried they might be driven completely out of business due to these macro-level problems (Rogers, 2011). Many Federal programs, such as TARP, have fulfilled their lending and financing obligations with no further support stemming from Federal sources. Banks therefore see more risk in lending to the small business based on economic problems and industry forecasts for diminishing sales volumes with the small business organization. Having identified industry-specific characteristics, there is a substantial advantage for EastWest Bank in cutting through this very bureaucratic, proverbial red tape in order to target the business consumer. First, they are frustrated with the industry variables that continue to forbid credit and loan generation, making them ideal candidates for EastWest that will be creating a strong service dimensions supporting the necessity of small business owners to the local and national economies. The psycho-social characteristics of important target markets are favorable for winning brand loyalty by foregoing risk assessments and providing more financial support for the business owner. The products offered include commercial loans and credit allocation, making it narrow enough to measure return on investment (as well as risk post-loan or post-credit allowance). There is little risk that other banking facilities will attempt to replicate this new business model due to the strong, centralized demand from governance about the importance of removing risk from the business model of other lending competitors. There is a contemporary, new conception in banking today known as relationship lending, a system where the lender remains in constant contact with the business owner who received the loan. In relationship lending, the lender accumulates important financial and other strategic/operational data from the business owner to assist in helping to develop the business and also remove risk of repayment failures (Berger, 2002). However, there is little industry-supported evidence that competing firms in the local and national communities are still utilizing relationship lending due to the strict demands from executives to reduce risk from the lending model. Therefore, utilizing relationship lending practices and theoretical practices under this model would be unique to EastWest, giving it a corporate social responsibility enhancement in the minds of consumers. Small business owners contribute substantially to the health of the national economy, furthermore enhancing the lives of many consumers and business buyers. Nearly half of all people employed in the country are working for small businesses (Longley, 2013). There has been much recent discussion in a variety of news mediums ranging from political news coverage to market analyses reports that indicate the extreme importance to the national and local economies to support small businesses. The Small Business Administration (SBA) believes that a whopping 64 percent of all jobs in the country involve small businesses (Brown, 2013). The industry trend is that small businesses are vital to economic strength and regulatory forces such as Congress, the Federal government, and the SBA are only conflicting opportunities for small businesses by not creating appropriate funding programs and credit criteria easing to make it easier for small business owners to get access to needed capital. Furthermore, Michael Porter (2011) a respected and renowned business theorist and practitioner, identified forces in the industry that can hinder or improve business success and strategy development. One of these forces is buying power, or the level of leverage that buyers have toward the company they are purchasing from. Because there are very few options today for small business owners to get credit and loan guarantees, switching costs for the buyer are extremely high if they choose to defect to another brand. Therefore, the likelihood that buyers (in this case the small business owner) will provide word-of-mouth to gain more market interest is substantial. EastWest bank will also maintain dominance related to market controls with the new strategy by setting slightly higher-than-average loan and credit rates to ensure profitability of the campaign and to offset the operational costs of turning toward this new market and supporting it with effective service technologies and procedural models internally. Porter (2011) also identified risks associated with substitute products, those than can be utilized by the buyer market comparably. Again, the industry characteristics and trends for non-compliance to small business owner needs from lending facilities prevent the availability of substitutes available. Unless these small businesses want to take their company public and issue common stock with a trading idea on the stock market (which is highly unfeasible for many struggling owners), capital substitutes to credit and traditional commercial loans are virtually non-existent. Again, this gives EastWest much greater leverage in establishing loan rates and credit interest rates without risk of losing customers who have been struggling just to find capital funding opportunities. All previously identified industry factors considered, the industry is highly unfavorable to the customer segments and those impacted in society by industry trends and small business failures. However, to EastWest Bank, the industry is significantly favorable for facilitating support and better marketing positioning and brand presence by adopting this new marketing strategy. 