Assessment of Use of Diversification Strategy in Enhancing Competitive Performance at Equity Bank, Kenya

Abstract

Banks and other financial institutions operate in a dynamic environment where opportunities and challenges arise in equal measure. A critical factor that presents challenges and opportunities for the banks and other financial institutions is competition. To beat competitors in the dynamic market and stay abreast with the ever changing market demands, it is imperative for banks to rethink, rework and adjust their diversification strategies appropriately in order to remain relevant in the market. A diversification strategy helps organizations to spread portfolio risks by combining a variety of investments. In fact, organizations that seeks to survive various business cycles or to stay ahead of competition look for ways to diversify and in return, grow, survive and perform well in the long term. This study sought to assess the use of diversification strategy in enhancing competitive performance at Equity Bank Kenya. The study was based on; Technology Acceptance Model, Diversification Strategy Model and the Systems Theory. To achieve the objective of the study, the researcher sought to establish how banccasurance, electronic money transfer and agency banking affects competitive performance of the bank. The researcher used a survey and a descriptive study design. The population of the study included branch managers, corporate managers and divisional managers in charge of Banccassurance, electronic money transfers and Agency banking at Equity Bank while the study sample was selected from the said population by a simple random sampling technique. Data was collected using structured questionnaires that were administered through drop and pick technique. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. A linear regression analysis was conducted to guide inferences based on diversification strategies in relation to competitive performance of Equity Bank Kenya. The results were presented using the tables appropriately. The results of the study implied that the first null hypothesis was not rejected the second null hypothesis was not rejected, the third null hypothesis was not rejected. The study findings further indicated that the competitive performance of equity bank was not significantly influenced by 0.342 bancassurance, -0.317 electronic money transfers, -0.080 agency banking. However, the study findings indicated that the diversification strategies jointly influenced the competitive performance of Equity Bank (t = -3.922; p < 0.05). It was therefore recommended that bank should innovate its bancassurance products and electronic money transfer systems, motivate employees better and use appropriate technologies that the clientele find to be useful and easy to use.