STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION IN SAUDI ARABIAN ISLAMIC AND CONVENTIONAL BANKS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF STRATEGIC CASES

Abstract

Abstract
One of the most important capabilities that an organisation can develop is an effective strategy implementation process, which enables that firm to compete in a given market. Within the framework of strategy implementation, this study focuses in a comparative manner on the implementation processes for strategic management within conventional and Islamic banks in Saudi Arabia. In this thesis, a particular strategy implementation framework is adopted from Okumus (2001 and 2003). This framework offers in a systematic form an explicit explanation of the entire strategy implementation process, therefore providing a comprehensive framework through an integrated systematic understanding.
An extensive review of the strategy implementation literature reveals fifteen factors that can influence the strategy implementation process and its outcomes, with these factors taking roles in enhancing the process and resulting in successful implementation outcomes. These factors are organised into four categories or groups: (i) organisational groups; (ii) project groups; (iii) process groups, and (iv) outcomes, each of which contains sub-factors to make them measurable.
In operationalising the research, an inductive research approach has been adopted for this study; the data was collected via semi-structured interviews followed by a questionnaire survey used as a support tool. The whole sampled included two Saudi Arabian Islamic and two Saudi Arabian conventional banks as case studies. This study employs face-to-face semi-structured interviews with each of the selected bank’s decision-makers as its primary tool for data collection. The elite interview sample consists of in total eight top managers belonging to four banks: two Islamic and two conventional banks. Each bank has its recent strategic case implementations analysed through the primary data collected. The sample of the interview schedule consists of the top management who were involved in the strategic decision of two conventional and two Islamic banks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The primary criteria of choosing the sample were that those mangers should have a great influence and experience of the strategic decision as well as the ability of declaring the required information. In relation to the questionnaires, the sample included Middle management levels who are only involved in the strategic cases being implemented and studied. Consequently, 260 questionnaires were distributed among the banks; 120 were returned as complete, to be used in the analysis. The response rate, hence, is approximately 46%.
The results show that there are clear trends in how the Saudi Arabian` banks’ approach in their strategy implementation, common factors influencing the strategy implementation process and its outcomes, and various considerations regarding the role of religion in both Islamic and conventional types of banks.
The subsequent statistical and econometric analysis of the questionnaire data indicates that factors from three of the main groups significantly influence strategic decision outcomes, thereby determining successful strategy implementation. These influential factors are as follows: (i) process and personnel factors, including involvement and communication; (ii) project factors such as time and the priority of the decision; (iii) organisational factors, including top management support, religion, and organisational structure. Further, it is also revealed that in each case the correlation coefficients are positive between independent factors and the outcomes indicating the presence of positive correlation between the outcome and the process factors.
The findings of this study contribute to the literature on strategic implementation management by providing a critical and empirical analysis of the sampled Islamic and conventional banks in Saudi Arabia. The findings may in addition prove useful to the leadership of those banks in their attempts to understand the interrelationship between the process and the outcomes of their strategy implementation decisions, by drawing out both tangible and intangible results of strategy decisions.