4.2 SWOT Analysis After assessing the internal and external characteristics impacting strategic development for EastWest Bank, a series of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats can be identified as it pertains to the new marketing objectives. The bank maintains strengths in relationship management, which is defined as the technologies, human capital and processes by which to improve service delivery and brand presence by better servicing customers (Boone & Kurtz, 2007). Having years of experience working with diverse customers in the traditional business model focusing on Chinese-American citizens, there is considerable talent and human capital available to facilitate relationship management. The internal business model maintains a culture of service dedication and providing an ethical business climate which can easily translate into more effective service delivery and responsiveness to the new target market needs. Companies that have a powerful ethical climate are more flexible and more equipped to handle externally-driven ethical dilemmas (Bartels, et al. 1998). There is a set of norms at EastWest Bank for ethical values and ethical professionalism that will ensure more effective support for small businesses owners who, today, require this dimension from their lending institutions. This will be a strength as less capital needs to be invested in training to support this new market and less organizational restructuring for service delivery excellence. EastWest maintains another significant strength related to knowledge of the small business environment and the challenges that business owners face during daily operations of a small enterprise. Currently, EastWest, in partnership with the Small Business Administration, provides classes to consumers to teach them about the SBA, how to facilitate proper inventory purchases, and accumulate assets with minimal depreciation (EastWest Bank, 2013). There is explicit and tacit knowledge holders scattered throughout the organizational model with a great deal of experience working and developing small business owners and their business model to better align it to profit expectations and cost reduction. This excellence in human relationships and support will provide a better brand position and illustrate the bank’s dedication to sustaining the needs of business owners seeking products and services from the organization. The business also maintains several weaknesses that will impact strategy development. First and foremost, EastWest Bank maintains market-related data about Chinese cultural characteristics with the majority of its social and cultural understanding geared around these markets. Therefore, the business will have to devote more capital and labor investment in conducting market research, both qualitative and quantitative, to determine what is driving sentiment, lifestyles and professional business practice with small business owners. This is not something that is currently part of the organizational model and a new cultural characteristics template will have to be developed based on findings from surveys, interviews, questionnaires and even focus groups. These new developments will require effort by executives, marketing and sales and support teams which will require training and also recurring statistical analyses on small business owner behavior and psycho-social characteristics and motivations. Additionally, EastWest Bank does not have any identified partnerships with the major credit reporting agencies such as TransUnion and Equifax, thus creating a negative influence for maintaining control over the credit criteria processes. Banks and other lending institutions now use a standardized model known as the Business Credit Scoring system, a statistics-based technology system that predicts future credit performance of lendees (Berger, Cowan & Frame, 2009). Therefore, there is not a great deal of autonomy in the bank’s business model for providing loans based on assessor instinct or a variety of other financial information or submitted business plans by the small business owner. In this centralized business structure at EastWest, the bank executives will have to take a more vested interest in assisting in determining loan generation worthiness rather than relying on the SBCS system and recommendations by major credit bureaus. This will require some organizational restructuring and job design changes so that rapid and accurate decisions can be made by senior officials without conflicting the objective of improving customer service for the new target market. The business may have to consider decentralization and giving more empowerment to internal lower-level employees and managers to facilitate the credit and loan approval processes. Threats to the business include further degradation of the national or local economies where the new target markets reside and work, which would absolutely conflict attempting to be more liberal in providing riskier loans. The governance system at EastWest must satisfy shareholders as a primary function, thus injecting substantial volumes of risk into the lending and credit approval processes would be considered unacceptable and might impact share price. The business must be ever-diligent to examining the macro and micro-level economic conditions and observing their trends to determine the volume of risky loans that will be considered allowable by senior governance team members. One major company in the grocery retail industry, Sainsbury’s, developed what is known as Steering Groups in the governance model to identify these trends and have had significant success in being more responsive to changing economic conditions as a result (Sainsbury PLC, 2011). The business may have to allocate responsibility for conducting economic research to identify trends that would impact this new strategy as a recurring business objective and responsibility. An additional threat to the new marketing strategy is raising foreclosure rates in certain regions where homeowner mortgages have been guaranteed to consumers. Why does this matter? If there are risks of non-payment stemming from the highly profitable home mortgage division, it will impact cash and other capital availability for EastWest. Losses in one division will not necessarily be offset by gains from the new market and the business must be ever-aware of how revenue streams can be impacted by declining home values, higher unemployment and trends in rising foreclosures. The business must have a diversified and relevant income stream from multiple divisions if this new marketing strategy is to be successful and profitable. Opportunities for the business include utilization of public relations and media to build brand recognition, using testimonials from previous Chinese-American customers about the service prowess and excellence of the organization. Many consumers and business owners rely on such social media sites as Facebook and Twitter to spread information, viral marketing techniques, or provide incentives (i.e. coupons and discounting) in this forum. EastWest Bank should be more contemporary with its usage of media coverage (such as Press Releases generated by the company to promote buzz and build a brand following) and social media outlets to build transparency into the business model and gain more market trust in the service dimension at the bank. Additionally, EastWest can create a deposit matching scheme to foster more interest in seeking EastWest for more than simply small business credit and loans. By offering a $250 deposit promise match for every $3,000 in deposits during a promotional period, it will generate more assets for the business and also provide more risk reduction in terms of guaranteeing payment of the loans by housing checking and savings accounts directly at EastWest. Key players in this industry include Citi, Wells Fargo, Barclay’s, and a host of other local and state-level banks scattered throughout the United States. Many of these banks, though offering homogenous and rather standardized services, have years of operating experience and therefore have many loyal companies that recall and respect the brands of these companies. EastWest has been focused on local community relationship development since the business’ founding in 1973, thus little effort to improve brand position has been accomplished. According to Nandan (2005), the only real asset that cannot be replicated in today’s industries is the brand. Hence, major players in many of EastWest Bank’s operating territories such as Citi and Wells Fargo pose considerable competitive challenges when attempting to outperform their strong brand following and loyalties. The non-differentiated characteristics of the financial services and products offered by such companies as Citi and Wells Fargo generally pose little competitive risk as they follow the same interest rate models imposed by the Federal government and are competitive products based on return on investment expectations. It is the brand recall and brand reputation/personality of these competitors that pose legitimate risks to the marketing strategy. 5. Marketing Strategy This section outlines the specific strategies that will be employed by EastWest to fulfill its objectives for this new business direction. 5.1 Target Market Strategy The characteristics of the target market, in this case small business owners, have already been established. They are frustrated in relation to new stringent credit worthiness assessments by banks seeking risk reduction and also related to concerns about their business longevity and potential long-run successes for revenue growth and increased consumer demand. The business will be conducting market research to identify the psychological and sociological characteristics of the market in order to better service and promote to this new market segment. Thus, psychographics and behavioral segmentation and targeting will be required to successfully create meaningful emotional connections with these markets regardless of their demographic disparities. Positioning will be unique to competition, which often focus on interest rate competitiveness and price-related characteristics, such as Wells Fargo. EastWest will be positioning according to quality: translatable into service excellence, quality of fairness associated with the approval process, and quality of the new relationship management practices and technologies. EastWest will not be the only community-minded banking facility in the country, as many well-known brands position based on social responsibility. However, creating the perception of quality in all engagements and products/services will allow the business to be seen as a premium banking model. According to Chaudhuri & Holbrook (2001) when a brand is able to achieve loyalty, it justifies premium modeling as consumers will be more willing to provide word-of-mouth and also pay higher prices. Positioning under quality focus, using public relations and media coverage to supplement knowledge of the company’s social responsibility and excellence in all dimensions of consumer intervention will provide a great deal of loyalty with the new small business owner target markets. The target market is substantial, as there are many small businesses in the communities in which EastWest Bank operates. In Georgia, for example, there are some of the highest volumes of small business owners that are successful in terms of revenue and high consumer demand as the Georgian economy is booming while other national economies are eroding. Thus, with such a high volume of small business owners in the whole country providing between 50 and 64 percent of all national employment, there are virtually unlimited opportunities to gain business from the target market geographically dispersed across the country. Without examining the impending, recommended market research stemming from surveys, questionnaires and focus groups, understanding the dimensions of buyer behavior that impacts decision-making and purchase intention is ambiguous. The business will consult with the findings of these correlated and statistically-verified reports to determine cultural characteristics in the new target markets and then adapt strategies for service development and delivery most appropriate to these behavioral components. 5.2 Marketing Mix Strategies The four most crucial marketing dimensions that will contribute to success in this new strategy include product, place, promotion and price. 5.3 Product and pricing There are two products being offered to the new target market: credit cards and commercial loans for small business start-up and development. The current Federal interest rate is .25 percent, which serves as the influencer of offered savings, checking and loan accounts. It is standard in this industry to offer between .75 percent and 1.50 percent interest for deposit accounts. EastWest will offer comparable interest rates and moderately higher credit card interest rates (ranging typically from 4.9 percent to eight percent) to ensure more profitability for markets that are largely desperate for alternative funding sources. The most profitable product to the business is the credit card and commercial loans. Now, EastWest bank maintains considerable discretion in these areas, focusing on premiumization to provide moderately higher-than-industry-average rates, exploiting market needs to gain profitability. Currently, the credit and commercial loan products (excluding deposits). Currently, EastWest bank maintains $4 billion in commercial loans, which is 27 percent of total assets for the business (EastWest Bank, 2011). Providing more incentive and promotion to gain market interest in using EastWest could improve these holdings to $6 billion, thus offsetting existing losses that have occurred as a result of declining economic conditions and foreclosures both commercial and residential. Clearly, the product offered at moderately higher prices maintain historical significance to the profit expectations model of the bank that could dramatically improve asset accumulation and opportunities for further expansion. 5.4 Place Place is significantly easy for EastWest to promote, as all products are offered in-house at the many branches available throughout the country. Because the business will be promoting the personalized experience when working with internal experts providing guidance and support for the business owner, focusing on the tangible elements of internal culture competencies will assist in gaining more brand recognition and long-term loyalty. The success of interactivity and personalized services with Chinese Americans has historically provided considerable financial and brand benefit to the bank. Exploiting these advantages using media and other public relations strategies will enhance the benefits of in-house visitations to the EastWest Bank family. Right now, the business does not want to increase its operational costs by changing distribution strategy to open new facilities that cater to only small business owners. High overhead and other operational costs for facilities management are already high to the business. Strengths of promoting the existing in-house experience at existing branches are less costs, better brand development, and improving the cultural competencies of the internal culture to facilitate more effective service and competency of service delivery. It is a common expectation in this industry for consumers to expect loan receipt and credit card approvals to occur within the tangible bricks-and-mortar branches, thus fulfilling market beliefs about financial services. The company will, however, be adding an online account management system that will infuse convenience into the sales model. Allowing customers to manage their accounts electronically, such as transferring loan funds into the deposit accounts, maintains benefits for EastWest by satisfying clients for customer service excellence. This is the only recommended alteration to the place marketing concept at the business that will require investment in information technology support and software maintenance to ensure success in this campaign. 5.5 Promotion This is where EastWest maintains the most opportunities for success, especially under the intention of improving brand recognition over that of competition. The business will utilize guerilla marketing, which is a program that can take the EastWest Bank name right into the professional environments where the new target markets conduct their business. These are small, lower-paid teams that have humorous or other scripted scenarios, usually carrying low-cost promotional items (such as branded mugs, pens and stationary) to expand knowledge of the EastWest brand. The business will also consult with many local Chamber of Commerce locations to identify small business data for a direct marketing campaign. Using addresses of known business owners, EastWest will deliver knowledge of loosened credit restrictions and enhanced approval processes to gain interest for markets having a difficult time gaining access to funding capital. There will be incentives, such as the $250 deposit matching scheme, to further incentivize market interest in using EastWest Bank for all of its banking and financial needs. It was previously identified that EastWest does not invest enough capital and labor investment into the advertising function. Figure 1 illustrates the consumer-centric advertising for auto loan interest. Figure 1: Sample Advertising for EastWest in the Consumer Sector Source: EastWest Bank. (2013). EastWest Bank Auto Loans. Retrieved February 28, 2013 from http://www.eastwestbanker.com/info/autoloans_ad.asp Using attractive actors that are relevant to the target market characteristics has always generated consumer interest. However, using behavioral and psychographic approaches will require more creativity in the advertising promotion function to gain interest. It should move away from attempting to link consumer characteristics, both psychological and sociological, and instead focus on competence that is aligned with the new positioning strategy for quality. This advertising, for the consumer sector, has improved the company’s financial portfolio, however it is geared toward consumer needs which differ substantially from the professional market. Modification should include more television advertising in key operating regions, illustrating the relationship dimensions between EastWest Bank and the professional customer. 6. Implementation, Evaluation and Control The bank needs to establish a metric system that will track consumer interest in the direct mail promotions. The volume of returned incentives coupons will serve as one method to measure return on investment. The business will also develop an electronic flagging system that identifies which new accounts were opened for small business purposes, compared to known historical data on these accounts and loans. Using statistical software, the business will be able to measure the volume of new accounts opened as a result of this new promotional strategy. Periodically, during the campaign, the business will recruit focus groups to evaluate their existing experiences, recruiting only current customers to participate. It will serve to gain valuable qualitative data about emotions, attitudes toward service and brand, and their generic experiences with the culture to identify strengths or weaknesses at EastWest. The business will also coordinate its software technologies to recognize trends in late payments with new customers to satisfy risk management and determine whether the new marketing strategy has provided the business with reputable and trustworthy business customers. 6.1 Organizational Structure and Plan The business will be working to decentralize business, giving executives much more transformational presence in the operating model. Approvals are going to occur above and beyond industry standard measurements, such as the credit scoring system, which will require more interpersonal relationship development with senior governance officials. Human resources will provide valuable consultation in this area. There are limited cost burdens to changing the dynamics of the role of senior-level administrators, thus posing little risk and much more advantage observable with the new target markets working with internal staff at the organization. 6.2 Financial Projections If EastWest is able to improve its loan portfolio by $2 billion by December 2013, this will represent significant asset increases that improve liquidity position. EastWest is currently better capitalized than many industry players due to the diversity of its product and services portfolio (EastWest Bank, 2012). Loans receivable in 2011 exceeded 10 billion USD, indicating that the existing structure of loan portfolios are without substantial risk and continue to contribute to the financial position of the business. The minimum budget for implementation of the plan is estimated at only $2 million, including television advertising, direct mailing, associated promotions, and making changes to the organizational model. This is easily offset by asset increases as a result of the plan that should improve loan portfolio availability by two billion dollars. 6.3 Timetable Small business owners have no outlet today to gain capital and other funding. Therefore, the marketing strategy will gain rapid market interest with a less stringent lending facility and therefore improve brand recognition quickly. It is feasible and achievable to believe that brand recognition can be accomplished in four months with aggressive integrated marketing communications. Financial improvements will occur as a result of faster response for loan approvals and credit approvals that will bring a great deal of word-of-mouth along the professional network. 6.4 Summary The company’s mission is aligned with corporate social responsibility and human capital competencies, something EastWest is already known for in some of its target markets. Brand recognition will give the business a much better visibility among major competitors and, as previously identified, achievable with promotion. The goal is to position the business as a quality leader that will, long-term, translate into higher pricing structures with brand loyal customers. Thus, the objectives of asset increases through loan products and credit card approvals are achievable and founded largely on promotional prowess at the bank. Relationship development and corporate social responsibility, two strengths of the internal cultural model at the bank, only serve to enhance the feasibility of achieving return on investment for all objectives outlined for the bank. References Bartels, L.K., et al. (1998). The Relationship between Ethical Climate and Ethical Problems Within Human Resource Management, Journal of Business Ethics, 17(3), pp.799-804. Berger, Allen N., Cowan, Adrian N. & Frame, W. Scott. (2009). The Surprising Use of Credit Scoring in Small Business Lending by Community Banks and the Attendant Affects on Credit Availability and Risk. Retrieved February 26, 2013 from http://www.frbatlanta.org/filelegacydocs/wp0909.pdf Berger, Allen N. (2002). Small Business Credit Availability and Relationship Lending: The Importance of Bank Organizational Structure, Economic Journal. Retrieved February 27, 2013 from http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/feds/2001/200136/200136pap.pdf Boone, Louis & Kurtz, David. (2007). Contemporary Marketing, 12th ed. US: Thompson South Western. Brown, J. Mariah. (2013). How Important are Small Businesses to Local Economies?, Chron. Retrieved March 1, 2013 from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/important-small- businesses-local-economies-5251.html Burns, A. (2011). FDIC Forum Focuses on Small Business Credit Availability, Columbus Business First. Retrieved February 28, 2013 from http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/blog/2011/01/fdic-forum-focuses-on-small- business.html Chaudhuri, A. & Holbrook, M.B. (2001). The Chain of Effects from Brand Trust and Brand Affect to Brand Performance: The role of brand loyalty, Journal of Marketing, 65(2), pp. 81-93. EastWest Bank. (2013). Branch Locations. Retrieved February 27, 2013 from http://www.eastwestbank.com/English/SBranch_Locations-list.asp EastWest Bank. (2012). Making the US – Greater China Connection: EastWest Bancorp 2011 Annual Report. Retrieved February 27, 2013 from http://investor.eastwestbank.com/Cache/1001165097.PDF?Y=&O=PDF&D=&FID=1001 165097&T=&IID=4040606 EastWest Bank. (2013). Mission Statement. Retrieved February 27, 2013 from http://www.eastwestbank.com/english/vmv.asp EastWest Bank. (2013). Small Business. Retrieved February 27, 2013 from http://www.eastwestbank.com/English/smallBusiness.asp Longley, Robert. (2013). Small Business Drives U.S. Economy: Provides jobs for over half of Nation’s private workforce. Retrieved February 27, 2013 from http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/smallbusiness/a/sbadrives.htm Nandan, S. (2005). An exploration of the brand identity-brand image linkage: A communications Perspective, Brand Management, 12(4), pp.264-275. Oak, Robert. (2010). What is the state of credit availability for small business? The Economic Populist. Retrieved February 27, 2013 from http://www.economicpopulist.org/content/what-state-credit-availability-small-business Porter, Michael. (2011). Porter’s Five Forces: A Model for Industry Analysis. Retrieved February 25, 2013 from http://www.quickmba.com/strategy/porter.shtml Rogers, Kate. (2011). Problem No.1 for Small Businesses: Uncle Sam, Fox Business. Retrieved February 28, 2013 from http://smallbusiness.foxbusiness.com/legal- hr/2011/10/25/problem-no1-for-small-businesses-uncle-sam/ Sainsbury PLC. (2011). Annual Report and Financial Statements 2011. Retrieved February 25, 2013 from http://www.j-sainsbury.co.uk/media/171813/ar2011_report.pdf Read More